Border Watch |
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Title : | Border Watch |
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Source : | Border Watch, 27 November 1863, p. 1 | |||
Date of creation : | 1863 | |||
Format : | Newspaper | |||
Catalogue record | ||||
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Copyright : | This item is reproduced courtesy of Rural Press Limited. It may be printed or saved for research or study. Use for any other purpose requires written permission from Rural Press Limited and the State Library of South Australia. To request approval, complete the Permission to publish form. |
Description : |
The Border Watch is South Australia's oldest country newspaper, still in publication. It was also the first newspaper in South Australia run by a woman - Janet Laurie. The poet Adam Lindsay Gordon was a friend of the first editor, John Watson, and Gordon's poems appeared in early editions of the newspaper. His first Australian published poem, 'The Feud' was printed by the Border Watch in 1864. The Border Watch received publicity through being owned by millionaire truck driver Allan Scott, whose death in 2009 led to some controversy over his estate. In 1848 the Rev Alexander Laurie left the church to found a the Portland Herald newspaper at Portland, Victoria. Following his death in 1854, his widow Janet, and two teenage sons Andrew and James, travelled to Mount Gambier. Here, in 1861, they established the newspaper which they named after a newspaper from their birthplace in Scotland. Two years later a fellow Scot, John Watson, joined the Border Watch as editor. He filled this role until his death in 1925 when his son Jim Watson became editor. In 1891 Laurie's two sons joined the newspaper staff. James Laurie left the paper after a few years, but Andrew Laurie continued running the Border Watch in partnership with John Watson until his death in 1920. From May 1866 the newspaper was published twice weekly, and from 1926 it was published three times a week. In November 1981 four weekly issues became possible. In 1932 a plant for producing photographic blocks was purchased, making the Border Watch one of the earliest country newspapers to include photographs in its pages. Three generations of the Laurie and Watson families ran the newspaper until it was sold in 1977 to the South East Telecasters company. In 1978 printing was changed to the web offset process. Today it is South Australia's largest country newspaper with a circulation of 7,500. |
Subjects | |
Related names : | Gordon, Adam Lindsay, 1833-1870 Laurie, Alexander Laurie, Andrew Frederick Laurie, James Park Dawson Watson, James R. Watson, John South East Telecasters |
Coverage year : | 1863 |
Place : | Mount Gambier (S. Aust.) |
Region : | South East |
Further reading : | 'Border watch seventy-five years old,' Border watch, 5 May 1936, pp. 7; 9 Castello, Renato. 'Turmoil on the Mount: newspaper's editor quits, reporter accused of poll bias,' Sunday mail, 14 March 2010, p. 10 Monger, Wendy. Interview with Hedley Hancock [sound recording] : interviewer Wendy Monger, 12 May 1999, OH 554/8 Kieselbach, Stewart. Border watch, established April 26th 1861 : a review of 125 years of continuous publication, Mount Gambier, S. Aust.: The Border watch, 1986 |
Internet links : |