Newspaper in Queensland, Australia
The Townsville Bulletin is a daily newspaper published in Townsville, Queensland, Australia, formerly known as the Townsville Daily Bulletin. It is the only daily paper that serves the northern Queensland region. The paper has a print edition, a subscription World Wide Web edition, and a subscription digital edition.[2]
The newspaper is published by The North Queensland Newspaper Company Pty Ltd, which has been a subsidiary of News Limited since 1984.[3][4] News Limited is Australia's largest newspaper publisher and a subsidiary of News Corporation associated with Rupert Murdoch.
The newspaper employs over 100 people.[citation needed]
The Bulletin is published Monday through Saturday, with a higher price on the Saturday edition.[5] It is in tabloid format. In 2006 the Bulletin had a readership (average) Monday to Friday of 84,000 (up 15.5% on 2005) and weekend readership (avg) of 104,000 (up 1.96% on 2005)[6] and circulation (avg) of 27,187 Monday to Friday, weekend circulation (avg) of 41,814.[7]
History
The town of Townsville's early newspaper was The Cleveland Bay Herald and Northern Pioneer which came into existence on 3 March 1866, which was soon renamed as the Cleveland Bay Express, and later became the Townsville Herald.[8] The Townsville Bulletin was then established on 5 September 1881 by Edward Rhode, John Kiley Mehan (–1941) and Dodd Smith Clarke (–July 1918).[9][8][10] Rhode, Mehan, and Clarke had previously started a newspaper in Cairns.[11]
Co-founder and first editor Clarke was credited as 'mainly instrumental through his brilliant writings in making the venture the success it proved'.[12][13] It was priced at three pence, a 50% reduction on that of the two other local newspapers, and became a daily publication on 1 January 1883.[10] Out of this, the North Queensland Bulletin was launched as a weekly journal by mid-1883.[10]
With the formation of the Townsville Newspaper Company in 1884, the Townsville Herald was acquired, and later merged into the Bulletin.[10] It would appear as the North Queensland Herald.
The Bulletin offices were first in a premises on the eastern side of Stokes Street, before moving to a larger premises at south-eastern corner of Flinders and Stanley Streets from 1887 to 1896. The company then moved to the south-western corner of the intersection, until November 1908 when they moved further west on Flinders Street to a two-story building.[10] Prior to air conditioning systems, the building was selected for cool air flow, and had installed an electric fan system.
The original newspaper was printed on a double demy Albion hand press, followed about 1883 by a gas engine powering a small single feeder Inglis machine – which printed two pages at a time, resulting in 250 newspapers an hour – before settling on a Cox Duplex rotary self-feeding and folding machine, able to turn out 1000 eight-page broadsheet by 1909.[10] Electricity had also been installed, but with gas lighting maintained in case of emergency.
Staffing-wise, the 1881 start saw three proprietors and a boy; by 1909, eight staff had over twenty years service with the company.[10]
A fire of the premises on 18 October 1912 destroyed much of the newspaper's early records.[14] Described as completely gutted other than for the strong-room, insurance amounts totalled £13,680.[15] The newspaper continued for the moment between the Evening Star and Northern Miner offices.[16]
The Bulletin was later amalgamated with The Northern Miner,[8] and in 1940, it incorporated The Townsville Evening Star.[17]
Modern era
In 1984, the Townsville Daily Bulletin was acquired by News Corp Australia and renamed as the Townsville Bulletin.[17][4]
The newspaper chartered a Boeing 747 to take North Queensland fans to the 2005 NRL grand final, the Cowboys' first.[18]
It was awarded News Limited's Regional Newspaper of the Year in 2009.[citation needed]
