Introduction
Perusing old newspapers is one of my favourite activities. While websites like
Papers Past (New Zealand) rivals anything available around the globe, followed by
Trove in Australia - nothing surpasses the opportunity to read the real thing!
In the
New Zealand Memories magazine Issue 141 December / January 2020 is an article on
Newspapers at the Diggings by Ian F Grant. Thames and the Coromandel area newspapers are discussed. Between 1864-1898 there were
87 goldfield newspapers -
28 in the Coromandel area. Grant remarked on the number of papers that were dailies, Thames for instance had [at least] five! Many of these goldfield based newspapers didn't last more than a year, influenced highly by the success or failure of the goldfield.
Newspapers in New Zealand
The author mentioned above has published a book that covers the history of Newspapers in this country.
Lasting Impressions: The Story of New Zealand's newspapers 1840-1920 by Ian Grant (available at Thames District
Libraries and
for sale at Carsons Bookshop).
Lasting Impressions is a social history that places newspapers and their vital importance in New Zealand's development as a nation in the context of life in the communities they prospered or failed in. There are detailed descriptions of the beginnings of the newspaper business in New Zealand, the papers that spread throughout the country close behind the first settlers, the daily press's leap of faith, the proliferation of provincial papers, early twentieth century challenges, and the difficulties faced by World War One newspapers. For the first time in a newspaper history there are also sections on the burgeoning weeklies phenomenon, the distinctive goldfields press and the numerous Maori newspapers. Source: Carsons Bookshop
Chapter 31 (Pages 465 to 472) 'At the Coromandel' reviews papers in the wider area, but there are many mentions of Thames newspapers throughout the book.
Newspapers on the Thames Goldfield
Before the goldfield had its first newspaper, people relied on getting copies of in particular the Auckland papers, which no doubt were delivered via the many ships servicing the Firth of Thames. Those of you researching early Thames will find Auckland's
Daily Southern Cross and the
New Zealand Herald, kept everyone up-to-date with the latest news locally, nationally and abroad.
Apart from publishing newspapers, the following companies offered a full printing service. The business advertisements stated they were able to perform jobs such as: publishing mining reports, printing forms and making labels, making invoices, producing catalogues and any other printing tasks as required by the customer. Thames Printing firms that are not listed below are: P Griffin 1870s (Brown Street), Daniel Archibald 1870s (Richmond Street), Henry Wood 1870 (Brown Street), and William Coubrough 1870s (Davy Street).
The following are Newspapers that were published at Thames pre 1900:
Evening Mail / (Thames) Evening Star / Thames Star
Started by William Shaw in 1869 as the
Evening Mail and then published as the
Thames Evening Star and
The Evening Star.
Masthead The Evening Star 16 April 1874.
Left: Evening Star Office 1890s, on the left opposite the Saxon Mine in Albert Street.
Above Right: Mr William McCullough, long serving Newspaper Editor / owner of Thames
In 1870, James Hopcraft and William McCullough were in-charge of the newspaper and were located in Willoughby Street, Shortland Town. Later the Evening Star Office was located in Albert Street, near the intersection of Pollen Street in Grahamstown. In 1893 the name of the paper was changed to The Thames Star.
New Masthead The Thames Star 15 July 1893.
In 1912, McCullough took over the Thames Advertiser and it merged with the Thames Star - an iconic Thames newspaper that continued into the 1990s.
Thames Advertiser and Miners' News
Masthead Thames Advertiser 1 April 1874
This was the
first newspaper published on the Thames Goldfield, 11 April 1868.
William Berry was an early editor of the paper, which was owned by William Wilkinson (1838-
1921) and Claude Corlett (c.1836-
1906). Initially published three times a week, it then became an important daily newspaper.
Corlett moved onto the
Thames Guardian, while Wilkinson had several different partners which included
Alfred Horton who later had the
New Zealand Herald. Wilkinson sold the paper in the 1880s and it was purchased in 1912 by William McCullough who owned the
Evening Star.
Masthead Thames Advertiser 2 January 1899
Thames Exchange
The
Thames Exchange was a monthly Newspaper / periodical that was printed at the Thames Advertiser office. While initially monthly (2 October 1874), it was then published fortnightly, the owner was Mr J D Wickham. A review in the
Thames Advertiser 5 October 1874, described the paper as "covering the news of the day and comments on local events are served up in a pithy, pungent form, which can not fail to be appreciated."
On the first anniversary, 1500 copies were distributed free to the subscribers in the district.
(Grant page 467) In January 1879, Wickham who had merged the
Thames Exchange and the
Thames County Chronicle established and published a new Auckland Journal - the
Auckland Free Lance.
The Despatch, Thames & Ohinemuri Observer
This publication was published by the Evening Star, a weekly newspaper that started 25 February 1875.
(Grant page 466) It is unclear how long the paper lasted, the last advertisement in the Evening Star is on
6 April 1875.
The Thames Guardian and Mining Record
Masthead The Thames Guardian 7 October 1871
On the first day of publication (
Saturday 7 October 1871), the paper
outlined their stance on certain matters; including politics, free trade and native issues. The paper was started by Claude Corlett who was previously with the Thames Advertiser - he left in 1870 and started up this new daily paper the following year.
The paper described itself in advertisements as
an Independent and Liberal newspaper. The office was located at Davy Street / Albert Street in Grahamstown. The cost of the paper was twopence and it was sold via a variety of agents: Messrs Walters (Brown St), Carter (Brown Street), Jefferson (Pollen Street), Hall (Coromandel), Stevenson (Tapu), Upton & Co (Auckland), Greville & Co (Sydney), Gordon & Gotch (Melbourne), and Street& Co (London).
In September 1872, the paper finished publication. "The plant was sold to the proprietors of the Hawke’s Bay Times and Corlett moved on to the Christchurch Press, which he managed for a number of years." (
Papers Past) The last edition online is
Volume 1 Edition 290, Saturday 31 August 1872.
Times and Thames Miners' Advocate
In 1868 William Shaw started the
Times and Thames Miners' Advocate. Like many businesses on the goldfield, it prospered but then foundered. A 'Wharfdale' printing press had been used, originally bought by Shaw for 1200 pounds, on bankruptcy it sold for a mere 280 pounds.
(pg 115, Grant) Jeremy Hartnett,was also involved with Shaw publishing this paper.
Closing Comments
Newspapers provided a vital link for the wider Thames Goldfield community. Even more important than local news, the papers were a window to wider New Zealand and the world. The readers devoured all the news they could get, and appear to have been well versed in a wide range of topics.
Newspapers at The Thames were published initially a few times a week, then daily (except Sunday) - and there are two known titles (Journal / Periodical)* that were published weekly, fortnightly and monthly.
While publications may have been owned by the same people (in different partnerships) the titles included:
You will find the book Lasting Impressions: The Story of New Zealand's newspapers 1840-1920 by Ian Grant a wonderful read - to skim over or go back and read sections in depth. Quaint stories about pigeons flying to Auckland to deliver news of latest gold finds for the next publication! The main players in the newspaper industry are featured throughout the book and once again we can see that many of these men were at, or passed through the Thames during their careers.
While the opening statement from Grant's book / article states Thames had five newspapers - it is clear from the above list that if one were to count change of names then the figure rises to at least
EIGHT 'newspaper' publications in the early days of the Thames goldfield (including the periodicals*).
Mr McCullough (Hat / white beard - centre left), and staff of the Evening Star newspaper.
References:
Grant, Ian F. Lasting Impressions: The Story of New Zealand's newspapers, 1840-1920. Fraser Books 2018.
