In their editorial column in the first issue, 18 November 1879, the proprietors express the hope that 'in christening this new vehicle for public opinion The West Australian, the proprietors desire to intimate to their many friends and supporters in the present, to the largely increased circle of friends and supporters whom they hope to secure in the future - that their desire is, and their aim will be, to make this journal no mere party organ, no mere engine for propagating the shibboleths of a political sect, but to suit it, as far as they are able, to the wants and to the tastes of all, to suit it to the advanced requirements of a progressive community ... that it should take ... a national place, and become in time to Western Australia ...[a journal] of which they need not be ashamed ... [a journal] to which they can point with pride and patriotic satisfaction.'
Source: 'The West Australian.' The West Australian 18 November 1879: 2
Sighted: 18 November 2013