Edmund Stirling was a printer and newspaper proprietor in Western Australia. O. K. Battye writes in his biography of Stirling in the Australian Dictionary of Biography Online that ‘... [a]ccording to family history, Stirling asked for his inheritance and sailed for New South Wales with a guardian in the Edward Lombe but was persuaded to land at Fremantle on 24 August 1830. He and his guardian helped a fellow passenger Charles Macfaull to plant the colony's first vines near Fremantle. In 1833 he, Macfaull and W. K. Shenton produced the colony's first printed newspaper, the Fremantle Observer, Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal.’
In 1838 Stirling started a printing business. He became principal compositor and printer of the Inquirer newspaper in 1840 while continuing his printing business.
By May 1847 Stirling had become sole owner of the Inquirer. His eldest son John joined him about 1863 and three other sons Horace, Frederick and Baldwin in 1878. Battye writes that during Stirling’s ownership ‘... the Inquirer was a vigorous paper, keeping a close eye on local affairs and often clashing with authority. In January 1853 [Stirling] noted in his diary, "Another government prosecution commenced against the proprietor of the Inquirer which, after pending for several weeks, was, like a former one, abandoned". The most important clash was that in 1870 in which he and John Stirling, with Arthur Shenton of the West Australian Times, were gaoled briefly after both papers had denounced a judgment by Chief Justice Burt; on publishing an abject apology they were released.’
Stirling was a member of the Perth Town Trust and later of the Perth City Council. He was a director of the Geraldine Mining Co. and the Inquirer reflected his interest in mining. He formed the West Australian Telegraph Co. with Alexander Cumming and opened the first telegraph line between Perth and Fremantle. He retired from the Inquirer in 1878.
Source: O. K. Battye, 'Stirling, Edmund (1815–1897)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/stirling-edmund-4648/text7673, accessed 17 June 2013.
