Estimates for date ranges for this newspaper vary. Rod Kirkpatrick gives the date range October 1873 to 20 March 1917. (Kirkpatrick, Rod and Victorian Country Press Association The Bold Type: A History of Victoria's Country Newspapers, 1840-2010. The Victorian Country Press Association, Ascot Vale, Vic, 2010: 258.) The State Library of Victoria gives a start date of 1878 and an end date of 1902 after which the newspaper was continued by The Evelyn Observer and Bourke East Record (1902-1917).
Peter Kirkpatrick's date seems correct as the Melbourne Argus announces receipt of the first issue of the Observer in its newspaper issue of 3 November 1873: 5.
The melodramatic story of Jocelyn Vanborough, a prison escapee living under an unassumed name in the goldfields of New Zealand, until a chance newspaper paragraph makes others aware of his identity.
