'George Massey Allen was a controversial newspaper figure in the mid nineteenth century. He was a man of principle, which, together with his outspokenness, got him into major difficulties, and made his newspapers short-lived.
'Allen had been a journalist at the
Advertiser, which he left in 1860 to found the first English-language country newspaper in South Australia to last more than a few issues. This was the
Northern Star, at Kapunda. Having been sent to jail for six months through a libel case, Allen was forced to close the newspaper and later took up hotel-keeping. In 1867 he moved back to Adelaide and founded the weekly
South Australian Satirist. In the
Satirist he attempted to compete with the two mighty dailies, the
Register, and his former employer, the
Advertiser. Although he successfully challenged these large newspapers on at least one issue, his unfortunate outspokenness, combined with his lack of resources, finally saw him again in jail and the newspaper closed down.'
Source: SA Memory, http://www.samemory.sa.gov.au/
Sighted: 29/04/2013
