The Temperance Advocate and Australasian Commercial and Agricultural Intelligencer, published by John Fairfax, had a strong emphasis on the promotion of temperance and teetotalism. It reported regularly and extensively on meetings of total abstinence and temperance societies in Australia, the United Kingdom and the USA.
The newspaper carried some colonial news (generally reflecting the paper's stance on alcohol) together with periodic news from England, France, China and other overseas countries. News from England appeared in a column titled 'Digest of English News'; other overseas news ran under the banner 'Foreign Summary'. Regular columns noted shipping arrivals and departures, and news of local births, deaths and marriages. Advertising columns featured clothing, food, domestic goods and education opportunities.
The Temperance Advocate and Australasian Commercial and Agricultural Intelligencer generally carried one poem per issue, usually published in the 'Ladies Corner' section of the paper. These were rarely by Australians. Poetry usually came from British or American sources. (The American poets were frequently women.) International poets whose work appeared in the Advocate include Robert Montgomery, Felicity Heymans, Lady Flora Hastings, W. T. Moncrieff and Mrs E. C. Steadman. The Advocate also published extracts from Charles Dickens's Master Humphrey's Clock and from Frederick Marryat's Poor Jack. Other prose inclusions appeared and were mostly moral tales from British and American authors.
The Temperance Advocate and Australasian Commercial and Agricultural Intelligencer was continued by the Teetotaller, and General Newspaper which carried on the themes and emphasis of the Advocate.
