Date: 1837-1839
Date: 1827-1836
Issue Details: First known date: 1827... 1827 The Hobart Town Courier
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

James Ross with George Terry Howe, as joint government printers, established the Hobart Town Gazette on 25 June 1825. The partnership between Ross and Howe was dissolved in early 1827 and Ross continued to publish the Gazette until new laws in 1827 for the control of newspapers meant that government notices only could be published in the Gazette. This event led James Ross to establish the Hobart Town Courier.

The birth of the Hobart Town Courier is explained in the editorial to the first issue: 'It having been found expedient by the Government in consequence of the late Newspaper Acts, to publish the Hobart Town Gazette distinct from all editorial matter, news, or private advertisements, excepting such notices, etc. as are required by law to be inserted in that Official periodical document, we are reduced to the alternative of this week presenting ourselves to our readers under a different name and form.'

The new newspaper included government notices from the Gazette and the editorial reassured readers that '[a]lthough our dress be changed, we need not tell our readers that the same consistent spirit embodied in it remains unchanged as from the commencement of our career, and though some may think our head a little heavy, we assure them there is a great deal in it. We beg to apologize for any imperfections which may appear in our journal of this day, incidental to every new undertaking. We have not had issue, even to make the necessary calculations for fixing the price to our subscribers, which we shall do in our next number, at as moderate a rate as the times will admit.'

John Alexander Ferguson in his entry for the newspaper in Bibliography of Australia: Volume I: 1784-1830 (1941): 414-415, no. 1126a, describes the newspaper as '[a]n important source of Tasmanian news and influential organ of public opinion for many years.'

William Gore Elliston became proprietor and editor of the newspaper from 6 January 1837 by, according to an announcement in that issue, 'purchase of Dr. James Ross, taking effect from the 2nd day of Jan. 1837.' 'The Stationery, Book-binding, Job Printing and Copper-plate departments' were also to be continued by Elliston, 'together with the Bookselling'.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

First known date: 1827
Notes:
Digitised issues available for the period 20 October 1827 to 28 June 1839. (Correct as 13 January 2014.)
    • Hobart Town (1803-1880), Van Diemen's Land (1803-1856), Tasmania,: James Ross , 1827-1836 .
      Printed by James Ross
      Note/s:
      • Colophon: 'Printed and published at the Hobart town Courier Office in Liverpool street, by James Ross, of Liverpool street aforesaid, Printer, to whom all Orders, Advertisements, Letters and Communications should be sent.' (Vol. 1 no. 1, 20 October 1827)
    • Hobart Town (1803-1880), Van Diemen's Land (1803-1856), Tasmania,: William Gore Elliston , 1837-1839 .
      Note/s:
      • Colophon: 'Printed and Published by the Proprietor William Gore Elliston, at the Courier Office, in Collins Street ... in Hobart Town, at his Printing Office, situated as aforesaid.' (Vol. 10 no. 542, 6 January 1837)

Works about this Work

The Court, the Bar, and the Press 1840 single work column
— Appears in: Colonial Times , 22 December vol. 28 no. 1282 1840; (p. 4) Sydney Monitor and Commercial Advertiser , 6 January vol. 16 no. 1853 1841; (p. 3)
The Courier's Hellish Plot Against the Public William Lushington Goodwin , 1838 single work
— Appears in: The Cornwall Chronicle , 24 March vol. 4 no. 163 1838; (p. 45)

In the latter half of this attack on the [Hobart Town] Courier newspaper, the writer (probably the editor of the Cornwall Chronicle William Lushington Goodwin), in response to a request by a gentlemen 'to forward to him the Chronicle, "as he intends giving up the Courier - there being nothing in it"' gives his thoughts on newspapers: 'In all newspapers - there is subject enough to amuse and to instruct. It is the honesty of a Newspaper in its political principles that gives it influence, and entitles it to public support ... Newspapers are the mirrors in which are reflected, the people's habit and character, as truly as the Editor's articles and the communications of correspondents, shew the political character of a people, so do the advertising columns shew their mercantile and commercial character - and, indeed, their moral character. The newspapers furnish an unerring standard of the character of a community, and as they point it out, so they form it ... we desire not that any person should withdraw his patronage from another Journal in our favor, merely because he can find nothing in it to read.'

The Court, the Bar, and the Press 1840 single work column
— Appears in: Colonial Times , 22 December vol. 28 no. 1282 1840; (p. 4) Sydney Monitor and Commercial Advertiser , 6 January vol. 16 no. 1853 1841; (p. 3)
The Courier's Hellish Plot Against the Public William Lushington Goodwin , 1838 single work
— Appears in: The Cornwall Chronicle , 24 March vol. 4 no. 163 1838; (p. 45)

In the latter half of this attack on the [Hobart Town] Courier newspaper, the writer (probably the editor of the Cornwall Chronicle William Lushington Goodwin), in response to a request by a gentlemen 'to forward to him the Chronicle, "as he intends giving up the Courier - there being nothing in it"' gives his thoughts on newspapers: 'In all newspapers - there is subject enough to amuse and to instruct. It is the honesty of a Newspaper in its political principles that gives it influence, and entitles it to public support ... Newspapers are the mirrors in which are reflected, the people's habit and character, as truly as the Editor's articles and the communications of correspondents, shew the political character of a people, so do the advertising columns shew their mercantile and commercial character - and, indeed, their moral character. The newspapers furnish an unerring standard of the character of a community, and as they point it out, so they form it ... we desire not that any person should withdraw his patronage from another Journal in our favor, merely because he can find nothing in it to read.'

PeriodicalNewspaper Details

ISSN: 1835-4742
Frequency:
Weekly
Range:
Vol. 1 no. 1 (Saturday, 20 October 1827) - vol. 12 no. 671 (Friday, 28 June 1839)
Supplement:
18 October 1830; 1 December 1830; 5 September 1837
Note:
Printed under title: 'This Journal contains an exact reprint of the Gazette of this day.'
Note:
Ferguson no. 1126a.
Note:
Initially published on a Saturday, publication moved to Friday from 1 June 1832
Last amended 13 Jan 2014 15:53:49
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