'The first attempt at newspaper literature in Melbourne was made by Mr. John Pascoe Fawkner, on the 1st January, 1838. The pioneer journal, which had been named the Melbourne Advertiser, consisted of a sheet of foolscap in manuscript, and there were 32 copies of it circulated. For nine weeks this tedious process of diffusing intelligence was continued, and by that time the proprietor managed to obtain some old type and other requisites from Hobart Town, which enable him to publish his journal in letter-press ...
'Unfortunately, however, Mr. Fawkner had not complied with the stringent condition of the Press laws then in force, and his publication was temporarily suppressed. Before he could go through the necessary forms to enable the Advertiser to be republished, Mr. George Arden entered the field with the Port Philip Gazette; and when Mr. Fawkner's paper reappeared, under the name of the Port Phillip Patriot, the attitude of the two journals towards one another might have served Charles Dickens for a model, when, years afterwards, he described the proceedings of the two Eatanswill papers. (p.28).
Source: Gordon & Gotch, Australasian Newspaper Directory (1888): 28.
The Melbourne Advertiser
1838
Port Phillip
:
John Pascoe Fawkner
,
1838
Z1911739
1838
newspaper
'The first attempt at newspaper literature in Melbourne was made by Mr. John Pascoe Fawkner, on the 1st January, 1838. The pioneer journal, which had been named the Melbourne Advertiser, consisted of a sheet of foolscap in manuscript, and there were 32 copies of it circulated. For nine weeks this tedious process of diffusing intelligence was continued, and by that time the proprietor managed to obtain some old type and other requisites from Hobart Town, which enable him to publish his journal in letter-press ...