The main object of the Colonist was 'the general diffusion of useful knowledge, and the inculcation of right principles in regard to the means of promoting the moral welfare and the general advancement of the colony of New South Wales'. (1.1 (1 January 1835): 1)
The Sydney Herald
William McGarvie
(editor),
Frederick Michael Stokes
(editor),
Alfred Ward Stephens
(editor),
Frederick Michael Stokes
(editor),
Alfred Ward Stephens
(editor),
Alfred Ward Stephens
(editor),
Frederick Michael Stokes
(editor),
John Fairfax
(editor),
Charles Kemp
(editor),
1831
Sydney
:
Ward Stephens and Frederick Michael Stokes and William McGarvie
,
1831
Z930858
1831
newspaper
(120 issues)
In line with the impartial meaning of the epigraphs displayed on the Sydney Herald's masthead and above the leader, the Leader of the first issue of the Sydney Herald states the newspaper's editorial policy:
'Our Editorial management shall be conducted upon principles of candour, honesty, and honor. Respect and deference shall be paid to all classes. Freedom of thinking and speaking shall be conceded, and demanded. We have no wish to mislead; no interests to gratify by unsparing abuse, or indiscriminate approbation. We shall regret opposition, when we could wish to concur, and bestow the meed of praise. We shall dissent with respect, and reason with a desire, not to gain a point, but to establish a principle. By these sentiments we shall be guided, and, whether friends or foes, by these we shall judge others; we have a right, therefore, to expect that by these we shall be judged.'
A brief column admonishing Dr Lang [John Dunmore Lang] for publishing a favourable review of his own work, The History of New South Wales, in his own newspaper the Sydney Colonist. 'Surely', writes the Cornwall Chronicle, 'the Doctor could have found some disinterested party to have blown his trumpet for him?'
A short paragraph on a meeting of the shareholders in the Colonist newspaper.
A report on libel actions listed in the Supreme Court, civil side, for July 1838. The actions involve Sydney newspapers and their editors and mainly stem from an article 'The Devil and the Man of Worth' published in the Australian Magazine, 1(3) March 1838. The list includes E. D. O'Reilly v. Edward Smith Hall of the Monitor; Edward Smith Hall v. James McEachern, the editor of the Colonist; Abraham Cohen of the Australian v. Jacob Josephson 'as the writer of a letter bearing defendant's signature, inserted in the [Sydney] Gazette' ; Jacob Josephson v. 'Messrs. Fulton and Purcell, as the writer of an article, inserted in the 3rd number of The Australian Magazine, headed "The Devil and the Man of Worth"'; Jacob Josephson v. George Cavenagh, the editor of the Sydney Gazette, 'for the publication of a letter, signed "A Subscriber" referring to the article "The Devil and the Man of Worth"'. The report also mentions 'McAlister at the suit of the Attorney-General' and Edward O'Shaughnessy v. James McEarchern. See also [Untitled], correspondence by A Subscriber (fl. 1838), published in the Sydney Gazette, 6 March 1838. The publication of 'The Devil and the Man of Worth' lead to a trial of libel, Josephson v. Fulton, in the Supreme Court of New South Wales in March 1839.
