Former newspaper in New South Wales
The
Barrier Daily Truth
was a local newspaper for the mining town of
Broken Hill
in New South Wales,
Australia
.
It covered a range of stories that affect local residents, including industrial news relating to the mines and stories submitted by readers such as local sport stories. The paper also covered national news events of importance.
It was owned by the
Barrier Industrial Council
and was one of the few small newspapers in Australia to remain locally owned.
History
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The Barrier Truth
started in 1898
[2]
as a weekly English language news sheet. It was printed by Thomas Nicholls, for the proprietor Nicholas James Buzacott from 1898 to 1908.
[3]
Initially it was printed in
Adelaide
until 10 September 1898 and it began to be printed locally in Broken Hill.
In 1899 the news sheet format was abandoned in favour of a proper newspaper, and in July 1899 the newspaper became owned by the
Barrier District Australasian Labor Federation
and was published by William Arthur Jones. At this time it became the official organ of the Barrier District Council of the Australian Labor Federation. Later the owner became the Barrier Industrial Council.
Between 1899 and 1902 the paper published very little other than local news and general Labour news. In 1902 a
women's section
was added to the paper, and sporting news and racing results were also included in the paper. This had the effect of doubling the paper's circulation in about nine months.
The paper changed its name to the
Barrier Daily Truth
in 1908 and Volume 1, number 1 under the new title was published on 2 November 1908.
[2]
The masthead on that first issue reads: Barrier Daily Truth with which is incorporated the Barrier Truth, established 1898. At this time the paper also changed from a weekly to a daily publication.
[2]
Construction began on the building in which the
Barrier Daily Truth
currently resides on 31 October 1904. It was completed in February 1905 and a second story added in 1908. In the late 1970s the building was refurbished to house a modern
offset press
.
From 1941 to 1951 the
Barrier Daily Truth
also published
Wilcannia
's weekly newspaper
Western Grazier
.
On Saturday, 28 March 2020, within the context of the
COVID-19 pandemic
, the
Barrier Daily Truth
suspended daily publication. Staff volunteered to produce a weekly newspaper and then received payment via the Australian Government's Jobkeeper program.
[4]
By March 2024, the paper had reduced its output by four pages per edition due to staffing shortages. A month later the paper was shuttered.
[5]
[6]
Digitisation
[
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]
Some issues of the paper published in 1908, and many issues published between 1941 and 1954 have been digitised as part of the
Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program
,
[7]
a project of the
National Library of Australia
in cooperation with the
State Library of New South Wales
.
[8]
References
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External links
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]