Hawkesbury in print - Trove Tuesday

210 years ago the first newspaper in Australia was published. The  “Sydney Gazette” is a very important source of historic material on early life in the colony and for the first few decades of the settlement, it was the only printed record documenting the day to day activities. It was originally published weekly by Australia’s first newspaper commenced in 1803 and was established by  George Howe (1769-1821) and the editor stated in its first edition "We open no channel to political discussion or personal animadversion [criticism]; information is our only purpose…" Howe was allowed to use the Government's press & type for the publication but it was accomplished out of his own pocket. Due to the cost of ink and paper, newspapers were often very small. In the early years, the Sydney Gazette averaged about four pages per edition and because of this, articles were kept to a minimum. Despite the limitations on the paper the Hawkesbury features in this historic issue.

The first mention of the Hawkesbury district appears in the first issue 5 March 1803 p. 4 and records the death of a settler, Mr Withers and that of Maria Wood and the fate of her orphaned children.

 The Sydney Gazette 5 March 1803 

The Hawkesbury went onto be recorded in the media many many more times over the years. In fact Trove Australia records at 327,845 mentions of the word in at least 525 newspapers in states and territories all over Australia. Hopefully as more newspapers are digitised and transcribed this number will increase tenfold.

Hawkesbury Newspapers - Trove Tuesday

Newspapers are a wonderful source of information for both local and family history. Information located from newspapers is often unique and often not found in other sources. Hawkesbury newspapers, dating from the 1840s, are included on Trove, the National Library of Australia's digitised newspapers and sponsored by Hawkesbury Library Service.

• Australian, Windsor, Richmond & Hawkesbury Advertiser 1873 - 1899
• Hawkesbury Chronicle & Farmers Advocate 1881 - 1888
• Hawkesbury Courier & Agricultural & General Advertiser 1844 - 1846
• Hawkesbury Advocate 1899 - 1900
• Hawkesbury Herald 1902 - 1945
• Windsor & Richmond Gazette 1888 - 1955
• Windsor Express & Richmond Advertiser 1843 - 1844

Hawkesbury Courier and Agricultural and General Advertiser 11 July 1844, p. 1. 

The Windsor Express, was apparently the first permanent newspaper in the Hawkesbury, and first appeared on the 17 May 1843. This was almost 50 years after the Hawkesbury district was settled by Europeans. Geoffrey Amos Eagar produced the publication in his Printing Office located in George Street in Windsor. The newspaper only operated for about twelve months, with the last issue appearing on 9 May 1844.

Shortly after the Windsor Express became defunct, Eagar established another newspaper called Hawkesbury Courier and Agricultural and General Advertiser. The first issue appeared on the 11 July 1844 and operated until 1846. When the Hawkesbury Courier ceased publication, the Hawkesbury community had to wait for over a quarter of a century before another local newspaper was introduced. The Australian, Windsor, Richmond & Hawkesbury Advertiser was launched in 1873.

From that time until the present, the Hawkesbury district, has had a newspaper operating. The Windsor & Richmond Gazette was established in July 1888 by J. C. L. Fitzpatrick. The newspaper recently celebrated 125 years of operating. The most current issue dates from 21 December 1955.

Windsor and Richmond Gazette 21 July 1888 published 125 years ago.