How did we receive our news?
By bullock wagon from Morpeth or Grafton, crossed letters taking many months; by bush telegraph, on coaches likely be held up by Thunderbolt and the mailbags stolen; news of ‘The Old Country’ in the Illustrated London News; town cryers, bill posters, New England Times, Armidale Express, Maitland Mercury, Glen Innes Guardian, Glen Innes Examiner, Emmaville Argus, Deepwater Despatch, Castlerag Miner, Profile, telegrams, letter cards…
The Glen Innes Examiner ceased hard copy publication on September 19, 2024, just short of the 150th anniversary.
Ron Robinson then editor of the Examiner championed the formation of the Glen Innes & District Historical Society and Land of the Beardies Museum and Research Centre – the invaluable extensive repository of our unique history.
John Sommerlad – a member of the family, which across three generations, had 101 years of continuous involvement in the newspaper industry through journalism, editing and management wrote:
“It is a sad day when the print editions of country town newspapers cease to exist. Local newspapers were an integral part of the community and served an important role in community and civic life. The online versions which replace them are void of real content and fail to meet the needs of those in the community who simply want to know. They are merely a skeleton of the real thing.”
I’m reminded of a quotation from my grandfather’s book – ‘Mightier Than the Sword.’ E.C. Sommerlad, who helped shape the Glen Innes Examiner into a vibrant, reliable, trustworthy, and relevant community resource, quoted Professor John H. Casey, Professor of Journalism at the University of Oklahoma. This is an abridged version.
“Without its newspaper, the small-town community would be like a school without a teacher, or a church without a pastor. When properly conducted, it cultivates so intensely its home news field. Through service to the community, the country newspaper will be the most representative, the most distinctive and the most whole-some type of journalism produced.”
While those pertinent words are from a long time ago, they remain as relevant today as they did when they were written.
I hope one day communities will lament what they have lost and instigate a revolution which will see the rebirth of a tactile product which reports, informs, and stimulates community debate and action.
We now have it with Glen Innes News and it is essential we wholeheartedly support it!
