The Border Watch

The Border Watch is an Australian newspaper based in Mount Gambier, South Australia,[1] owned by the Scott Group of Companies.[2] Published Tuesday through Friday, the paper serves the City of Mount Gambier, the South Australian Limestone Coast and parts of Western Victoria. The oldest and largest regional newspaper in South Australia, it won the "Best Newspaper" category in the South Australian Country Press Awards in 2005, for the first time in 50 years.

The Border Watch also owns and prints the weekly newspaper The Pennant, which services Penola and district, and the South Eastern Times at Millicent.

History

It was first published on 26 April 1861 by proprietor and editor Andrew Frederick Laurie (1843–1920), aided by his brother Park Laurie (1846–1928) and their mother, the widow of the Rev. Alexander Laurie, first Presbyterian minister of nearby Portland, Victoria.[3] It started as a 4-page, single broadsheet weekly in Gambierton, as Mount Gambier township was then known. John Watson (ca.1842 – 13 December 1925) joined in 1863 as editor, and he and A. F. Laurie as publisher managed the company for the next 50 years.[4] A. F. Laurie was president of the Mount Gambier Racing Club from its inception and Watson was Mount Gambier's first mayor.[5][6]

A. F. Laurie and J. Watson founded The Narracoorte Herald in 1875, run initially by Archibald Caldwell and John Baxter Mather, and taken over in 1880 by Mather and George Ash.

Kieran Iles left the Border Watch to become editor of the Sunraysia Daily in January 2009.

Controversy

In 2006, prominent editorial staff resigned or took leave due to the perceived interference of the newspaper's then owner, Allan Scott.[7]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.ruralpresssales.com.au/detail.asp?region=South+Australia&paper_id=137&state=VIC
  2. ↑ http://www.borderwatch.com.au/about/history
  3. ↑ ""Border Watch" 88 Yrs. Old Today.". The Border Watch (Mount Gambier, SA: National Library of Australia). 26 April 1949. p. 1. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  4. ↑ ""Border Watch" 70 Years Old.". Border Watch (Mount Gambier, SA : 1861 - 1954) (Mount Gambier, SA: National Library of Australia). 28 April 1931. p. 1. Retrieved 29 June 2015. This article may be of interest to historians.
  5. ↑ "A Journalistic Record". Port Pirie Recorder and North Western Mail (SA: National Library of Australia). 26 November 1915. p. 4. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  6. ↑ "Mr. John Watson". The Sydney Morning Herald (National Library of Australia). 16 December 1925. p. 19. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  7. ↑ http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s1596350.htm

External links


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