Fremantle Herald
Encyclopedia
Fremantle Herald and similar names have been used for three different newspapers serving Fremantle, Western Australia
: The Herald (1867–1886), Fremantle Herald (1913–1919) and a current publication, founded in 1989.
James Pearce founded the original Herald in February 1867. It was pitched at a general, more working class
readership audience, in contrast to its counterparts in Perth at the time, and featured verse
, short stories
and serial
s. Pearce was joined by two co-proprietors, William Beresford and James Elphinstone Roe
, both of whom, like Pearce, were ex-convicts. The Herald supported social reform and opposed the convict system. Beresford wrote a weekly column, "Chips by a Sandalwood Cutter", which used a fictional character to challenge the morality of the social elite.
In 1989, Andrew Smith, a local resident who had expressed disquiet with the timidity of existing free local weeklies, used his superannuation and savings to start a new Fremantle Herald. Its initial headquarters were a weatherboard house (since demolished) in East Fremantle. Smith employed young editor Sian Martin and a small team of journalists, production staff and advertising salespeople who all worked cheek by jowl from the corner of King and George Streets, East Fremantle. The first summer in the small house (with no air-conditioning) was fierce and led to plenty of frayed tempers. In 1992 the Fremantle Herald moved to the corner of Cliff and Croke Streets in the West End of Fremantle.
The Fremantle Herald was immediately popular with readers but faced fierce competition to attract sufficient advertising. Smith went further into debt and slashed staff and wages to remain afloat. The risk has paid off and the Herald is reportedly now Fremantle's leading newspaper in terms of readership, revenues and profits.
Smith's company now also publishes three other titles in other parts of the Perth Metropolitan Area
: the Melville City Herald, the Cockburn City Herald, and the Perth Voice, all of which are letterbox-distributed weeklies. A two-year trial of a paid-for version of the Fremantle Herald failed to gain support from readers and was abandoned in 2005.
Fremantle, Western Australia
Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...
: The Herald (1867–1886), Fremantle Herald (1913–1919) and a current publication, founded in 1989.
James Pearce founded the original Herald in February 1867. It was pitched at a general, more working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
readership audience, in contrast to its counterparts in Perth at the time, and featured verse
Verse (poetry)
A verse is formally a single line in a metrical composition, e.g. poetry. However, the word has come to represent any division or grouping of words in such a composition, which traditionally had been referred to as a stanza....
, short stories
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
and serial
Serial (literature)
In literature, a serial is a publishing format by which a single large work, most often a work of narrative fiction, is presented in contiguous installments—also known as numbers, parts, or fascicles—either issued as separate publications or appearing in sequential issues of a single periodical...
s. Pearce was joined by two co-proprietors, William Beresford and James Elphinstone Roe
James Elphinstone Roe
James Elphinstone Roe was a convict transported to Western Australia. After serving his sentence he became one of the colony's ex-convict school teachers. Through his agitation for education reform, he played an important role in "shaping the education system and political policies in the colony"...
, both of whom, like Pearce, were ex-convicts. The Herald supported social reform and opposed the convict system. Beresford wrote a weekly column, "Chips by a Sandalwood Cutter", which used a fictional character to challenge the morality of the social elite.
In 1989, Andrew Smith, a local resident who had expressed disquiet with the timidity of existing free local weeklies, used his superannuation and savings to start a new Fremantle Herald. Its initial headquarters were a weatherboard house (since demolished) in East Fremantle. Smith employed young editor Sian Martin and a small team of journalists, production staff and advertising salespeople who all worked cheek by jowl from the corner of King and George Streets, East Fremantle. The first summer in the small house (with no air-conditioning) was fierce and led to plenty of frayed tempers. In 1992 the Fremantle Herald moved to the corner of Cliff and Croke Streets in the West End of Fremantle.
The Fremantle Herald was immediately popular with readers but faced fierce competition to attract sufficient advertising. Smith went further into debt and slashed staff and wages to remain afloat. The risk has paid off and the Herald is reportedly now Fremantle's leading newspaper in terms of readership, revenues and profits.
Smith's company now also publishes three other titles in other parts of the Perth Metropolitan Area
Perth Metropolitan Region
The Perth Metropolitan Region is an urban planning term to describe the region surrounding Perth, Western Australia. It includes the coastal strip from Yanchep in the north to Rockingham in the south, and inland to The Lakes and Helena Valley in the east....
: the Melville City Herald, the Cockburn City Herald, and the Perth Voice, all of which are letterbox-distributed weeklies. A two-year trial of a paid-for version of the Fremantle Herald failed to gain support from readers and was abandoned in 2005.