Gnowangerup Star Newspaper Office

Values

· Since 1915, the place has been associated with the Gnowangerup Star, one of the few privately owned newspapers in Australia.

· The place has scientific value as it contains a unique collection of printing equipment that demonstrates technological change spanning almost a century.

· The place has been in continuous use as a newspaper printing office since its construction in 1915.

· The place has high social value for the local and wider Gnowangerup community having been the source for local news since 1915.

Physical Description

The Newspaper Office is located on the main street of Gnowangerup. It comprises a small brick building with corrugated iron back workshop measuring 230m2. The place contains all original printing equipment including a still functioning hand-fed platen press, Linotype machine, original documents and records of operation and copies of the paper. The MI states that the place has 75% of the original fabric remaining.

History

The Gnowangerup Star is a small, family owned regional newspaper that was founded in 1915. The Gnowangerup Star’s first edition was published by Augustus Walker on the 21st of August 1915. Augustus had been an apprentice with a newspaper printer in Norseman, and went on to work for the Narrogin Observer. He was invited to start a newspaper by communities at both Gnowangerup and Ravensthorpe and choose the former, setting up an office in an old butchers shop in town. The first machinery consisted of an Albion Press, an Eagle platen and cases of type. All the type was set by hand for 25 years until the Star moved on to mechanisation in the 1950s. For 88 years, the Walker family produced around 1000 copies of a ten-page paper (with some editions running to 16 pages) to keep the greater Gnowangerup community informed of local news. The still functioning hand-fed platen press was bought by the Walker family from the Inkpen’s, owners of the York Chronicle, and was considered to be ‘outdated’ even when the paper first began. The Gnowangerup Star was one of the last family owned newspapers in Australia and it remained in the ownership of the Walker family until it ceased publishing in 2003. The Gnowangerup Star newspaper office still contains some of the oldest working printing machinery in Australia. The still functioning hand-fed platen press was bought by the Walker family from the Inkpen’s, owners of the York Chronicle.

Uses

Historic Themes

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