Melbourne Argus

[AJT]

Nothing to do with the card George but the Melbourne Argus went bust in 1938 if I remember but it was a full colour newspaper. I don't remember the Argus but I walked past the building many times in my apprentice days, If I remember correctly it was at the top of Elizabeth Street.

[Jeff Zilles [jeffo]]

Concerning AJT's post with reference to the Melbourne Argus.

This is really Don Hauser's domain / back alley / lane,  but the 1938 date for the demise of the Melbourne Argus did not seem right - I can remember reading the occasional copy of the Argus as a non-conforming adult but in 1938 the depth of my literary interest was Felix the Cat and Popeye the Sailor.

I understand that the paper, founded in 1846, was sold to  the Herald and Weekly Times group in 1957.

They utilised the plant but closed the newspaper [Argus].

The Argus building perhaps referred to was on the corner of Latrobe and Elizabeth Streets, superceeding the old building in Collins Street.  There seems to be some confusion about the date of construction of the newer structure.  Without referring personally to the foundation stone I find conflicting dates of 1924 and 1926.

jeffo

[Dave Hughes]

OK, I feel duty-bound to reproduce here the entire entry for the Argus from Don Hauser's book:

ARGUS, THE
74 Collins Street, later corner of Elizabeth and LaTrobe Streets. Publishers and printers of the Argus, Australasian Post and Your Garden.

William Kerr was born in Scotland in 1812 and migrated to Sydney in 1837. He worked with the Sydney Gazette as a journalist before moving to Melbourne in 1839 to write for the Herald.

In May 1846 Kerr registered the Argus and published his first issue on 2 June that year. His journalists often resorted to scurrilous personal abuse and unnecessary sarcasm. As a result he lost the Argus through a series of libel suits. He became Melbourne's Town Clerk in 1852 but by 1856, the town's affairs were in such disarray that Kerr was retired and became stationmaster at Sunbury.

The Argus was later listed in the first Melbourne Directory dated 1853 in the name of Edward Wilson. In 1867, the Argus was situated on the south side of Collins, up the hill from Swanston Street and was the focus of Melbourne life at that time. Its more radical rival the Age, was situatedabout the same distance on the other side of Swanston Street. As well as the entry on Collins Street, the Argus was served from Flinders Lane by its own Argus Alley. This site was ultimately redeveloped to form the Regent and Plaza theatres.

The Argus and Australasian were later relocated to their handsome newbuilding at Elizabeth and LaTrobe Streets. It still exists today.

As early as 1929, the proprietors of the Argus and Australasian, Wilson and McKinnon, installed a unique Allen rotary web offset colour press. This was used to print their weekly Australasian magazine.Special colour editions and colour supplements also came off this press.

Later attempts to become one of the first metropolitan daily newspapers to print in process colour (with financial support from the London Daily Mirror), were among the reasons for the demise of this popular journal on 19 January, 1957.

Magazines and other assets of the Argus and Australasian were purchased by the Herald and Weekly Times Limited.

Many thanks to Don Hauser and Nondescript Press for allowing reproduction of the above passage from "Printers of the Streets and Lanes of Melbourne"

[AJT]

Well that shoots me down in flames, I was only about fourteen when someone told me the story of The Argus
at least I got the city right

[Dave Hughes]

Well that shoots me down in flames

Sorry!