Newspapers have played a very important role in the history of Western Australia, since "The Fremantle Journal and General Advertiser" commenced in February 1830 as a single handwritten sheet copy, and this was only eight months after the Colony was founded. Over the next three years, a number of newspapers were produced, one being "The Perth Gazette".
The very first issue of this four-page newspaper was published on 5 January 1833 and continued thereafter on every Saturday, selling for the price of one shilling a single copy or ten shillings and sixpence per quarter. The "Perth Gazette" later became "The West Australian".
The editor of this newspaper managed to encompass a very wide range of topics in his weekly publication. Local events were recorded in detail, including cases of the Quarter Sessions, skirmishes with the natives, shipping movements and meetings of the Western Australian Agricultural Society. To add to this, many articles were extracted from newspapers received from the sister colonies of Van Diemen's Land and New South Wales, and also from India, the Cape of Good Hope and England. The editor also made every efort to correct the erroneous reports of the Colony being printed in other newspapers.
This CD contains a FULL transcription of the 52 weekly issues of the 1833 newspaper. Every article and advertisement has been transcribed and is listed here. It can be browsed or searched by topic (ie. such as fires or deceased estates, or by town or place), or you can search by name, or just browse each issue.
