It is difficult now in our age of digital media and visual overload to imagine the effect of the introduction of photography into newspapers and magazines.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Developments in photographic process and the diminishing size of cameras in the late 19th century changed the face of newspapers and magazines. Illustrations in newspapers were rare before this time and printed from engraved plates.
The Illustrated London News was one of the first papers to make use of the new processes and Tasmania's Weekly Courier, first published by The Examiner in 1901, was one of many to follow its lead. The magazine cost 6d per issue. The photographs were grouped together on 8-10 pages in the centre of the magazine.
Before the first issue, readers were promised a "new and progressive pictorial journal [for] the agriculturist, the miner, the sportsman, the general reader."
"Parochialism will be studiously avoided". Illustrations "making apparent the many attractions Tasmania possesses."
The first issue carried the first episode of two serials by popular authors, country and international news, recollections, columns about music and chess.
But the reason the Weekly Courier is so remarkable today is the photographic record it provides of people and places throughout Tasmania from 1901 until it ceased publication in 1935.
Scenery predominated at first, but events of all kinds - agricultural shows, concerts, regattas, horse races, visits by dignitaries and the soldiers involved in World War I were all covered.
During World War I, the magazine published hundreds of portraits of soldiers, as well as photographs of patriotic events held in support of the war effort. The photographs of soldiers were featured under the heading "The Empire's Call".
Many local photographers, both amateur and professional, had their work published in the Courier, including Stephen Spurling III and Frank Styant Browne.
The development of Tasmania's tourist industry owes much to the photos published in the popular press, including the Weekly Courier, enticing people to visit places they had previously only seen pictures of.
One of the most dramatic events photographed would have to be the 1929 floods. Its pages provide us with a graphic record of this major catastrophe.
The Courier provides a fascinating insight into life in Launceston and other parts of Tasmania. By the time it closed in 1935, photography in newspapers was more common and immediate than that provided by a weekly magazine. It remains an invaluable record for family and social historians.
