19th century origins The history of
The Courier-Mail is through four
mastheads. The
Moreton Bay Courier later became
The Courier, then the
Brisbane Courier and, since a merger with the
Daily Mail in 1933,
The Courier-Mail. The
Moreton Bay Courier was established as a weekly paper in June 1846. Its first editorial promised to "make known the wants of the community ... to rouse the apathetic, to inform the ignorant ... to transmit truthful representations of the state of this unrivalled portion of the colony to other and distant parts of the globe; to encourage every enterprise that will tend to benefit it, and in general to advance its interests, and promote its prosperity". Issue frequency increased steadily to bi-weekly in January 1858, tri-weekly in December 1859, then daily under the editorship of
Theophilus Parsons Pugh from 14 May 1861. The recognised founder and first editor was
Arthur Sidney Lyon (1817–1861) who was assisted by its printer,
James Swan (1811–1891), the later
mayor of Brisbane and member of
Queensland Legislative Council. Lyon, also referred to as the "father of the Press" in the colony of Queensland, had previously served as a writer and journalist in Melbourne, and later moved on to found and edit journals such as
Moreton Bay Free Press,
North Australian and
Darling Downs Gazette. Lyon was encouraged to emigrate by
John Dunmore Lang and arrived in
Brisbane from Sydney in early 1846 to establish a newspaper. He persuaded James Swan, a printer of Lang's Sydney newspaper
The Colonialist to join him. Lyon and Swan established themselves on the corner of
Queen Street and
Albert Street, Brisbane, in a garret of a building later known as the North Star Hotel. The first issue of the
Moreton Bay Courier, consisting of 4 pages, appeared weekly on Saturday 20 June 1846, with Lyon as
editor and Swan as publisher. After some 18 months, Lyon and Swan disagreed on many aspects of editorial policy, including transportation of convicts and
squatting. Lyon took over sole control in late 1847, but had money problems, and gave sole control to Swan. Swan sold out to
Thomas Blacket Stephens in about November 1859.
The Moreton Bay Courier became
The Courier, and then the
Brisbane Courier in 1864. In June–July 1868, Stephens floated a new company, and transferred the plant and copyright of the
Brisbane Courier to "The Brisbane Newspaper Company". He was the managing director until retired in November 1873, when the paper was auctioned. The journal was, from November 1873 to December 1880, managed by one of the new part-owners, the Tasmanian-born former public servant
Gresley Lukin (1840–1916). Although called "managing editor", actual writing and editing was by
William Augustine O'Carroll (1831–1885). Most prominent of the various editors and sub-editors of
The Queenslander literary staff were
William Henry Traill (1842–1902), later NSW politician and editor of the famed Sydney journal '
The Bulletin', and
Carl Adolph Feilberg (1844–1887). Feilberg followed William Henry Trail in the role of
political commentator and the de facto editor of
The Queenslander until January 1881. He succeeded William O'Carroll as
Courier editor-in-chief from September 1883 to his death in October 1887. Lukin's roles as part owner-editor changed on 21 December 1880.
Charles Hardie Buzacott, former Postmaster General in the first
McIlwraith government, had been a staff journalist.
20th century John James Knight was editor-in-chief of
The Brisbane Courier from 1906 to 1916, later managing director, then chairman of all of the company's publications. The first edition of
The Courier-Mail was published on 28 August 1933, after
Keith Murdoch's
Herald and Weekly Times acquired and merged
The Brisbane Courier and the
Daily Mail (first published on 3 October 1903). In 1987,
Rupert Murdoch's
News Limited acquired newspaper control, and outstanding shares of Queensland Newspapers Pty Ltd. The Courier-Mail launched its first website in 1998. (headline refers to the
2005 Cronulla riots)
21st century From its inception until March 2006
The Courier-Mail was a
broadsheet newspaper. On 14 December 2005 it was announced that the paper would change to a
tabloid sometime in early 2006, however the term "tabloid" was not used in favour of the term "compact". This linguistic choice was probably related to widespread public view that many tabloids, including those published by
News Limited, were low quality publications. The last broadsheet edition was published on Saturday 11 March 2006, and the first tabloid edition was published on Monday 13 March 2006. On the same day, the paper's website was revamped and expanded. The change to a tabloid format brought
The Courier-Mail in line with all other News Limited Australian metropolitan daily newspapers. It followed the change to a tabloid format by
The Advertiser of
Adelaide—another News Corporation newspaper—some years earlier. ==Recognition==