Thomas White, the founder of NewsMail, first named the newspaper the
Burnett Argus in 1861. In 1869, White moved publishing to
Maryborough and changed the name to
The Maryborough Mail. In 1872, the publisher moved and renamed the newspaper again to the
Mount Perry Mail. Later on, The Mount Perry Mail moved to Bundaberg and became
The Bundaberg Mail. Several newspapers were published weekly in
Bundaberg between 1880 and 1900, but by the early 20th century two tri-weeklies divided the market:
The Mail and its competitor
The Star. In 1907, The Bundaberg Mail became the city’s first daily newspaper. In 1917, Sidney H. Barton purchased the newspaper title, and its city freehold. A merger was announced in July 1925, with the Bundaberg Mail and the Bundaberg News to become the
Bundaberg Daily News and Mail from August onwards. In 1942, the paper changed the name to the Bundaberg News-Mail and in the 2000s the hyphen was removed. In 1993, The NewsMail bought the Guardian, Bundy’s weekly
community paper. During the
Great Depression, the number of partners diminished, and the owners discussed options to merge with other newspapers with different financial specialists and investors. In 1958, Muriel Cooper Barton, in partnership with her daughter Betty Young and Betty’s husband Colin Young, approached A. Dunn and Co, owners of the
Maryborough Chronicle,
Toowoomba Chronicle, and Rockhampton’s
Morning Bulletin, offering to sell them her 51.6 percent stake in the NewsMail. In 1961, the NewsMail was acquired by a partnership of eight provincial dailies. After the takeover of the daily Cairns Post by Queensland Press Ltd (publishers of the Brisbane
Courier-Mail) in 1965, the eight other Queensland newspapers set up a holding company, Provincial Investments Pty Ltd (later
Provincial Newspapers and eventually APN). This holding company included notable families such as the Dunns (Maryborough, Toowoomba, and Rockhampton), Mannings (Mackay), Irwins (Warwick) and the Stephensons, Parkinsons, and Kippens (Ipswich). Rockhampton was selected to be the company’s head office, and Lex Dunn, a lawyer who advised on the company structure, became the chief executive. On July 27, 1970, NewsMail was first newspaper in Queensland and the second in Australia to publish computerised photoset design and digitally offset printing. In 1970, NewsMail’s headquarters moved to
Brisbane, in an office building on the corner of Queen and Albert streets. NewsMail transferred its Bundaberg office from Targo St, where it had been for 70 years, to new premises in Woondooma St. In 2013, the worst flood in Bundaberg's history immersed the NewsMail office causing major damage and disruption. All of NewsMail chronicles including photos and other important material were pulverized (Turnbull, 2020). Even so NewsMail's staff continued to gather news in the region, recording the dramatic scenes in North Bundaberg where the flood caused the breakdown of a part of the Tallon Bridge. As well as serving Bundaberg, the
NewsMail was available in coastal communities including
Bargara,
Elliott Heads,
Moore Park,
Burnett Heads and the
Bundaberg Port. It also reached the surrounding rural communities of
Miriam Vale and
Agnes Water in the north,
Mundubbera,
Gayndah,
Eidsvold to the west, and
Childers and
Biggenden.
Title history == Content ==