The Daily Telegraph was founded in 1879, by John Mooyart Lynch, a former printer, editor and journalist who had once worked on the
Melbourne Daily Telegraph. Lynch had failed in an attempt to become a politician and was looking to start his own paper to reflect the opinion of the common
working man. Lynch put together a large team of backers, including an old friend Watkin Wynne, who was unusual for being a very wealthy journalist, and Robert Sands, who ran the printing company John Sands. The first edition was published on 1 July 1879, costing only one penny. The first page of the first edition outlined Lynch's vision for his paper, saying: "We wish to make this journal a reliable exponent of public opinion, which we think is hardly represented in the existing press. Without disparaging existing journals in Sydney, which we fully admit have many excellencies, we believe that they have missed the great objective of journalism to be in sympathy with and to report public opinion." When sales of the
Telegraph began to fall in 1882, the newspaper was taken over by Watkin Wynne. Wynne introduced shorter, punchier, stories and more sensationalism. Watkin Wynne remained in charge of the paper until his death in 1921. Under his successors, the paper underwent major changes. In 1924, the paper began running news on the front page rather than just advertising. In 1927, declining circulation and financial troubles forced a switch from the
broadsheet format to the smaller tabloid format. In 1929, it was taken over by wealthy tobacco manufacturer
Sir Hugh Denison, the founder of the Sydney newspaper
The Sun. In 1929, Denison formed Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL) with S Bennett Ltd and media owner
R. C. Packer. Denison later also acquired the
Daily Guardian (which had been owned by ''
Smith's Weekly), which he combined with the Telegraph News Pictorial
to form the new Daily Telegraph''. The paper returned to a broadsheet format in 1931. From 1936 until its sale to
Rupert Murdoch's
News Limited in 1972, the
Telegraph was owned by
Sir Frank Packer's
Australian Consolidated Press. Packer sold the
Daily Telegraph to Rupert Murdoch's company News Limited in 1972 for $15 million. In 1990, the
Daily Telegraph merged with its afternoon stablemate,
The Daily Mirror. The merged entity would resume the name of
The Daily Telegraph in January 1996. ==Counterparts==