The West Australian traces its origins to
The Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal, the first edition of which appeared on 5 January 1833. Owned and edited by Perth
postmaster Charles Macfaull, it was originally a four-page weekly. It was, at first, published on Saturdays, but changed to Fridays in 1864. From 7 October 1864 it was known as
The Perth Gazette and Western Australian Times and was published by Arthur Shenton, until 24 March 1871, after which the publisher was Joseph Mitchell, until 29 September 1871. The new publisher, M. Shenton, remained in place until 26 June 1874. when it was bought by a syndicate who renamed it
The Western Australian Times and who in September 1874 increased production to two editions a week. In October 1883, production was increased to three editions per week; two years later it became a daily publication. The proprietors of the
West Australian at that time also inaugurated the
Western Mail, in 1885. Initially, delivery of the paper beyond settled areas was problematic, but the growth and development of the rural railway system in the early 1900s facilitated wider circulation. In September 2015 the
Australian Competition & Consumer Commission approved the acquisition of
The Sunday Times, which would give Seven West Media a monopoly over major newspapers in the state. Finalisation of the deal, which includes the website
PerthNow, was announced by
The West Australian on 8 November 2016. In May 2019, SWM acquired
Community Newspaper Group, adding 13 titles to the newspaper suite in WA, and have since moved all of the community websites onto the PerthNow website. In June 2019,
The West Australian began putting some of its website content behind a subscription
paywall.
Locations In 1933,
The West Australian moved to the purpose-built Newspaper House on
St Georges Terrace in Perth. At various stages in its history, the newspaper had a periodicals division that has published calendars, gardening books, and collections of historical photographs. In 1954, to celebrate the visit of
Queen Elizabeth II, a souvenir program was produced. On 27 May 2022, as part the
National Reconciliation Week, the paper under the title of
Marawar Boodjara, published a special wraparound where the front cover was written bilingually in the local Indigenous language of the area,
Noongar and English. This was helped by the newspaper's resident Noongar linguist, Alison Nannup. This received praised from many quarters including the prime minister. This was repeated the next year, on 28 May 2023.
Photographic archives In the 1990s, a series of pictorial books from the photographic archives were produced: • The Fifties • The Sixties • A Small War • The Migrant Album • No Survivors • Stage, Screen & Stars • Decades of Royalty • Four-wheeled pioneers == Editors ==