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The Blue Mountains City Library, the State Library of NSW and the National Library of Australia have collaborated to give you online access to our surviving historical Blue Mountains newspapers up to 1954 via Trove. Thanks are also given to the Springwood Historians for their contribution to the project. 

For a more detailed description of the newspapers of the Blue Mountains, see this blog from the Blue Mountains Library Local Studies. You can also search all the Blue Mountains digitised papers by using this pre-generated search:  bit.ly/BMnewspapers-onTrove.

To view the copies available online, click on each newspaper heading or title.

 

The Katoomba Times (1889-1894)

In early 1889, the year Katoomba became a municipality, George W. Spring established The Katoomba Times. The paper continued publication until 1894. In October 1890 the paper relocated from its original office inMain Street “to more central premises, near The Carrington, and opposite the railway station.” It circulated between Hartley and Springwood.

 

The Mountaineer 1894-1908

In September 1894 Robert Moss began publishing The Mountaineer in Main Street Katoomba (near the Family Hotel). The paper circulated “throughout the Blue Mountain and Hartley Districts”.

 

The Blue Mountain Gazette (1903-1904)

In January 1903 The Blue Mountain Gazette was launched in Katoomba by E. D. Wilson who set up his business in Main Street.  The Gazette, which had circulated throughout the Blue Mountains and adjoining areas, was incorporated with The Mountaineer.

 

The Blue Mountain Echo (1909-1928)

The first issue of The Blue Mountain Echo, circulating between Mount Victoria and Glenbrook, was published on 6 March 1909. The paper closed down with its issue of 28 December 1928 (Vol.39, No.82) and began publishing The Blue Mountain Star in January 1929.

 

The Katoomba Daily (1920-1939)

It is possible that The Katoomba Daily grew out of The Mountain Daily. If this was so, the change had taken place by December 1920. By July 1924 the printing and publishing of the paper had moved to the Katoomba Daily Printing Works, Froma Lane, Katoomba. Sometime in the late 1920s Blue Mountains Newspapers Ltd. began printing and publishing The Katoomba Daily at its office in the Echo Building, 23 Parke Street, Katoomba.

 

The Blue Mountains Daily (1939)

In 1939 the name of The Katoomba Daily was changed to The Blue Mountains Daily (from the issue of 18 February) in recognition of its aim to meet “the publicity needs of all towns between Glenbrook and Mt. Victoria.”

 

The Blue Mountain Star (1921-1931)

The first issue of The Blue Mountain Star appeared on Saturday 5 January 1929, printed and published by the Blue Mountains Newspapers Ltd. at their office in Parke Street, Katoomba. The paper reached issue No.6 of Vol.3 (7 February 1931) when the management informed readers “that circumstances have arisen, largely due to the present trade depression, which will compel it to suspend publication of the journal temporarily.” The Star did not reappear.

 

The Blackheath Beacon (1930-1931) 

Joseph Bennett & Son began publication of The Blackheath Beacon in November 1930. A local office and printery was opened in Blackheath on the corner of Hat Hill Road and Wentworth Street and the paper circulated through Blackheath, Medlow Bath, Mount Victoria and Hartley Vale. However, the Beacon proved not to be “a paying concern” and the local office closed in February 1931. The paper continued to be printed at Bennett’sCascade Street office in Katoomba for another month or so but finally ceased publication with its twentieth issue on 27 March 1931.

 

Blackheath Bulletin (1929-1931)

A paper known as The Blackheath Bulletin was published for a short period in the early 1920s. The offices of the Bulletin were in “Oakdene”, Govetts Leap Road, Blackheath.

 

The Chronicle (1929)

The Chronicle was published weekly by Joseph Bennett and Edmund Collins (late editor of The Katoomba Daily) at Bennett’s office and printery on the corner of Bathurst Road and Cascade Street, Katoomba. Beginning publication on Thursday 15 August 1929, it circulated in Katoomba, Blackheath and Leura for only nine issues. The editors spoke in their closing remarks of a “bitter campaign” waged against them from the start. The Katoomba Daily, it seems, lowered the cost of advertising to levels The Chronicle could not match.

 

The Hospital Saturday News (1930)

Printed by Joseph Bennett and published for the Blue Mountains District Anzac Memorial Hospital Board by Charles Lawson Dash of Leura, this paper circulated throughout the Blue Mountains. When it began and when it ceased is unknown.

 

The Independent (1930-1931)

The Independent was owned, published and edited by Thomas Walter Guest and printed at the offices of Joseph Bennett & Son. It began publication on Wednesday 14 May 1930, appeared weekly and circulated through Katoomba, Blackheath and Leura. It appears to have survived for just under a year.

 

The Record of the Blue Mountains (1924)

The Record began in August 1921 as The Catholic News of the Blue Mountains, a monthly published by the Katoomba Catholic Club. Outgrowing its role as a parish bulletin and widening its appeal to include the non-Catholic community, the name was changed.

 

The Enterprise (1913) 

 

In June 1913 a small newspaper called The Enterprise begun in Katoomba. According to the Echo’s announcement of its birth, the paper “had been hatching for a considerable period as an advertising sheet.”

 

The Mountain Daily (1919-1920)

The Mountain Daily began publishing in 1919. The July 1919 issue was printed and published by Charles Gordon Buchanan at premises in Main Street, Katoomba.

 

The Blue Mountains Times (1931-1937)

The first issue of The Blue Mountains Times appeared on Friday, 16 October 1931. It circulated from Mount Victoria to Hazelbrook/Woodford and was printed and published at the office of Joseph Bennett & Son in Cascade Street, Katoomba.

 

The Blue Mountains Advertiser (1940-1954)

The Advertiser was a weekly paper that began publication in 1939. Its circulation encompassed virtually the whole of the Blue Mountains, from Glenbrook (and later Emu Plains) to Mount Victoria.