Microsoft Word - LSFS newspapers

HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS

HAWKESBURY LIBRARY SERVICE - LOCAL STUDIES FACT SHEET

Information located from newspapers is often unique and not found in other sources. Newspapers are

an important source for both local and family history research. The first newspaper established in

Australia was the Sydney Gazette & New South Wales Advertiser which commenced in March 1803.

Historical background on local newspapers

Although a number of newspapers have been published in the Hawkesbury district throughout the

19th and 20th centuries, not all have survived. Despite the area being settled by Europeans from

1794, the first known permanent newspaper in the Hawkesbury district was the Windsor Express

published between 1843 and 1844. Prior to this, Hawkesbury inhabitants relied on the Sydney

newspapers (such as the Sydney Gazette and Sydney Morning Herald) to keep them abreast of

events. The Hawkesbury Courier appeared during 1844-1846, Windsor Telegraph in 1850, followed

by the Windsor Review in 1857. There were no newspaper for nearly a decade and then the Windsor

Advertiser was established in 1860 for a short period. Only incomplete copies of the Windsor Express

and Hawkesbury Courier have survived.

During the 1870s-1880s there were a number of significant newspapers produced including the

Hawkesbury Times 1870s-1874 (the offices were burnt down during the Great Fire in Windsor in

1874, so no copies seem to have survived); The Australian: Windsor & Richmond Advertiser 1873-

1899; the Hawkesbury Chronicle 1881-1888 & the Windsor & Richmond Gazette 1888 (produced

today as the Hawkesbury Gazette) The Hawkesbury

Advocate was short-lived appearing from 1899-1900.

The other substantial newspaper was the Hawkesbury

Herald which appeared between 1902 and 1944 when it

was incorporated with the Gazette. The Hawkesbury

Courier (a free paper) commenced in 1932 but was

taken over by the Gazette in 1934. Some 20th century

newspapers include the Hawkesbury Nepean Review

1972-1976 which became Macquarie Towns Review

1977-1982, Hawkesbury Independent magazine 1995-

2007 and Hawkesbury Weekender 2008-2009. The

Hawkesbury District Independent 2010+ and the

Hawkesbury Gazette (previously the Windsor &

Richmond Gazette) still operate.

What can you find?

Obituaries can reveal information about the deceased’s life and achievements. Births, marriages and

death notices are also useful, particularly for family history research. Social history, opinions and

debates of the time can also be located. Other things that may be found:

• Legal information such as court cases

• Shipping news including arrivals & departures

• Land records

• Businesses & advertisements

• Places - Local news & social activities

• Images

• War & conflict as well as military information

• Transport

• Recreation & leisure

• Background information of a particular place & time

•

The Local Studies Collection holds Hawkesbury newspapers that have survived and remain in

existence today, as well as some general newspapers. For additional information and confirm titles

and holdings, check our Library's online catalogue at

http://catalogue.hawkesbury.nsw.gov.au/amlibweb/

Trove

Hosted by the National Library of Australia you can

search newspapers and access the original digitised

copy and transcript online for free. Established in 2009,

the Australian Newspaper Digitisation Program covers

1803 to 1955 and much more. This is an excellent resource and includes city and regional papers for

all over Australia. Includes Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney Gazette, Argus and is being updated and

added to regularly http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper

Searching on Trove

Trove is fairly simple to use with a basic search and advanced search for more options. Start off with

a keyword in the simple search box. Be general and not too specific and then you can refine using

categories such as State, Title, Decade, Illustrated or Word Count. Advanced techniques using

phrase and exact text searching are also available. You can also search one particular title if

necessary but try not to narrow your search as it is amazing to see how many newspapers reported

on events not in their local area. You may find something about the Hawkesbury area in an Adelaide

or Broken Hill newspaper.

From Trove, you can view text of an article or the actual article from a newspaper. Trove allows the

public to correct text and add keywords. You can save articles or print them. It also provides ready-

made citations. Trove has some useful hints on how to make the most of your searches available, see

http://help.nla.gov.au/trove/using-trove/digitised-newspapers/searching-in-newspapers

For more information about Trove, see our Fact Sheet titled RESEARCHING ON TROVE

Hawkesbury newspapers online for free

Hawkesbury Library supported the digitisation project of the following newspapers from our collection

and these are available to access for free online at as part of the Australian Newspaper Digitisation

Program on Trove http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper

• Australian: Windsor, Richmond & Hawkesbury Advertiser 1873 - 1899 (Incomplete)

• Hawkesbury Advocate 1899 - 1900 (Incomplete)

• Hawkesbury Chronicle 1881 - 1888 (Incomplete)

• Hawkesbury Courier 1844 - 1846

• Hawkesbury Gazette see Windsor & Richmond Gazette

• Hawkesbury Herald 1902-1904, 1923-1924 & 1937-1945 (Incomplete)

• Windsor & Richmond Gazette (Hawkesbury Gazette) 1888-1965

• Windsor Express 1843 - 1844 (Incomplete)

Hawkesbury newspapers on microfilm

Local newspapers, listed above and available on Trove, are still accessible in our library on microfilm.

Trove normally only provides access to papers up to 1955. Newspapers after 1955 are also available

to view. Microfilm copies are also available to view at the State Library of NSW and National Library of

Australia and sometimes available through your own library via Inter Library Loan. Current issues of

newspapers (dating after 1955) including: Hawkesbury Courier, Hawkesbury District Independent,

Hawkesbury Gazette (previously Windsor & Richmond Gazette), Hawkesbury Independent 1995-

2007, Hawkesbury Nepean Review 1972 – 1976, Macquarie Towns Review 1977 – 1982, plus

Hawkesbury Way and Northern News are also held.

The following newspapers cover adjoining areas in the Hawkesbury but also have useful information

about this district. The Cumberland Mercury 1875-1895 and Cumberland Argus 1888–1904 covered

Parramatta and Hills district and included Hawkesbury info. Maitland Mercury 1843-1849 covered

Maitland and the Hunter and the Nepean Times 1882-1921 concentrate on the Penrith area. Other

newspapers accessible in the Library on microfilm include: Australian 1824–1848; Australian Town &

Country Journal 1870–1886; Sydney Gazette 1803-1842 (1803-1811 facsimiles shelved at

RL079.944 SYD) Sydney Morning Herald 1831-1954, 1991-2015 Sydney Monitor 1838–1841 and

Sydney Chronicle (Australasian Chronicle) 1846–1848.

Hawkesbury Library is looking for missing local newspapers, e.g.

Hawkesbury Herald,

The Australian

and

Hawkesbury Chronicle

. If you know the whereabouts of any

copies, please advise. Contact details p. 4

Current newspapers

The only weekly newspaper, the Hawkesbury Gazette ceased publication in July 2023. The monthly

Hawkesbury District Independent is still produced and kept permanently. Copies of the Hawkesbury

Gazette and Hawkesbury Courier are kept on microfilm. General newspapers that are published and

kept by the Library are as follows: The Sydney Morning Herald, Daily Telegraph and The Australian

are held for one month. The Land is held for 3 months.

Clippings and indexes

A selection of local newspapers clippings are housed under appropriate subject headings in our Local

Studies Collection pamphlet file. A card index on births, deaths, engagements and marriages is held,

it is not complete but covers the 1980s-1990s.

Ryerson Index

Originally a free index of contemporary death notices and obituaries http://www.ryersonindex.org/

from Australian newspapers. The Ryerson Index created by volunteers, has extended its coverage to

include from 1803 to the present. Funeral notices, probate notices and obituaries may also be

included.

Obituaries Australia

Obituaries Australia is a digital repository of obituaries http://oa.anu.edu.au/ published in newspapers,

as well as journals, magazines and bulletins. It has links to the Australian Dictionary of Biography

http://adb.anu.edu.au/

Sydney Morning Herald Archives and Sydney Morning Herald (SMH)

The library has a subscription for the SMH Archives which covers the years 1955 to 1995. The Library

holds the SMH on microfilm from 1842-1954 which is also available on Trove, and then on microfilm

1996 until 2015. The SMH Archives which covers the years 1955-1995 is available to access for free

via the Eresources of the State Library of NSW site https://eresources.sl.nsw.gov.au/sydney-morning-

herald-and-sun-herald-archive-1955-feb-1995 and log in using your library membership number.

British Newspaper Archive

The British Newspaper Archive (BNA) is a project between the British

Library and Brightsolid with over 630 titles. Local and regional newspapers

from UK and Ireland covering 1700 to 1950. Some national papers included

but majority of content is 19th and 20th century. The index is free to check

but costs to review articles http://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/

Hawkesbury Library has a subscription to the British Newspaper Archive

and it is free to use while visiting Windsor or Richmond libraries. It is necessary to register using your

email to access. See the BRITISH NEWSPAPER ARCHIVE fact sheet for more information.

Papers Past

Papers Past http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast is New Zealand’s answer to Trove. It

contains more than 4 million pages of digitised New Zealand newspapers and periodicals and covers

the years 1839 to 1948 and includes over 130 titles from all regions.

Google News Archive

Established by Google, Google News Archive http://www.google.com/archivesearch is free to use and

useful for historical details. A useful feature is the creation of timelines which show selected results

from relevant time periods.

Overseas newspapers

Many overseas newspapers can be accessed online via the State Library of NSW and National

Library of Australia for FREE via their eResources. To access newspapers available online, via State

Library of NSW, go to the Eresources page https://eresources.sl.nsw.gov.au/search and log in using

your library membership number. There are a number of databases covering the 1700s to 1950s.

Databases

The Library also has subscriptions to Find My Past http://www.findmypast.com.au and

AncestryLibrary http://www.ancestrylibrary.com to use in the library for free. Both of these databases

have datasets relating to newspapers and newspaper clippings and include overseas newspapers.

More information & Websites

There are a number of useful websites providing additional information including:

Cora Num’s websites for Genealogists (Australian) http://coraweb.com.au/websites/newspapers/

List of newspapers in NSW https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_newspapers_in_New_South_Wales

List of Australian newspapers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_newspapers_in_Australia

Online Historical Newspapers http://sites.google.com/site/onlinenewspapersite/

Cyndi’s list http://www.cyndislist.com/newspapers

Guide to Australian Newspapers http://www.newspapers.com.au/

Chronicling America http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/newspapers/

NewspaperSG (Singapore & Malaya papers) http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/default.aspx

List of online newspaper archives https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_online_newspaper_archives

Online Historical Newspapers Website https://sites.google.com/site/onlinenewspapersite/

For more information about Trove, see our Fact Sheet titled RESEARCHING ON TROVE

Gazette Offices in George Street Windsor circa 1900s.

Courtesy Hawkesbury Library Service

Prepared by the Local History Librarian & updated 30/7/2023

Contact Information

ADDRESS HOURS LOCAL HISTORY CONTACTS

Hawkesbury Library Service Monday to Friday 9am-7pm (02) 4560 4466 or 4560 4460

Hawkesbury Central Library Saturday 9am-1pm [email protected]

Deerubbin Centre (Ground floor) Sunday 2pm-5pm http://www.hawkesbury.nsw.gov.au/library

300 George Street Closed Public Holidays http://www.facebook.com/HawkesburyLibrary

WINDSOR NSW 2756

Access the catalogue

https://aurora.hawkesbury.nsw.gov.au/library/