Wednesday 19 November 2014

MILESTONE: The Sunday Telegraph turns 75

On this day in 1939, Sir Frank Packer launched The Sunday Telegraph as the sister paper to The Daily Telegraph. In 1939, it was a broadsheet and cost threepenny (2 cents). The media baron wanted to take on the Sunday market and got his wish.

Page One of the first edition on November 19, 1939.

Three years later (1942), it was converted to a tabloid to overcome rationing of newsprint. 

Packer reigned supreme over the paper until he made a decision to sell the paper and The Daily Telegraph to Rupert Murdoch and News Limited. it has been in his hands ever since. 

I recently managed to get a scan of the cover of its 50th Anniversary Edition in 1989, which happened to be November 19, 1989. 



From its beginning, in 1939 the paper has grown to be the biggest selling newspaper in Australia. As of mid-2014, approximately 488 500 copies are printed each week with a readership of 1.3 million people. 

While it is a Sydney newspaper, the paper itself is widely available on Sundays in the ACT, Victoria and Queensland. I believe that it stemmed from the merger of the paper with The Sunday Australian in 1972. 

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