Australian Newspaper History Group Newsletter No 31 February 2005 Page 11
and his first wife, Betty, who died in 1973, are working in Victorian newspapers. They are:
Elizabeth Frances (Libby) Scullie, who is the classifieds coordinator for North East
Newspapers, the Wangaratta-based provincial group owned by Hartley and Maureen Higgins;
Catherine Margaret (Kate) Gannon, who works in advertising at the Sunraysia Daily,
Mildura; and Megan Frances Gannon, who is a journalist at the Colac Herald, owned by
Mary Gannon, widow and second wife of Frank Gannon (source: E-mail message from Libby
Scullie, 4 February 2005). See also 31.51.3.
31.30 EDITORIAL REINS CHANGE
Graham Rich, a journalist for 39 years and Rural Press employee for 25 years, has
retired. He has most recently edited papers in South Australia, including the Eyre
Peninsula Tribune, the Whyalla News, the Victor Harbor Times, the Murray Valley
Standard, Murray Bridge, and the Transcontinental, Port Augusta. Rich was
responsible for the growth of the Roxby Downs Sun, a paper that was transformed
from a fortnightly quarterfold two years ago to a “vibrant weekly tabloid newspaper”.
Jonathan Brooks has succeeded Rich as editor of the Transcontinental (Rural Press
News, December 2004, p.10).
Mitchell Murphy, for two years the editor of the Illawarra Mercury, Wollongong, has
been promoted to group editor of Fairfax Community Newspapers, NSW. He replaces
Peter Allen, who has retired. The Mercury editorship is being advertised (Mediaweek,
24-31 January 2005, p.10; see Mediaweek, 14 February 2005, p.7, for interview with
Allen).
Cootamundra Herald editor Peita Willmott will leave this month to move to Wagga
Wagga. Peita joined the Herald staff, fresh from Charles Sturt University as a cadet
journalist and became the editor after a short stint as the editor of the Grenfell Record.
The Cootamundra Herald refers to Willmott as the “long-serving” editor. She was
there a month under four years (Cootamundra Herald, 16 February 2005; see 12.20).
Rod Kirkpatrick writes: It shows how brief editorships have become on many of the
chain-owned newspapers. Barry Clarke was managing editor of the Cootamundra
Herald for 31 years and retired in 1997.
31.31 RURAL PRESS IMPRESSES INVESTORS
Rural Press Ltd has raised its half-year net profit by 39 per cent to $58.4 million. The group,
whose share price has risen by 51 per cent this year, declared a first interim dividend of 13c
per ordinary share and 14.3c per preferred share. It also introduced a new second interim
dividend of 6c and 6.6c respectively. This means Rural Press is now one of the few
companies to pay, effectively, quarterly dividends – in March, June, September and
November – and its dividend yield remains close to 5 per cent despite the massive share price
increase (Australian, 11 February 2005, p.19).
31.32 INTRODUCING THE NORTHERN TERRITORY TIMES
On 17 February the regional areas of the Northern Territory received a new weekly
newspaper, the Territory Times. The former Litchfield Times, it has decided to take on the
whole Territory (except Darwin) and the little local papers with a Thursday-published weekly
just for the outback (ABC Northern Territory Country Hour, 10 February 2005). The
Litchfield Times itself began life on the fringes of Darwin as the Humpty Doo and Rural Area
Times. Proprietor Val Smith, who founded the paper in 1983, plans to build the circulation
from the current 3,000 to about 20,000 by the end of the year and hopes to make it a bi-
weekly within 10 years. The Times has a staff of nine and is located in the Coolalinga
Shopping Village. Smith says that rather than giving Litchfield Shire less attention, the paper
will expand its cover of the rest of the Territory (Australian, Media section, 17 February
2005, p.21).