This week I set Graham a challenge. With the recent announcement that Australian Community Media were axing a whole lot of their regional local newspapers it was a relief to see that the Bega District News survived the chopping block.

Ben Smyth and his team at the BDN have been an amazing support and source of constant information for a community in trauma. If the droughts weren’t enough and the Tathra Bushfire in 2018 then to go through this recent summer of disaster with more fires and then Covid really was the straw that broke the camels back. Through all this the Bega District news set their own profits aside and recognised the essential nature of the information they could provide. All fire related articles on their site were offered free of charge, where there would normally be a pay wall.

Whilst a number of members of the BDN staff were facing the imminent loss of their own homes, they continued to keep the community up to date through it all.

With all that in mind, I thought, perhaps this week Graham’s reflections should look back at the history of newspapers on the Far South Coast.

 

 

Graham Farram is a local artists and historian who has, for a long time, been involved in the Bega Pioneers Museum. Each week Graham contributes his reflection on the history of the region. Using the collections of the Bega Library, the Pioneers Museum, the historical society and some poetry from his personal collection, Graham puts together a weekly local reflection for The Local Update.