The Cairns Post – 140 + years of serving the news

In its first official years of publication (1882), the newspaper The Cairns Post was distributed on a weekly basis each Thursday.

Wimble and Wall were named proprietors of The Cairns Post in the February 1884 edition with the office situated in Lake Street, Cairns.

The first printed volume that appeared in Trove (National Library of Australia) shows the February 1884 newspaper was 4 pages in length and it was customary at the time for the advertising to be on the front page.

Page 1 featured the region’s primary businesses and proprietors, agents for insurance, banks, general merchants and merchandise, hotels and the names of hoteliers, timber and hardware suppliers, and a registered druggist / chemist.

According to a Wikipedia entry Frederick Wimble was a second-generation ink maker and manufacturer. Like many businesses following the 1893 depression, the newspaper office closed production and Wimble returned to Sydney.

Founded by Edwin Draper in 1895, the Morning Post filled the void.  Several years later, in 1907 the title of his newspaper was changed to The Cairns Morning Post and in 1909 it was renamed The Cairns Post.

It was during this period the newspaper relocated to the large and impressive building in Abbott Street, Cairns which was designed by Edwin’s brother Harvey Draper. 

In late 1932, the newspaper applauded its 50 years of progress, extension and enterprise with the headline:

The Cairns Post makes and records history.

The Cairns Post - the citizens of Cairns and the people of the Far North, have ascended, side by side, step by step, the path of progress. Year after year they have achieved a fair and gratifying measure of prosperity.

 

In these annals of accomplishment, The Cairns Post has endeavoured to promote, as well as register, the enduring welfare of the whole community.

Source: Cairns Post (Qld. : 1909 – 1954) Sat 31 Dec, 1932.

Moments in Time - Cairns Post 120th anniversary historical souvenir

In 2002 and for its 120th anniversary celebration, the editor of the Cairns Post supported a souvenir collection and 10 volume series of booklets entitled Moments in Time.

Each featured a theme, highlighting the milestones, pioneers, faces & places, buildings, mining, sugar, timber, sport, the sea and tourism in the far north. The free publications were inserted into the Cairns Post newspaper sponsored by Ergon Energy. Local author and historian Alan Hudson assisted Cairns Post Ltd with the project. The illustrations in black and white featured different towns and communities and the wonderful images highlight the early history of the region.

Note: In April 2021, the Editor of the Cairns Post announced the sale of the Abbott Street building, indicating it was time for the business to move to new premises.  

Readers today can subscribe and receive a digital version of the Cairns Post delivered to wherever they are or access the headlines and articles shared on social media. The technological changes and digital influences in the 21st century has changed the way newspapers operate.

Now in its 141st year of serving the communities of Cardwell in the south to Cape York in the north and the Tablelands in the west, the Cairns Post is a multimedia version and part of News Corp Australia which incorporates the Tablelander, the Port Douglas and Mossman Gazette and the Innisfail Advocate.

So …readers out there!  

Can you tell us where the Cairns Post newspaper office is in 2023?

Anne Scheu, Collection Engagement, Queensland Memory
(Former resident of Cairns from 2000 – 2006)

Collection Links

• View more Cairns Post collections from the John Oxley Library on our catalogue. 
• The Cairns Post history making moments
• Moments in time collection : 120th anniversary historical souvenir / Ergon Energy.

Digitised versions of the Cairns Post

• Cairns Post (Qld. : 1884 - 1893)
• Cairns Morning Post (Qld. : 1907 - 1909)
• Cairns Post (Qld. : 1909 - 1954)