150-year Special Edition

Yorke Peninsula

15O Country YEARS 1865-2015

Times

SOUVENIR BIRTHDAY EDITION

150

Yorke Peninsula CounTrY Times

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CelebraTing 150 Years – 1865-2015

Country Press Australia acknowledgement

bob yeAtes President, Country Press Australia THERE are not many businesses today that can celebrate 150 years’ service to the local community.

But Michael Ellis and his family at Kadina, South Australia, should be very proud of the endeavour of their forbears, grandfather Cecil J. G. Ellis and father Trevor F. Ellis, which helped them reach such a pinnacle.

The Ellis family newspaper, the Yorke Peninsula Country Times, has been recording and providing an advertising medium for the region in a responsible and creditable manner for a century and a half. It is an outstanding performance.

After 150 years the local newspaper is still the most powerful, credible and responsible news medium in the country, as local people are held accountable to local people, in an age of untouchable and faceless service providers.

The Ellis family, as it has for three generations, runs a responsible local public business.

Although things have changed a little, with the frantic entry to communications of social digital mediums, the local newspaper will always have a place in communities, as it has a responsible management style linked to the local community.

Michael and his family have served the newspaper industry at a local, state and national level and, as president of Country Press Australia, I congratulate them on the honourable history they have created.

ONE EXAMPLE...

The YP Country Times belongs to the community and helps in many ways, including free promotion of countless local events, such as the Northern and Southern Yorke Peninsula Relays for Life. Pictured is the Country Times team at the 2012 NYP Relay for Life, back: Sue Bussenschutt, Rhiannon Koch, Amie Brokenshire, Leonie O’Leary, Marcia Guerrero, front: Jodee Cavenett, Lindsay Rover, Jo Elsworthy, Sonny Coombs.

A remarkable milestone

Andrew mAnuel President, Country Press SA CONGRATULATIONS to Michael and Kaylene Ellis and the diligent team at the YP Country Times on celebrating this remarkable milestone.

Spending 150 years in any business is no mean feat, especially in an industry which has the constraints of regular deadlines, persevering at odds with machinery and delivery.

During the 150 years the newspaper industry has gone through many changes, but at the heart of any newspaper the modus operandi remains unchanged, to publish news and photographs without bias while providing a network for business customers to promote themselves to a local audience.

Country Press SA took an extensive phone survey last year which showed 85 per cent of people in regional SA read their country paper.

Each newspaper purchased is read by an average of three people, effectively trebling circulation figures, and 53 per cent of people see the local advertising content of regional newspapers as valuable, meaning they like and read the ads.

Interestingly, is 80 per cent of 30 to 39 year olds read their local newspaper.

Country Press SA celebrated its centenary three years ago, having been founded in 1912.

Both Michael and his father Trevor have been valued stewards of the newspaper industry.

Trevor was a committee member for many years and president in 1981-1983, before being made life member. Michael followed the family tradition and is still a committee member today after having started in 1998, serving as president from 2007 to 2009.

All the best with your celebrations.

AT THE HEART OF OUR COMMUNITY For the past 150 years, the Yorke Peninsula Country Times has been at the heart of the Yorke Peninsula community as the main source for local news, views, information and more.

Written by Amie PriCe FOR many readers the Country Times is a lifeline, a link to what is going on around the peninsula. Each week, the journalists write thousands of words to share with our more than 20,000 readers.

The content is 100 per cent relevant to Yorke Peninsula and can’t be found anywhere else.

Additionally, the Country Times relies heavily on the community to contribute articles, sports results, photographs, letters, news tips and more.

“I like to think of the paper as belonging to everyone,” managing editor Michael Ellis said.

“So many people from across the peninsula contribute to the paper, it truly is a team effort which is appreciated by all of our readers.”

Whilst the Country Times editorial staff cover as much news and as many events as

possible, they can’t possibly know everything or be everywhere.

“Therefore we rely on community and sporting groups to contribute to the paper and in return we give them the space they need to share this information,” editor Amie Price said.

“We try to include almost everything which is sent to us and value the input from our readers.”

Farmer, founder and pastor of the Stansbury Community Church Robert “Bluey” Anderson was a regular columnist with The Pioneer and then the Country Times from 1968 to 1978.

“Some years ago, a man came up and told me while serving in Vietnam the peninsula guys would receive the paper and read my News and Views, he said they all needed that connection with home to cope,” Bluey said.

“It highlighted to me the Country Times is more than just reporting news for people to read.

“The paper pulls all areas of the peninsula

together — we know what’s happening everywhere and that helps us feel part of it.”

Wallaroo Community Development Association president Cathy Vluggen has contributed many articles and ideas about the group’s activities and appreciates the opportunity to promote projects and events.

“Our newspaper, the YP Country Times, has kept us all informed for many generations and I for one look forward to reading it from cover to cover each week,” she said.

“Caring for the local community is high on the agenda at the Country Times as the staff often help promote local organisations and causes through stories, photos and editorials.

“Many not-for-profit groups find it difficult to access funding for advertising so this is a service much appreciated by many.

“Congratulations to all who are, or have been, involved with the YP Country Times, your paper is a great asset to our community and you should be very proud.”

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Celebrating 150 Years – 1865-2015

REFLECTING ON A PROUD HISTORY

Written by michael ellis Owner/Managing Editor THE Yorke Peninsula Country Times has been part of my life for as long as I can recall. As a young boy I can remember visiting my father at work, and hearing the stories my grandfather told about his work at the paper.

As I grew older I did some casual work, collating the paper in the school holidays and the like. After I finished school I started an apprenticeship. One of the first jobs I had to do was to sprinkle water on the wooden floorboards to keep the dust down when I swept up.

When I first started we were still using hot metal, so I had to melt the lead and make lead ingots.

Ian Shaw and I did our apprenticeships at the same time and were perhaps two of the last apprentices to work with hot metal.

The YP Country Times has obviously been vital for our family. It has put food on our table and a roof over our heads for three generations.

But it is more than that. We get to help people.

The Country Times helps small organisations, charities, sporting clubs, fundraisers and much more.

Think Relay for Life, Make-A-Wish®, the CWA, the sporting results from croquet to cricket, golf to goal kickers, and much more.

We help businesses spread their selling message, keep the residents of YP informed with everything from council news, drug raids, From the Archives and club news just to name a few.

Readers can buy, sell and swap, announce new babies arriving, people tying the knot and pay their respects to the dearly departed.

It is rewarding work and I enjoy coming to work every day (well most anyway). My grandfather had a sign in his office, which he made my father recite every day, and I know it off by heart as well,

Each day I come to work to my tasks, Eager and glad to work, Grateful for the accomplishments of the past, But mindful that today demands the best that is in me.

I hope that everyone at the YPCT displays these qualities and it comes through our pages for you to read – that we do our best every day, to give you a wonderful read each week. The future is challenging and we are meeting this challenge. We have developed a new-look website, are embracing social media through Facebook and Twitter, and know the strength of the press will carry on.

Thank you for supporting us for the past 150 years and I hope you can continue to support us going into the future.

AWARD...

Geoff Brooks, Wayne Rivers, Michael Ellis, Ian “Bodgie” Shaw and Jamie Prout, circa 1988, holding an award for Best Typography.

You’re how old?

Gee, you hold your age well!

Congratulations on 150 years Yorke Peninsula Country Times!

The Rosewarne family congratu long-standing local fam lates another ily business

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Celebrating 150 Years – 1865-2015

A LOOK BACK AT YPCT’S HISTORY Written by rhiannon koch THE Yorke Peninsula Country Times has always been a family paper.

In 1865, twin brothers Andrew and David Taylor moved from Invercargill, New Zealand, to Wallaroo after hearing news of the rich copper finds in the area.

The brothers, who were born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1839, learned about the business working at several Scottish publications before eventually landing in Wallaroo.

The first issue of the Wallaroo Times and Mining Journal — only the fourth paper to be created in South Australia — was a four-page broadsheet filled with the local news, shipping movements, the latest mining reports, information from across the colony and advertisements.

In 1888 the brothers moved operations to Kadina and The Kadina and Wallaroo Times was born. The move from Elizabeth Street, Wallaroo, to Taylor Street, Kadina, was a result of the pressure put on the Taylors by Kadina traders who felt being the “biggest and most important town” it should own the paper.

Andrew was the writer of the paper’s

strong editorials until his sudden death in April 1891.

David took over operations soon after but, when he died in 1907, his wife Clara Furner-Taylor headed up the business until it was taken over by Andrew’s son William F. Taylor and James H. Pengelley in 1910.

The Taylor and Pengelley partnership lasted 25 years before Pengelley’s death in 1935, and he was succeeded by his son Fred.

Fred Pengelley became sole editor after Taylor’s death in 1942 but his widow, Agnes Taylor, retained a financial interest until 1962, when she ended her family’s 97-year association with the Times.

A year later, Pengelley sold his share to another family, Moonta’s C. J. G. and T. F. Ellis.

Cecil Ellis had started as a printer’s devil, or apprentice, at Moonta paper the People’s Weekly, in 1916, employment he gained in part because of his ability to spell fiery during his job interview.

Years later, as owner, Cecil would quiz applicants on their ability to spell, including the word fiery. His grandson Michael Ellis still employs the same tactic on occasion.

When he first began, Cecil was employed

by J. T. Hicks, of Moonta, and R. J. Hughes, of Wallaroo. In 1948, Cecil formed a

ThePower ofthePress Congratulations to Yorke Peninsula Countr y Times on its sesquicentennial. The Manuel family is proud of its association with the Ellis family. 30 years printing the Plains Producer…and still going strong.

Keep up the good work from ever yone at:

partnership with Hugh Hughes, son of R. J., and by 1954 was the sole owner.

Cecil’s son Trevor started at the Weekly as an apprentice at 15 and, in 1958, formed the Ellis and Ellis partnership. The partnership owned both the People’s Weekly and the Kadina and Wallaroo Times in 1963, printing each paper separately until April 1966, when the Weekly was incorporated into the Times to become the Kadina, Wallaroo and Moonta Times.

In 1968, another Moonta-based paper, the South Australian Farmer, owned by Mr and Mrs H. W. Tossell, merged with the Times. This resulted in what is now the Yorke Peninsula Country Times. The first edition was first printed on September 4, 1968.

The Yorke Peninsula Country Times was printed in Port Pirie until 1970 when the SA Farmer office in George Street, Moonta, was renovated to include a Rockwell Goss Community Press.

That same year, the Ellis family purchased the rights to YP News Pictorial (Yorketown), the amalgamation of the Maitland Watch and The Pioneer (SYP), creating a paper which covered the whole peninsula.

Trevor’s son Michael became the third generation to join the business in 1982.

PRESS COMMISSIONING 1979...

Elizabeth and Cecil Ellis, Leslie Starr, Dennis Gill, Wayne Rivers, John Prout, Wayne Edwards, Jack Francis, Trevor Ellis, Jeff Smith, Anne Weylandt and Narelle Woolford at the commissioning of the Times’ new press.

Yorke Peninsula Council region congratulates the Yorke Peninsula Country Times on its 150-year celebrations. Whilst Yorke Peninsula Council is a little younger than the YPCT (dating back to 1875 with the inception of the District Council of Melville) we still have long traditions of serving and supporting the communities of Yorke Peninsula to grow and prosper since those early days, something the Council has in common with the Country Times.

The Yorke Peninsula Council is the culmination of 15 previous Councils coming together since 1875 with Councils established in Dalrymple, Corporate Towns of Yorketown, Edithburgh and Maitland, District Councils of Yorke Peninsula (1) [1888 – 1969], Clinton, Tiparra, Warooka, Yorketown, Minlaton, Central Yorke Peninsula, and Yorke Peninsula (2) [1997 – 2013] and now Yorke Peninsula Council since 2013.

For the latest Council information please check out our website www.yorke.sa.gov.au SSTAR TAR OF THE N NORTH OR RTH T

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Celebrating 150 Years – 1865-2015

were forced to turn more to other industries including agriculture.

In the years after World War II, the newspaper printed an increasing number of articles and advertisements relating to agriculture, including the reports of the wool and wheat boards.

Women’s issues were also a strong focus of local papers, because the mining women were reportedly as outspoken as their male counterparts in many of the early disputes.

All local papers were supportive of women having the right to vote.

For almost 77 years, the paper was published bi-weekly (Tuesday and Wednesday) until a shortage of newsprint caused by World War II in 1942 pushed production back to once a week.

The changing Times

IN the days of the Wallaroo Times and Mining Journal, issues consisted of four broadsheet pages, as did the Moonta People’s Weekly.

When the Yorke Peninsula Country Times printed its first issue on September 4, 1968, it contained 16 tabloid pages and now is at an average of 50.

On seven occasions between 1985 and 1989 the paper consisted of a record 72 pages which was broken on December 11, 1990, with 80 pages.

Last year’s December 16 edition comprised 84 pages, including a 24-page Christmas lift out.

Much of the early editorial content in the papers, particularly in the Copper Coast, focused on the mines and the issues faced.

Detailed mining reports were regularly printed in the People’s Weekly until the end of all operations in 1938.

The Wallaroo Times and Mining Journal’s second editorial was written about the owners’ disagreement with the strike by workers at the Wallaroo Smelter caused by the treatment of their wives by the manager Captain Jones and the threat to have ore smelted in Newcastle.

In the 1874 Great Strike, the paper was criticised by the miners for its perceived lack of support and the April 11 editorial, which suggested the flooding of the shafts could have been prevented if the pumping operators remained at work.

Meanwhile, when major industrial action occurred in 1891 and the strike lasted for 18 weeks, the People’s Weekly gave its support to the men despite management not being convinced a strike was the best action.

While the World War I created the biggest boom the district had seen, after the

Our first full/process colour paper rolled off our press on August 5, 2003.

Moving to Goyder Street

war, the demand for copper dropped almost overnight, and by 1919 they were reporting the mining days would be over.

The Taylors were quite vocal in their initial editorials in the Wallaroo Times and Mining Journal, advocating their views for free trade, Australian independence from Britain and expressing a generally low opinion of politicians.

One such editorial attracted the wrath of a Member of Parliament who threatened to sue the Times over its content but fortunately for the Taylors the offended member later withdrew his suit.

Articles relating to agricultural interests and politics started to regularly appear in the pages of the Kadina and Wallaroo Times in the 1890s.

The People’s Weekly was not as outspoken in its editorial pieces but did take a strong stance against alcohol and gambling, especially in its earlier decades.

When large-scale copper mining finally collapsed in 1923, the local communities

150 years of bringing community events, local news, sport and advertising to the Yorke Peninsula!

MICHAEL Ellis purchased YPCT’s current premises at 31 Goyder Street, Kadina, previously Price’s Bakery, in October, 2003. From there, he started the process of consulting with architects, staff and family to see what they wanted and needed.

The first stage of the operation was relocating the printing presses from Moonta to Kadina, which occurred in October 2004.

Despite the move, the YP Country Times did not skip an issue and the next stage was to shift the pre-press, editorial and administration side of the business from the Taylor Street office.

Staff moved to the upgraded and roomy new offices in January 2008, and the site was officially opened in September that year.

The YP Country Times now employs more than 30 staff in its Kadina and Yorketown offices.

Thanks to Keith Bailey and Marilyn Philbey for their help collating this information.

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Congratulations on a great achievement.

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Celebrating 150 Years – 1865-2015

THEN vs NOW Written by NICK PERRY

WHEN the YP Country Times bought its first computer in 1976, it sent shockwaves through the staff. Many threatened to quit, rather than try to adopt the new technology.

“When that first box arrived in 1976 Dennis Gill said, ‘Geez, there are some headaches in there’,” Wayne Rivers recalled.

“I admit I was scared when the computers came in too.”

But computers would go on to make the paper business more streamlined and far less messy.

Previously, much of the paper was handwritten in pre-production. In fact, when handwritten articles are sent to the Times these days, the most experienced staff members are often asked to help decipher tricky penmanship.

The paper was typed on a machine called a linotype, meaning line of type, which had a keyboard about the same size as a computer keyboard.

However, the keys were separated into three sections — one for lower case letters, one for punctuation marks and numbers, one for capital letters.

The Country Times had two linotypes, one for regular-size font and one for all other font sizes such as headlines or adverts.

The firm also had an intertype which was used only for photo captions.

Nowadays articles are typed on the computer, sent to the editor for any alterations, and passed onto a production department which sets out how

each page will look using Apple Macs. Everyone in the office can access the articles via a shared computer system.

But in the linotype days, workers would punch the keys leading to numerous mechanisms shifting around to form the type.

The machines featured lead melting pots, and a wrong move could result in the operator being squirted with hot lead.

With the turn of a wheel, the lead type would go through knives to tidy it up and then onto a tray. Workers would remove the type and place it on a galley. Once the full article had been typed up, the operator would put a sheet of paper on the proof type, creating a “galley proof” for the proof reader.

“The goal was to be as clean a typesetter as possible, so you didn’t have to make many corrections after proof reading,” Wayne said.

Today, the pages are printed for proof reading with the click of a button on the Apple Macs. The proof readers make any corrections which are typed straight into the article. We use “plates” — large aluminium sheets — to feed into the press and print the newspaper. A high-tech computer-to-plate machine, imported from Belgium a little more than five years ago, prints four pages at a time out as a plate and voilá.

Things weren’t always so simple.

Once the linotype work was done, the articles went into a “form” of four pages, just like today, incorporating photos, adverts and everything else.

The form was tightened so all the type wasn’t lost when the worker lifted it up. It then went onto the bed of the press.

Today, large rolls of paper run continuously through the press and come out in sections of the newspaper — for instance, the front and back eight pages — one after the other. It is clean work thanks to the Times’ Goss-brand press but, before the computer age, the paper was printed on a dirty old Miehle press.

“It was a dirty job, you would have ink spray all over the walls,” Wayne said.

“You would go to blow your nose and it would just be all black, but I never minded.”

On the old Miehle, a printer would lift a pile of papers onto a sideboard and feed each sheet individually into a series of lathes. The process was called boning, and there was an art to using an instrument to carefully shift only the very top piece of paper each time. Instead of using one long run of paper, this process would have to be repeated 3500 times, and that was for only four pages.

Past employee Jeff Smith had the record of two hours and 10 minutes to do a full 3500, although he did have an apprentice fixing any paper jams.

Unlike today’s paper which comes off the press already folded, the old printers would have to take the printed copies to a folding machine before they were tied and distributed to newsagents.

After years with the old Miehle, the Times was temporarily printed at Port Pirie before the Goss press arrived. It is still used today, even though most aspects of the paper production process have changed dramatically.

The old proof press is at the Kadina museum, along with a linotype and press which were the same as those used at the local paper.

Congratulations to the Yorke Peninsula Country Times on its 150th milestone – a valued and respected newspaper which has reported on the region's schools of the day – 150 years of learning, teaching and acknowledging our region’s students – the future of our community.

Bute and District Kindergarten and Rural Care

Port Broughton Kindergarten

Bute Primary School

Kadina Preschool Centre

Port Broughton Area School

Kadina Memorial School

Wallaroo Preschool Centre

Moonta Kindergarten

Wallaroo Mines Primary School

Moonta Area School

Wallaroo Primary School

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Celebrating 150 Years – 1865-2015

Trevor Ellis

FAMILY BUSINESS Written by karina natt

LINOTYPE... Dennis Gill at the linotype machine on which he started his apprenticeship in 1958. Dennis still works at the Country Times today.

IN 1954, after nine years of schooling, Trevor Ellis became the second generation of his family to enter the newspaper business. He was following in the footsteps of his father, Cecil Ellis, who had joined the People’s Weekly in Moonta as a printer’s devil (apprentice) in the 1920s after six years’ schooling.

When Cecil started, the People’s Weekly was owned

by J.T. Hicks and R.J. Hughes, who had taken over from founding owner Thomas Stratton and editor, Anglican minister Reverend S. Moncrieff.

In the early days, the People’s Weekly was a big paper, with about 10,000 people living in Moonta, when the mines closed in the 1920s its circulation reduced significantly.

“I started work as an apprentice for my father after he had purchased Mr Hicks’ share in 1946,” Trevor said.

“For about four or five years, my job involved setting newspapers as a hand compositor.

“Then the People’s Weekly purchased a linotype machine which I learned to operate and I did that for about the next four years before I joined my father in running the business.”

Trevor didn’t think twice about joining his father.

“There were lots of jobs in those days; for example, Telecom and the railways, but my father said you’d better come to work so off I went and it’s been good,” he said.

In 1966, Cecil and Trevor acquired the Kadina and Wallaroo Times and in 1968 the masthead changed to the YP Country Times. In 1970 the YP Country Times became the only paper on Yorke Peninsula.

Trevor and his wife Jenifer have two sons and a

daughter, and their elder son Michael decided to join his father after completing school.

“Unlike my father and I, Michael finished his schooling as I thought it would be good for him to have his matriculation,” Trevor said.

“He started as an apprentice in about 1982.

“It is a fair size business and when I was about 60 years old I decided I’d gone through the business of running a printing works and bringing the paper into the computer age and it was time to stop.

“Michael took over managing and he has done a terrific job with our new building and our press.”

The YP Country Times is one of just six papers in South Australia with printing presses on site.

“We have everything in our Kadina factory and we can do all the work ourselves,” Trevor said.

“We have been approached to sell but Michael and I always said no, we wanted to keep it in the family as we are one of the few family-owned papers left in SA.” Trevor has witnessed several significant changes in technology since 1954, with computers perhaps the biggest development.

“Today we have 24 computers, a mix of PCs and Macs, all connected to a main server” he said.

“We embraced printing offset with our press.

“At first I purchased one unit, capable of printing eight black and white pages at once.

“As Michael progressed he added the rest and we now have a press capable of printing 32 pages at a time, including 20 pages of colour.

“We used to use one tonne of newsprint for an entire year and it would come by train.

“My father and I would go on our bikes to the train to get the individual sheets of paper in small loads and take it back to the office. Now we use two tonnes a week and the paper comes on reels.”

Trevor said in recent years there has been a lot of negativity about the future of newspapers but it doesn’t worry him.

“I read this business about newspapers going downhill but I don’t think the YP Country Times has,” he said.

“I’ve been through peaks and troughs and they will continue. Our circulation is still up so I think it looks pretty healthy myself.”

CONGRATULATIONS We hope 150 years is just the start!

Thank you, on behalf of the Copper Coast community, for keeping us informed of current news and events.

– Peter Harder, Chief Executive Officer

PASKEVILLE SA 2015 29, 30 SEPT & 1 OCT PROSPECTUS NOW AVAILABLE

celebrat

Enquiries to the Administrator

ing

12 yea0 rs

Elaine Bussenschutt OAM PO Box 162, Kadina SA 5554 P: (08) 8827 2040 F: (08) 8827 1011

E: ypfd@netyp.com.au W: www.ypfielddays.com.au

Steven Griffiths MP Member for Goyder Working for you in Goyder

Congratulations to the Yorke Peninsula Country Times on celebrating 150 years!

A magnificent achievement for a family operated newspaper and an informative read each week with production completed right here on Yorke Peninsula

Phone 8832 2455 Fax 8832 2699

Email goyder@parliament.sa.gov.au Website www.stevengriffiths.net

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South Australia’s Premier Rural Event BIENNIAL EVENT EST. 1894 – AUSTRALIA’S OLDEST FIELD DAYS

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Celebrating 150 Years – 1865-2015

DORIS REMINISCES

ACCOUNTING FOR 45 YEARS Written by Sonny CoombS

GREAT FRIENDS... Sharon Dodd and Doris Boyd remain great friends today.

Doris Boyd has fond memories of working at the Times for more than four decades.

Written by Sonny CoombS SHE started at the South Australian Farmer, owned by Mr and Mrs H. W. Tossell, in the 1950s before it merged with the Kadina, Wallaroo and Moonta Times in 1968 to become the Yorke Peninsula Country Times.

“I started as a typist at the SA Farmer owned by Mr H. W. Tossell who had a vision it would become the one farming newspaper for all rural areas,” Doris said.

“We worked from his home at

Lipson Avenue but the printing works were done at Moonta.”

Doris said when she started at the Kadina, Wallaroo and Moonta Times she didn’t have a specific role.

“We used to answer phones, do bookwork, typing and the job printing quite often needed to be collated which we did,” she said.

“Working at the Country Times was great because when I was at the SA Farmer I was usually working on my own.”

It wasn’t until the mid-1970s Doris was asked to take over sub-editing in the editorial department, which she would soon help run as the news editor.

“I had always been a great reader and loved words,” Doris said.

When she started there weren’t computers and typing wasn’t an easy task.

“I wonder how many of today’s young keyboard operators would even know what a typewriter looks like,” Doris said.

“As I remember you typed away and when you almost reached the end of the line a warning bell would sound.

“You swiftly assessed how much more you could get into that line of type, typed it and then grasped a lever and pushed the carriage back so you could start a new line.

“You actually typed directly onto a sheet of paper which was threaded through a couple of rollers and eventually the typewriter ribbon would start to wear out and you would have to change it.”

Doris said she had great times working with everyone at the Country Times but especially Sharon Dodd.

“When you work with someone you get to think the same way,” Doris said.

“You couldn’t walk past Dennis (Gill) without him wanting you to give him a shoulder massage so you had to sit there and give his shoulders a rub which you really didn’t have time for.

“I remember one day I had to walk past him and didn’t have time to rub his shoulders so I dropped to the floor to crawl past.

“The funny thing was I actually I met Sharon on the floor crawling the other way to avoid having to do the same!”

Our family and the community congratulates the YPCT on producing a paper regularly for 150 years!

IF you have ever called the Country Times office to place an advert, pay a bill or to speak to a journalist, chances are you’ve also spoken to Sharon Dodd.

Sharon worked at the Country Times for 45 years in the administration department.

Sharon left school age 16 to work at the then-Kadina, Wallaroo and Moonta Times, managed by Trevor Ellis, on June 26, 1967.

Sharon said she didn’t need references because Trevor always believed if he knew the family then his choice would be okay.

In her time at the newspaper Sharon witnessed four and half decades of fashion changes and incredible technological advances.

Any errors made in the early days required strenuous work to correct on the Gestetner; however, nowadays a simple click of the button does the trick.

She said a momentous occasion for the Country Times was when the first printing press was purchased and the business went from dirty to clean printing.

“It was really special in 1979 when we got our first printing press in Moonta because prior to that people had go to Port Pirie and Adelaide to get the paper printed and all the travelling worried me,” Sharon said.

“They were carting heavy papers so I was always in touch with them to see how they were going and if they got a flat tyre we had to work out how we would get to them.

“It was challenging because I was worried about them being on the road and getting the paper back to be collated and then out to the shops.

“No one was ever hurt but there were lots of anecdotes about getting the paper back so when we got our own press in Moonta it was wonderful.”

Sharon was always a favourite around the Times office due to her sociable personality and, of course, the fact she made sure everyone was paid!

She worked with three generations of the Ellis family before retiring in 2012.

The president of Country Press Australia, Mr Bob Yeates, of Bairnsdale, Victoria, together with the president of Country Press South Australia, Mr Andrew Manuel, of Balaklava, South Australia, congratulate the Yorke Peninsula Country Times on its 150th year of serving the Yorke Peninsula community and its 100-year association with Country Press.

Keeping the readers in touch with YP events.

Country newspapers are the lifeblood of country communities, and will continue to be for the next 150 years!

30-32 Graves Street, Kadina 8821 1641

Yorke peninsula CountrY times

9

Celebrating 150 Years – 1865-2015

KEN & GILLY CLOCK UP 106 YEARS COMBINED Between them Wayne “Ken” Rivers and Dennis “Gilly” Gill have clocked up 106 years working at the YP Country Times.

Written by Sonny CoombS DENNIS Gill started at YPCT 57 years ago as a general printer and today works in the printing room on Tuesdays.

“Ken (Wayne Rivers) and I played tennis together in the early years and he was a bit younger than me but we knocked around together,” Dennis said.

“We had some great times over the years.”

Dennis isn’t done working for the paper yet.

“I hope to stick around for a while and keep collating on Tuesdays,” he said.

Dennis said after 57 years he is part of the furniture and has enjoyed his time at work.

“I had just completed my second year at high school when my father told me the local paper was after an apprentice,” Dennis said.

“So he arranged an interview for me, I got the job and then commenced a six-year apprenticeship as a general printer.”

He said he was thrown into the deep end when someone left the Country Times to pursue a career at The Advertiser.

“I was in charge of typesetting for a number of years,” he said.

“The biggest change in my area was learning to type on a completely different keyboard when computers came in.

“After about 15 years on a linotype we had to learn how to use a different keyboard and different technology which was quite challenging.

“For 15 years we were used to

preparing the newspaper a certain way and then the basic computer came in which changed everything.

“When I started it was only an eight-page paper and everything was done manually and nothing was done by computers.”

Dennis said he was also around when the Country Times celebrated its 100 years, which makes him feel old.

“After all those years a lot of people can’t wait to finish employment but I didn’t think I was ready to retire, I enjoy the company,” he said.

Wayne started as an apprentice working under Dennis 49 years ago and now works one day a week in the editorial department.

“I worked for 18 months in the Wallaroo Post Office and then two apprenticeships came up including one as a carpenter and one as a printer,” Wayne said.

“There were six applicants who put in for the job but I feel what helped me was I used to play tennis with Dennis.”

Wayne said he remembered planning many pranks with Dennis and getting into mischief.

“In the beginning Dennis and I had to learn typing when computers came in and we used to go down the back where Sharon Dodd would teach us,” he said.

“We would be down the back with Sharon sitting in the middle and she had a little ruler to give us a tap at times because we liked to muck around.

“We had some really good times working, and had a lot of fun getting up to mischief, but we still got the paper out.”

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Congratulations YP CountrY times on Your 150-Year Celebrations!

The media has been there right from the start for the Kadina Show Society

Honourable

Geoff Brock MP

Gleaning memorabilia from 1871–2014, findings from this era to be displayed at the

Independent Member for Frome

Swap Meet/Show’n’ Shine

Congratulations Yorke Peninsula Country Times on celebrating 150 years!

in the Exhibition Hall at the Kadina Showgrounds on Sunday, 7th June

Phone 8633 1210 frome@parliament.sa.gov.au

The Kadina AH&F Society committee wishes to honour the YP Country Times at the 145th annual Kadina Show, 15th-16th August, 2015

Yorke peninsula CountrY times

10

Celebrating 150 Years – 1865-2015

SHEDDING LIGHT ON THE DARKROOM Written by ros white WHEN I started work at the Yorke Peninsula Country Times in 1987 you could say I was kept in the dark, my first job being a darkroom technician and photographer.

How times have changed for producing news photos since then, and even more so since this paper began in 1865.

Photographs play a vital role in telling a news story. Although engravings had been used to depict scenes in newspapers, it wasn’t until 1880 the first halftone reproduction of a news photograph was printed.

The first issue of the Wallaroo Times and Mining Journal on February 1, 1865, contained no photographs.

Although I had my own darkroom at home, I remember my first day at work, terrified I might have made an error in developing the films and the paper would be devoid of photos, much like that first issue.

My work at the YPCT spanned 24 years, during which there were rapid technological advances in the world of photography, bringing significant improvements in capturing and reproducing images.

The ’80s were the era of 35mm film photography, and we shot in monochrome using SLRs and compact 35mm cameras.

I developed rolls of film on Monday and Thursday mornings in the darkroom, in tanks holding up to eight reels of film each.

Negatives were cut into strips and proof sheets of the photos printed in trays containing developer and then fixer.

Journalists and editors pored over the proof sheets, selecting the optimum ones to accompany news stories and advertorials.

I printed the selected black and white photos, which made their way to the paste up department to be set on that week’s pages of the Country Times.

After publication I filled our readers’ orders for photo reprints – perhaps a shot snapped of a budding sportsperson, or the ruins of a header burned in a fire.

Colour photography was implemented when the newspaper advanced from black and white to the inclusion of colour.

I had joined our team of journalists in the editorial department and, as the dark room became obsolete, I had more time to focus on writing articles.

Time involved in developing film limited our capability of extending deadlines.

However, the digital age changed all that.

We could now return to the office

BEHIND THE SCENES FOR NEARLY 50 YEARS

For nearly half a century John Prout was one of the men behind the scenes at the YP Country Times.

PHOTOGRAPHER...

Ros White spent more than 20 years taking photos for the Country Times, initially developing film in the firm’s darkroom and then embracing digital technology. She was also a senior journalist for many years. knowing we had captured those all-important digital shots to accompany our articles, and within seconds they were downloaded onto a computer and transmitted to the production department.

I must admit the advent of digital photography caused me initial concerns.

Seeing how easily a palm tree “growing” out of someone’s head in a photo could be removed made me realise how a photo could be digitally altered to remove or include a person from a picture, altering the facts.

Thankfully the Country Times has always been, and will always be, a principled newspaper, and our photos never impinge on the unethical.

In 2011, networking giant Cisco predicted by 2015 Australians would have 2.4 mobile devices each. Couple that with affordable digital cameras and our editorial department now has access to news photos from

bystanders of events our journalists can’t attend, or eyewitnesses at incidents such as accidents or fires, or from people living or travelling overseas.

Within seconds these images are emailed, texted or pasted on social media and available to our editorial team.

Although the paper’s articles and photos can come to us quickly via electronic media, and can be accessed on YPCTe, they still tell the stories of our local community, and we look for familiar faces in the photos.

It has been said a picture’s worth a thousand words. It has been my privilege to take many of these pictures as well as write the words – the editors I worked with can testify sometimes it would literally be a thousand they would have to edit!

I trust the Country Times will continue to provide a photojournalistic record of the Yorke Peninsula community for decades to come.

Very special birthday wishes to Trevor and Michael Ellis and team, from a proud past employee.

Keep on delivering the news to Yorke Peninsula. Well done!

19 Main St, Minlaton 8853 2262

CONGRATULATIONS ON 150 YEARS OF QUALITY SERVICE TO OUR COMMUNITY Rosemary Cock Journalist/Editor 16 McIntosh Road, Kadina SA 5554 0428 262 246 www.regionwrite.com.au

JOHN Prout retired from the production department, which is responsible for the layout and creation of adverts, in 2006 just a couple of years shy of 50 years.

“To begin with I was a general printer and compositor which was mainly general printing like business cards and letterheads,” John said.

“I actually started with Michael Ellis’s grandfather and we used an old style of printing which included hand setting one letter at a time in a type box to form a line.

“When I started it was all hand-set type and Michael’s grandfather had just bought a second-hand linotype hot metal machine from the Sydney Morning Herald.”

“There were a lot of changes in the industry from pedalling a machine to how it is now with computers,” he said.

“I have a lot of memorable moments, it was like working with family and we had great times working at the Country Times.

“I think the reason people stay so long at the Country Times is because it’s a family-owned business and you feel secure.”

John said before computers the pages were put together by hand.

“In the old office in Taylor Street I was involved with the layout of the paper and used to work with editorial to work out what went where, and then put the paper together on mock-up boards,” John said.

“It was very difficult to start with because there was so much to learn in those days and now with computers it’s much easier.

“It was four pages, then it moved to eight and with the evolution of technology it’s what it is now.

“I saw it go from black and white to colour.”

GERMEIN REED Lawyers and Conveyancers 2a Forster Street, Kadina

www.grmlawyers.com.au Congratulations to the Country Times on their milestone. That’s 190+ years of serving the community between us.

Country Times Yorke Peninsula

Proud partner of the Yorke Peninsula Country Times for 42 years. Thanks for the memories and sincere congratulations!

KERNEWEK LOWENDER iNc. 50 Mines Road, Kadina SA 5554

WWW.KERNEWEK.ORg

Congratulations YPCT on playing such a huge part in our community for 150 years!

Desmonds Meat Service

17 Taylor Street, Kadina 8821 1019

15O YEARS

CELEBRATING 150 YEARS

Yorke peNiNsula CouNTrY Times

11

CelebraTiNg 150 Years – 1865-2015

MANY HAPPY RETURNS... and thanks for the memories IT has been more than five years since I left the Yorke Peninsula Country Times, and I still miss the place that provided my life structure for 25 years.

I have, at times, doubted my sanity for deciding to fly the nest for the wilderness.

However, after an interesting stint away working for a Fairfax paper, I am happy to again be home and am privileged to be working part-time for Steven Griffiths MP, and part-time as the executive officer for Kernewek Lowender Inc. Both are challenging jobs I find make full use of the knowledge and experience I gained with the YP Country Times.

I am honoured to contribute to this special 150th birthday feature – a milestone in the newspaper world only reached through strong management, strong journalism, and strong support by local business and community. Many publications have gone by the wayside in recent years but, as the saying goes, the cream always rises to the top and the Yorke Peninsula Country Times is one of the best regional newspapers in SA. To survive and thrive to 150 is no small feat in today’s world of online 24/7 news, digitally delivered by faceless people who may or may not be qualified to write what they do. Papers are only as good as the care factor of staff and management and this, I believe, is the secret of the longevity of the Yorke Peninsula Country Times.

I learned the importance of every word, comma and apostrophe from the best of mentors, Trevor Ellis and Doris Boyd, who fully understood the importance of a community newspaper being connected and involved in the community it serves. Trevor made words sing from the page, and was ever mindful of the role the paper played as an historical recorder of local life.

With excitement, too, I would await the annual six-week stint by seasoned journalist Denis Tilbrook who would push and dig for the story under the story, and in so doing, broaden my mind in other directions.

These were the proofreading days when two people would read every word of every article and advertisement aloud to each other. Of accountability, checking facts twice, and when a bulging contact book of phone numbers was a journalist’s measure of success and reputation.

I remember the shrill of the phones, the thumping at a ribbon typewriter, developing your photos in the dark room, the rows of compositors setting the type frantically to meet the press deadline.

A desk in a little corner, amid walls that still had ink splatters of bygone linotype days.

When once good compositors could assemble 2000 letters an hour by hand, which a computer can now arrange in two seconds.

The arrival of the strange fax machine which few among us were brave enough to go near.

An annoying man came to teach us how to work the word processors we eventually had to have, and most of us contemplated quitting.

Digital cameras arrived and they were marvellous. Fancy taking a photo and seeing it on the little screen straight afterwards!

Amid all this change, every week the paper would hit the street (mostly!) on time, eagerly awaited by queues of locals at the back door.

It was a world where a tablet meant a pill. Where a notebook meant paper. Where a tweet made you look up at a tree branch.

How far our local paper has travelled with us, my two decades spent with it a tiny blot in its timeline. From the early days of a fledging colony, through a lucrative mining boom, an industrial revolution, two long world wars, and into the digital age.

The calibrated teamwork it physically took to put out a paper each week provided addictive camaraderie which made it so easy for 25 years of my life to go enjoyably and swiftly by.

Well done Michael and Trevor Ellis, and the brave, hardworking editors before them, and many happy returns YP Country Times.

Sincere congratulations on this special 150 milestone — and a big thank you for all the memories.

Making a newspaper used to be dirty work.

The ink was a by-product of the petroleum industry. Trees would be cut down for all the paper. Now the newsprint is all recycled and the ink is soy based.

Congratulations on 150 years!

To Michael, his family and staff, congratulations on running a wonderful independent paper and providing excellent service to Yorke Peninsula.

P from Rowan Ramsey M

FORMER EDITOR...

Rosemary Cock worked at the Country Times for 25 years.

These days the Country Times is environmentally friendly.

1. Ink is made from soya beans.

2. All of the newsprint we buy and dispose of is recycled.

3. All of the aluminium printing plates we use are recycled.

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15017

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Yorke penInsula CounTrY TImes

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CelebraTIng 150 Years – 1865-2015

THE SYP CONNECTION Written by jenny oldland UNTIL 1970, news was gathered on the southern reaches of the peninsula by a series of publications.

The SYP Clarion ran from 1902 to 1931, The Pioneer from 1898 to 1969 and, after the amalgamation of The Pioneer and Maitland Watch, The YP News Pictorial from 1969 to 1970.

The last issue of the Pictorial was published at the Pioneer Printing Office, Yorketown, on May 28, 1970.

Its publishing had been purchased by the Yorke Peninsula Country Times.

This marked the start of a new era. In place of five, one newspaper now served the entire Yorke Peninsula.

The Country Times took a conscious decision at the time to maintain a visible presence on SYP through a close connection with the Starr family at The Pioneer.

The late Verne Starr was a respected editor and journalist and continued to contribute news and photographs to the Country Times.

This lasted until in the

mid-1980s, when he stepped back to concentrate on the family’s printing business.

For the past 30 years the Pioneer Printing Office has continued to act as an agent for the paper, and journalist Jenny Oldland was employed in 1985.

Having had no formal training, Jenny was guided by Verne for many years, as well as successive Country Times editors.

“It is definitely unique in the newspaper world to maintain a second office about 120km from the paper’s main office,” Jenny said.

“During the past three decades I’ve watched the style of delivering news change dramatically.

“Community pieces as well as hard news stories provide our readers with the latest information on often-emotive local issues, many looking to the paper to provide a balanced perspective.

“Of course it goes without saying the changes in the technology to bring you the news have been amazing.

“Computers, digital cameras and the internet meant no more typing up pieces on the Remington (typewriter) and hours in the dark room to process films as the deadline to catch the post crept closer.”

The Country Times’ predecessors in the 1800s and early 1900s came out twice a week.

When paper rations were introduced during World War II, in 1942, the business was forced to cut back to only once a week.

SOUTHERN YP...

Jenny Oldland has covered the news and views on southern Yorke Peninsula for 30 years.

The business has also been a commercial printer for 150 years, though the machines have changed drastically. For instance, one old printing machine required paper to be inserted and removed by hand, and was controlled by a foot pump. If the operator’s foot was faster than his hand, he would crush his fingers.

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Yorke peninsula CountrY times

13

Celebrating 150 Years – 1865-2015

1880

1874 1859 Copper was discovered in Kadina by shepherd James Boor on December 17. Boor discovered green-coloured stones, believed to be unearthed by a marsupial rat.

1861 Wallaroo was named, the first jetty (now the swimming jetty) opened and copper smelting operations began.

1865 Wallaroo Times and Mining Journal, which would become the Yorke Peninsula Country Times, printed its first issue.

1871 The YP Agricultural Society held its first show in a paddock halfway between Kadina and Wallaroo on September 13.

1872

1873

Moonta Agricultural Horticultural and Floricultural Society began and Moonta Bay jetty was completed. The first edition of The Yorkes Peninsula Advertiser was printed on October 4.

Fred Burchell, Kadina gymnast, thrilled a crowd of 1000 at Kadina when he walked on a tightrope suspended across Taylor Street, from the two-storey Wombat Hotel to shops opposite.

W. G. Grace and his English cricket team played a team of local men for 800 pounds.

The side of 22 locals made a paltry 42 runs.

Grace lost a few fans though after breaching the terms of his contract by playing a match in Adelaide shortly after.

1874 Miners went on strike in Moonta over a reduction of wages and 5000 attended a mass meeting at Bald Hill.

1878 Wallaroo Public School opened on January 31 with 500 students enrolled.

1878 Government schools were also opened in Moonta and Moonta Mines.

A 3’ 6” gauge railway from Adelaide reached Wallaroo (Wallaroo to Moonta section was completed in 1891). The stump jump plough, one of SA’s first inventions, was manufactured

by Clarence Smith in a factory at Ardrossan.

Key events for yorKe peninsula 1881

1888

1890

1904

1909

1910

1917

1919

1923

1932

1939

Kadina was honoured with a visit from Princes Albert Victor and George on June 14. They also visited Moonta Mines.

Work began on a new jetty in Wallaroo. It was known as Price’s Jetty and was demolished in 1974.

Wallaroo Times and Mining Journal moved to Kadina due to pressure from the Kadina traders.

A reticulated water system arrived in Wallaroo and Moonta. Local MP David Bews was responsible for the pipeline from Beetaloo Reservoir.

Bews died in 1891 and a monument was erected in his honour by the people of Wallaroo.

The Norwegian barque, the Ethel, got into trouble off the coast of Reef Head on January 2 during a trip from South Africa to Port Adelaide when its sails were ripped to shreds and it wrecked. One crew member, 19-year-old seaman Leonard Stenersen, died trying to swim ashore with a lifeline.

Clan Ranald, a turret deck steamer filled with grain and on its way from Port Adelaide to South Africa, ran into trouble off the coast of Troubridge Hill and sank, taking 40 crew members with it.

John Verran, former MP for the District of Wallaroo, was elected Premier.

During the early hours of December 26, a fire almost destroyed the Wallaroo Town Hall and only the charred walls were left standing. A lack of suitable firefighting equipment was thought to have contributed to the situation.

The hall was reopened on February 19, 1919.

On August 6, Captain Harry Butler became the first man to fly across Gulf St Vincent, carrying 18 kilograms of postcards and letters in the plane with him.

This made it the first airmail flight to Yorke Peninsula and the first over water in South Australia. A crowd of 6000 people met him; for many, it was the first time they had ever seen a plane.

The Moonta and Wallaroo Mines closed in November and the company went into voluntary liquidation.

Wallaroo smelters also closed.

The ketch Broughton, with a cargo of 900 bags of wheat, came to anchor at the northern side of the new Wallaroo jetty and had to wait until the conditions improved.

However, the big anchor chain parted from the vessel and the boat drifted towards shore and sank.

Don Bradman and members of the state cricket team played a YP Association Eleven. Victor Richardson and Clarrie Grimmett accompanied Bradman but neither played.

Bradman made a quick 60 before being caught by keeper K. Behrendt off V. C. Baillie.

1998

2001

2002

1999

District Council of Yorke Peninsula announced it would facilitate the first stage of the Port Vincent marina.

Provisional planning started in 1999.

The Telstra sales centre in Kadina is closed with 15 staff losing their jobs.

The Central Yorke Peninsula Hospital, Maitland, stopped delivering babies.

1968

1954 The Maitland to Moonta road was bituminised.

Three boats which had previously fished for tuna from Port Lincoln trawled for prawns in Spencer Gulf and unloaded their catch at Port Hughes and Wallaroo.

The boats were the Kolega, Litera and Mary-Ann Simms. It was rumoured some of the catches per boat were 1000 pounds of the king variety.

1996 1979

1970 The state’s newest and deepest seaport, Port Giles, loaded its first ship.

Inneston and surrounding lands were sold to the state government by the Innes family to create Innes National Park.

1976 Federal and state government grants totalling $434,000 were allocated to the construction of the Kadina and district Leisure Centre in January.

Wind gusts of almost 100 miles per hour were recorded at Port Broughton in a vicious storm on November 14. In just 10 minutes, 52 houses and shacks were destroyed and major damage was caused to 200 homes.

Former Kadina mayor John Olsen was sworn in as Premier of South Australia.

Flood waters flowed into Ardrossan from the Ardrossan to Maitland road and the Ardrossan to Arthurton road, with water levels adjacent the BP Service Station reaching about five metres.

Machinery went on site and earthworks started on the Copper Cove Marina, Wallaroo.

The first boat entered the marina in 2000.

Eight bodies were found in six barrels at the disused BankSA vault in Snowtown.

2003 The old boat ramp at Wallaroo was closed and boaties could use new marina facilities.

during the past 150 years...

2004 Wattle Point Wind Farm, then the largest wind farm in the nation with 55 turbines, was officially opened.

Stansbury Cricket Club ended a 54-year premiership drought with its win against Maitland by two runs. It has claimed the premiership every year since.

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2013

2014

2015

A proposal was lodged with District Council of the Copper Coast for a ferry service between Wallaroo and Lucky Bay in March.

A fire gutted Wallaroo Primary School causing $2million of damage in January. Sea SA’s ferry service started operation between Wallaroo and Lucky Bay.

The Dunes, Port Hughes, a $250million resort and residential development, featuring an 18-hole golf course, was approved by the state government.

The first sod was turned at Trustpower’s Barunga Ranges wind farm.

Yorke Peninsula Country Times’ new offices in Goyder Street, Kadina, were officially opened on November 6. The Wallaroo bowling and croquet greens were to be replaced by Woolworths in a move worth $30million, but the deal was later scrapped after public outcry and the global financial crisis. The South Australian Government released its Country Health Plan, in which medical facilities at Yorketown, Maitland and Minlaton would be downgraded and patients directed elsewhere.

Human remains were found in the disused Poona Mine, near Moonta.

People feared the Ardrossan Community Hospital and Moonta Health and Aged Care Service may shut after both received funding cuts.

Rex Minerals officially applied for a mining lease for its Hillside project near Ardrossan.

The $1.5billion, 197 wind turbine Ceres project, near Port Julia, was given approval (subject to conditions) by the state government.

Seven sperm whales stranded and died off the coast of Ardrossan in December.

The Yorke Peninsula Country Times celebrated 150 years.

Yorke penInsula CountrY tImes

In the old days of the paper, the business used to go through one tonne of newsprint per year!

We now use two tonnes of paper every week, equating to more than 100 tonnes per year.

14

CelebratIng 150 Years – 1865-2015

45kg We use 45kg of ink on our pages per week.

wonderful contribution of ❝150Ayears of local people providing local news to our local community.

❞

— Mayor Paul Thomas, District Council of the Copper Coast

Yorke penInsula CounTrY TImes

generations who have worked hard to ensure we have the opportunity of being informed. Happy 150th and congratulations Country Times.

Country Times

incl. GST

Vol. 38 – No. 16

ypct@ypct.com.au Ph.: 8821 1155

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 2006

Yorke Peninsula

15O Country YEARS

$

1.50 incl. GST Vol. 47 No. 8

PAGE

HAPPINESS IN ONE DIRECTION

The view of the 10 kilometre-plus line of traffic heading from Port Clinton to the Coast Road-Port Wakefield Road junction, on drizzly Monday affternoon.

Yorke C M

Peninsula

WEATHER WATCH

20˚

WEDNESDAY: Showers.

18˚

THURSDAY: Showers.

17˚

FRIDAY: Showers.

a message described as a ridiculous knee-jerk reaction by Minister for Transport Patrick Conlon.

Mr Hamilton-Smith further called for action from the State Government in applying for funding from AusLink, and the RAA also entered the debate.

“It’s not just a holiday traffic issue, there needs to be planning for funding now. The bypass is not

17˚

SATURDAY: Dry.

only needed to ease traffic congestion but also for road safety”, said Rita Excell, RAA, Project Manager, Traffic and Safety.

She highlighted other areas of concern as the Kadina junction, and the section of highway turning from dual to single lane into Port Wakefield, where a number of serious and fatal crashes have occurred.

■ MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 2.

18˚

SUNDAY: Sunny.

MORE DETAILS – Pg 41

NEWS:

CAT, KITTENS ABANDONED

YPCT TAKES HOME AWARDS

ROADBLOCK FOR DETOUR Sonny COOMBS JOURNALIST

A PROPOSAL to divert traffic away from Port Wakefield during the Easter period has been scrapped.

The Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure contacted local councils about the possibility of diverting traffic off the Copper Coast Highway through Lochiel, Balaklava and Two Wells to

reduce gridlock at Port Wakefield.

However, DPTI scrapped the proposal after two of the three councils rejected it for safety reasons.

MORE PAGE 4

❚ HEAT RULE... Scott and Janine Mercer, and Hayden and Blake Gillich, are excited to play softball this weekend after three consecutive Saturdays off due to the heat rule. The unprecedented streak of hot weekends has set a record for Kadina and Maitland, and has left sports teams lacking match practice in the lead up to finals.

FULL STORY PAGE 3

PHOTO: ROD PENNA

Two and a half hours to travel 20 kilometres

4

NEWS:

Bumper to bumper Easter long weekend

along an unsealed road between the Kulpara Road and the Coast Road, near Port Arthur. Heavy rain, however, had turned the dry weather road into a quagmire, resulting in 12 vehicles becoming bogged.

Yesterday, Shadow Minister for Transport, Martin Hamilton-Smith, spoke out about the bumper to bumper jam, making a renewed push for a Port Wakefield bypass –

8821 1155

PAGE

JAMMED

metres – was taking up to two and a half hours.

At the Kadina-Highway 1 Road intersection, Transport SA controllers remained on duty throughout the day, with speed restrictions in place.

Whilst there were no major accidents, police report some frustrated motorists caught up in the bottle neck traffic jam ignored warning signs and tried to take a short cut

www.ypct.com.au

3 NEWS:

$250M RESIDENTIAL PROJECT FOR PORT WAKEFIELDPage 5

It has become an Easter tradition.

Bumper to bumper traffic stretching as far as the eye can see, clogging the roads into Port Wakefield on Easter Monday, as thousands of motorists are swept up in exodus.

At one point during the day, police report the trip from Port Arthur to Port Wakefield – 20 kilo-

Times

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2015

PAGE

6

FISHERMAN’S BAY Boating tragedy Page 4

THE STORK IS COMING World Record attempt Page 3

❞

— Member for Goyder Steven Griffiths

Yorke Peninsula

$1.20

CelebraTIng 150 Years – 1865-2015

The Country Times helps me know what is happening in the ❝community – I know of no better regional paper and it is a credit to the

The crosses at the bottom of each page are for registration.

If the crosses are out of alignment, the photos and adverts will not look sharp.

Est.1865

15

PHOTO: Sonny Coombs

Celebrating

Country Times

15O YEARS

1865-2015

Yorke Peninsula

OR BE IN WITH A CHANCE TO WIN ONE OF THREE $150 VOUCHERS FROM THREE DIFFERENT STORES ON YORKE PENINSULA

FULL DETAILS PG 10

Yorke peninsula CountrY times

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Celebrating 150 Years – 1865-2015

KADINA and Wallaroo Times on the advent of the federation of Australia — January 2, 1901.

“The acceptance of a Federal Constitution of the British Parliament, the appointment of a Governor-General, the calling forth of the first Premier of a Federated Australia and the selection of colleagues are events particularly interesting to all.

EDITORIAL EXCERPTS

KADINA and Wallaroo Times on the beginning of the First World War — August 5, 1914.

The dread hounds of War have been unleashed at last, and ‘Horrida Bella’ with harsh voice and furious mien, is calling for blood. Europe has been an armed camp during the past 25 years.

Wars and rumours of wars have been so constant that the improbable almost till the last moment. All the pent-up and accumulated differences will now however, find an outlet in bloody war, and Might will usurp all reason and become Right.

The dictum of Napoleon that “God is on the side of the strongest army” will be remembered at this juncture, and every nation will pray for the success of its arms. The sadness of the catastrophe lies in the fact that a nation so comparatively insignificant as Serbia should have acted as torch to set Europe aflame, again and again it has been shown that world-politics need adjusting, just as it has been invariably proved that the mutual jealousy of the Great Powers stood in the way of effectual settlement. The mischief is done, however, and it now remains to consider the position. The outstanding feature of the coming struggle is the secure position of England. As a result of her supreme diplomacy she has allies in practically every corner of the world.

WALLAROO Times and Mining Journal about the smelters strike —February 4, 1865.

The smelters strike has continued long enough to produce an unpleasant effect upon the trade of Wallaroo.

On the one hand, we do not agree with a certain talented member of the late Parliament, that the employers are a “tyrannical, set of uninitiated, underground, unsophisticated, unconstitutional tyrants,” nor on the other do we hold with the view that the labouring man should be compelled to work on any terms his employer chooses to offer.

We will say no benefit has ever resulted from a strike, but we believe in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred they have caused far more harm than good.

KADINA and Wallaroo Times on the end of World War I — November 13, 1918.

The date, Monday, November 11, 1918, will be stamped indelibly on the varied pages of the history of humanity. For over four long, cruel and distressful years, tinged with sorrow, suffering, anguish and the tears of millions of mothers, wives and sisters, we have had to endure all the suspense, the searching and keen agony, the manifold horrors that are inseparable from war. Ever there arose the questions: When will Peace come?

And today it is here – today the hope of years is realised, has become a fact for general rejoicing and gladness and allowed the long pent-up feelings to be liberated.

KADINA and Wallaroo Times, days after the Gallipoli landing — April 28, 1915.

It is a sad reflection upon our boasted civilisation that the advance of science, the onward march of social progress and the quicker means of communication have not brought with them a kindlier feeling of man for man, and a closer unity of the human race. The spread of the Christian ideal, the wonders of medical and surgical science, even the powerful factor of socialism, could not combat the military ambition and national jealousies that are responsible for the present nine months of carnage. No longer is physical prowess, the might of arm and the skill of fleetness of men the deciding factor. Howitzers hurl miniature earthquakes against fortresses that are speedily reduced to ruin, and battleships are sunk with their complements of from 700 to 800 souls, by a single torpedo. War has not become more humane, but rather more callous and cruel.

KADINA and Wallaroo Times editorials around the start of World War II — September 2, 1939 and September 6, 1939.

Distance, with its implication of safety from immediate attack, was not alone responsible for the calmness with which the grave news of the declaration of war by Great Britain on Germany was received by Kadina and Wallaroo folk. The grim message and announcement by the Prime Minister of England, Mr Chamberlain, found a responsive echo in all British hearts, and the profound feeling was Great Britain is doing the right thing. Night after night folk had sat up listening in to the overseas news or from Australian sources, following the course of events, speculating whether Hitler would really go to the extreme, wondering what Italy and Russia would do, and hoping above all that peace would be preserved.

YORKE Peninsula Country Times editorial on Wednesday, June 3, 1970.

This edition marks the commencement of an era. In the place of five, one newspaper will serve the entire region of Yorke Peninsula and some districts north. Already incorporated in the Yorke Peninsula Country Times are the Kadina and Wallaroo Times, the Moonta People’s Weekly and the South Australian Farmer. Welcomed into this extensive readership are those formerly served by The YP News Pictorial, which had risen from the amalgamation of the Maitland Watch and The Pioneer.”

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CelebraTing 150 Years – 1865-2015

Times ❝ YP—Country 150 years of

investing in the Yorke Peninsula, employing locals and covering the local news — a great family institution.

❞

— Member for Grey Rowan Ramsey

Three generations, Fraser, Michael, Nelson, Giles and Trevor Ellis celebrate the opening of the Yorke Peninsula Country Times office in Goyder Street, Kadina, in 2008.

HARD WORK AHEAD

Staff stand outside the original Taylor Street, Kadina, office of the Kadina and Wallaroo Times circa 1910.

The entire paper was put together by hand until about 15 years ago when the Country Times purchased a collating machine. Hand collating is still used every week to supplement the machine.

Informative and ❝inclusive, the Yorke

The YP Farmer office in George Street, Moonta, pictured in 1932, was home to the Yorke Peninsula Country Times printing press until 2004.

Peninsula Country Times is the go to for the latest local news, sporting, social events, business, farming or readers’ views. The YPCT is widely respected for balanced coverage regionally.

Proud readers are photographed with copies of the YPCT around the world. Keep up the good work.

— Mayor Ray Agnew, Yorke Peninsula Council

❞

Printing staff work hard on old printing machines inside the YPCT’s Taylor Street offices in 1969. Taylor Street , Kadina, was home to YPCT from 1968 until 2008, the Kadina, Wallaroo and Moonta Times from 1966-68 and the Kadina and Wallaroo Times from 1888 to 1966.

Yorke Peninsula Country Times managing editor Trevor Ellis (top) and staff Nancy Hann, Doris Boyd, Sharon Dodd, Anne Weylandt, Narelle Woolforde, Martin Borlace, Michael Boyce and Geoff Mayhew at the commissioning of the Goss Printing Press at the Moonta office in 1979.

Yorketown-born Harry Butler was the first man to fly across the gulf to Yorke Peninsula. Captain Butler, who flew in his monoplane the Red Devil in World War I, carried an 18kg mailbag of postcards and letters for Minlaton on his flight.

ARDROSSAN NEWSAGENCY Honoured to supply the YPCT to our customers for many decades.

From one family-owned and operated business to another – Congratulations!

Congratulations on a very community-orientated newspaper.

We are proud to have sold and home-delivered the YPCT for the past 25 years

Yorketown Newsagency 7 Edithburgh Road, Yorketown 8852 1581

30 Fifth Street, Ardrossan 8837 3478

KADINA FREIGHT SERVICE

Keeping YPCT IT on track Specialists in computer sales, service and support 28 George Street, Kadina E: support@pit.net.au

Plato Lagoudakis M: 0438 233 187

W W W . P I T. N E T. A U

Proudly delivering the YP Country Times to the readers of lower Yorke Peninsula every week

29 Kennett Street Kadina 0418 859 695

Congratulation s!

Well done to the Ellis family!

A great local, community newspaper.

From the team at KMA, a big congratulations to YPCT on achieving 150 years on Yorke Peninsula.

KADINA MEDICAL ASSOCIATES 77-79 Port Road, Kadina 8821 3133

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CelebrATing 150 YeArS – 1865-2015

Cars park for a day at the Central Yorke Peninsula Show, 1923.

“His majesty King George VI of England, who on Thursday, broadcast a message of Thanksgiving to the peoples of his Empire and the world.”

— Kadina and Wallaroo Times, August 17, 1945.

Alby Buttfield and son on Ted Buttfield’s horse and cart milk van in Stansbury.

Black smoke billows out of the Wallaroo Smelters’ chimneys in 1916. Only one chimney remains since the Moonta and Wallaroo Mines closed in 1926.

People gather at Port Victoria to celebrate New Year’s Day.

CO

UNT

RY P R E S

S

SA

15 AWAR DS CO

The Country Times has won 15 Country Press SA awards in the past 11 years. The paper is performing better than ever, having recorded all-time best results of second place for best paper over 6000 circulation, the major category, for the past two years.

Large crowds flock to an Anzac Day service at Kadina in 1922.

UN

TR

A Y PRESS S

The YPCT is a terrific rural paper. I try to pick up ❝other papers when I go through country towns and

have always come to the conclusion there is something special, almost a family feel, about our newspaper.

— Robert “Bluey” Anderson, Minlaton

Congratulations to...

Yorke Peninsula Country Times on achieving 150 years in the print media business

Congratulations to Michael and his team on reaching this fantastic 150-year milestone.

Making the world a brighter place Proud supplier of news ink to Yorke Peninsula Country Times

Spicers are proud to be associated with the Yorke Peninsula Country Times and wish them continued success and sustainability for many years to come.

❞

YorKe peninsulA CounTrY Times

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CeleBrATing 150 YeArs – 1865-2015

COVERING THE FIELD DAYS FOR 120 YEARS Commonwealth Bank advertisement, Kadina and Wallaroo Times, October 12, 1945.

G. A. Frayne Dental Surgeon, Kadina and Wallaroo Times, October 23, 1942.

Robertsons advertisement, Kadina and Wallaroo Times, February 16, 1918.

Wrigleys Gum ad, Kadina and Wallaroo Times, September 6, 1935.

❝

Archival records kept by the Country Times are an accurate insight into the way of life of our forefathers and how things have changed over the 150-year journey.

An advertisement for Kodak film in the Kadina and Wallaroo Times, September 14, 1945.

❞

– Mayor Cynthia Axford, District Council of Barunga West

An alternative paper supplier is closer than you might think.

Phone +612 9975 4122 or visit www.oceanictradinggroup.com

Doris Boyd’s father, Clarence “Clarry” Arthur Boyd, worked for the Kadina and Wallaroo Times. He used a horses’s leg bone to move the individual pieces of paper through the old printing press smoothly. By the end of his time at the paper, the bone had been worn down due to the relentless friction on printing days.

Written by elAine BussensChutt YP Field Days administrator THE Yorke Peninsula Field Days is also reaching a milestone this year, having started in 1895 and grown for the past 120 years to be one of Australia’s premier agriculture events.

The YPCT has worked with the YPFD since its humble beginnings, when the most innovative agricultural machinery and implements of that period were demonstrated at field trials held regularly on private farming properties.

These forerunner field trials have now evolved into the highly-acclaimed Yorke Peninsula Field Days Peninsula Inc. Whilst we are proud to have reached our 120th year, we are mindful throughout those past 120 years many people have contributed important and supportive roles.

We are pleased to acknowledge and congratulate the Yorke Peninsula Country Times on its 150th anniversary and to recognise its role in promoting and supporting our event.

Our YP Field Days history book A Centenary of Field Days (1894 – 1995) states, under the then-name of the Northern Yorke Peninsula Agricultural Bureau Field Trial and Show Society, the first trials were held at Bute on July 31, 1895.

Five hundred catalogues were to be printed and advertisements placed in the Kadina and Wallaroo Times.

In later years it is also recorded in 1934 the Kadina and Wallaroo Times was always represented at meetings to publicise any events held.

Other recorded history acknowledges “for the 1983 Yorke Peninsula Field Days a photographic museum organised by Paskeville Bureau assisted by the Yorke Peninsula Country Times and Peter Ferguson was on display”.

This remarkable display of past and present photos remains on display at the field days site and reflects both the partnership and history between our organisations.

Together we have seen many changes and met many challenges but now, instead of 500 catalogues as first printed for the field trial, a comprehensive Yorke Peninsula Country Times Field Days supplement is produced.

The Country Times also produces our event prospectus, brochures and much more.

Its continuing sponsorship, pre and post-event stories, and excellent array of published photos which capture moments of each YP Field Days, are just some examples of the enduring collaboration.

Our quality products used to create a 150-year-old tradition – the YP Country Times.

OCEANIC PAPER

Congratulations to the Ellis family and staff.

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Celebrating 150 Years – 1865-2015

KERNEWEK LOWENDER a marketing triumph

Written by rosemary cock

HUGE CROWD...

With the support of then Premier Don Dunstan, an amazing 20,000 people converged on Moonta, Kadina and Wallaroo back in 1973.

FOR every Kernewek Lowender Cornish Festival since 1973, the YP Country Times has played a pivotal marketing role.

From committee involvement in the pioneering days of 1972-73, to having just printed the official 2015 program, the YP Country Times has supported every festival, contributing much to it evolving into the economically-valuable major state cultural event it is today.

That pioneering committee of 1973 could never have known it had started something so big ensuing festivals would contribute millions of dollars to the Copper Coast economy, attract up to 50,000 people per event, provide impetus for a number of tourism developments, win numerous awards, and well and truly revive the region’s significant Cornish heritage.

For the YP Country Times, that first festival in 1973 was its first taste of a marketing task which had to reach more than local readers, in a time when SA Tourism was in its infancy.

It had to entice visitors from Adelaide,

interstate, overseas and regional areas around the nation to attend an event they had never heard of, in towns largely unknown.

What a marketing triumph it was. With shock, 20,000 people arrived, 11,000 attending Fer Kernewek at the Moonta oval, 15,000 traipsing through the Moonta Mines Museum, and 8000 pasties being consumed.

Through the pages of the YP Country Times, you’ve read the stories of petrol stations running out of petrol, and flour being swept from bakery floors to make that one last batch of sought-after morsels.

Just as it did at that first festival in 1973, the YP Country Times has produced the official program, leaflets, tickets, and a souvenir guide every Kernewek over the past 42 years.

Event coverage, too, has been a huge task, with hundreds of articles written and thousands of photographs taken. It took hours of overtime in press and darkrooms to produce the extra-large festival editions, the extra column space freely given.

The value of the support provided by the YP Country Times to Kernewek Lowender cannot be overestimated, and is yet another example of a region’s newspaper playing a leading role for its community.

Congratulations to the Ellis family and The Yorke Peninsula Country Times on reaching your milestone of 150 years

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Celebrating 150 Years – 1865-2015

THE AUDIO EDITION Written by rhiannon koch

MARKETING...

It was a mighty marketing effort to ensure the success of the unknown 1973 festival, as seen by this YPCT coverage of the day.

THE Talking Times has been giving people with vision impairment a chance to learn what is happening in the area for almost 23 years.

Keith and Val Langton started the group after moving to Moonta in 1992 and Keith, who is vision impaired, missed the support of the low vision centre of which he was a part.

The group was set up with the assistance of the Royal Society for the Blind and ably supported by volunteers including Stansbury’s Kenn Rogers and Lochiel’s Jim and Beryl Nicholls.

The first audio version of the YP Country Times was sent out to 14 recipients on Thursday, November 3, 1994.

By April 1995, there were seven groups of readers from Bute, Kadina, Lochiel, Maitland, Moonta, Stansbury and Wallaroo but only groups at Moonta, Kadina, Maitland and Wallaroo remain.

Volunteers initially used a small recorder, dubbing machine and secondhand tapes to record a selection of stories from the paper before added dubbing machines allowed them to copy multiple tapes at once.

As technology changed, so did the way the Talking Times was recorded with the Royal Society for the Blind shifting all talking newspapers to digital formats.

In 2012, volunteers learned how to

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Congratulations to the team at YP Country Times and the Ellis family on producing a high-quality newspaper for 150 years, we look forward to reading another 150 years!

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TALKING TIMES...

Yorke Peninsula Country Times managing editor Michael Ellis, Talking Times recipient Una Fulwood, coordinator Val Langton and founder Keith Langton celebrated the service’s 20th birthday in November 2013. record the articles on a digital microphone, transfer them to a computer as digital files and copy them onto an SD memory card.

The stories are recorded at the Kadina Library on Wednesday mornings and sent out to clients by Thursday.

Mrs Langton is the current coordinator of the group which, at its peak, helped about 70 people find out the news.

“The number of people using it has

dropped off a bit, we have about 17 now,” she said.

“When we used to send out the tapes, we would send them to anyone who had difficulty reading newsprint but now they have to be a client of RSB.” Mrs Langton said not all stories are recorded, just the ones they think will be of interest to the listeners.

“We do have to be pretty selective but we always read the personal notices,” she said.

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CelebraTing 150 YearS – 1865-2015

COMMERCIAL PRINTERS SINCE THE VERY START AS well as producing a newspaper, the Yorke Peninsula Country Times has offered a range of commercial printing services since the very start, 150 years ago.

Over time, technology has evolved and the quality and efficiency of printing has increased dramatically.

Letter press printing was used for more than 100 years. In fact, a small press had to be powered by the operator pumping with his foot.

The next development was offset printing which was cleaner and more efficient.

Country Times production manager Ian Shaw said the modern method of digital printing results in much more professional-looking work.

“With our new multi-functional digital printer we can print to the same standard as the quality printing you would get in the metropolitan area,” Ian said.

“We also have faster turnaround times because it enables us to print larger quantities quicker.

Printing digitally has a number of advantages.

“We can print full colour on both sides and have it folded and stapled in the one process,” Ian said.

“We also offer a laminating service, which is very handy for products like menus and certificates.

“We can number as we print which is great for invoice books and statements.

“Before you would have had to run it through a separate numbering machine, so it is now very efficient.”

Commercial printing coordinator Marcia Guerrero said the Country Times can print a wide range of products, ranging from stationery such as letterheads, envelopes and notepads to raffle books and tax invoice books.

“We can also print business cards, posters, invitations, with compliments cards, calendars, flyers, brochures, presentation folders, newsletters and certificates,” Marcia said.

For more information or for a free quote, give Marcia a call on 8821 1155 or email ypctprint@ypct.com.au.

● Business cards ● Letterheads ● Flyers ● Envelopes ● Invoice books ● Brochures ● Newsletters ● Raffle books ● Certificates ● With compliment slips

OUR NEW WEBSITE Written by karina natt A LOT has changed in the way news is obtained, printed and delivered to readers in the past 150 years.

At the Country Times we are moving with the times and are launching its new, responsive website as part of our 150-year celebrations.

We have had an online presence for many years; however, we are now able to offer you revolving news content, videos and increased functionality.

Our site is particularly well suited to mobile devices, so you can keep up to date whilst on the go.

We will be regularly updating the website with new content including items a newspaper cannot provide, such as videos.

Our gallery system will soon be upgraded so you can purchase photos captured by our photographers online.

Hundreds of photos are uploaded every week and all you will have to do is find the pictures you want, pop them in your shopping cart and pay.

Our website and our printed medium will complement each other, giving you all the news of the leg.

Other online features include weather, fishing tips, tide times and star signs.

So bookmark our website and check back regularly for new content and extra features, and don’t forget to like us on Facebook.

ONLINE EDITION

DIGITAL PRINTING...

Production manager Ian Shaw and commercial printing coordinator Marcia Guerrero make the most of digital technology to print a range of clean, professional-looking products.

The old machines used to typeset the paper included a melting pot, which would heat lead up until it melted. Staff members would often place their pies and pasties on top to heat them up.

THE full YP Country Times can be purchased and read in an online format, YPCTe, via our website.

Readers can purchase papers for single or multiple weeks, or subscribe for the longer term.

The E-edition provides the full paper in an easy-to-use digital format, allowing people to flick between pages with the swipe of a finger.

It is perfect for people who prefer to read whilst on the go, or who live in areas where the Country Times isn’t easily purchased.

Those who have a tough time reading newsprint could also benefit from the E-edition, which allows users to zoom in and out on each page.

It is also ideal for locals who are away on holidays because it can be read anywhere with internet connection.

A YPCTe subscription is also slightly cheaper than receiving the hard copy paper via postal subscription due to savings on postage.

The E-edition is available each Wednesday morning and can be purchased any time.

YP Country Times, has kept ❝usThe all informed for many generations

and I for one look forward to reading it from cover to cover each week.

❞

— Councillor Cathy Vluggen, Wallaroo Community Development association president.

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CElEbrATing 150 YEArs – 1865-2015

THE FUTURE OF THE

Yorke Peninsula Country Times Written by niCk PerrY

The Yorke Peninsula Country Times has defied the odds to still be here.

COPPER brought this newspaper to the area and people loved it enough for it to not only continue when the mines wound down, but to keep growing and thriving.

Some question whether newspapers will survive the digital revolution.

The Country Times survived the massive local economic downturn from the mining exodus, both World Wars and the great depression.

I think we can handle the internet. In fact, we are embracing the opportunities it brings to help grow our much-loved product via our new website and social media.

But make no mistake, our product is the weekly newspaper and the future for regional papers is bright.

“Newspapers are influential by nature.”

These were the words of Newspaper Works CEO Mark Hollands, who spoke

at last month’s Country Press South Australia Conference.

It was a persistent theme amongst all five speakers at the conference.

Real estate identity Anthony Toop pointed out even people who don’t read newspapers will see themselves in a paper, take a photo with their phone and upload it onto Facebook.

These people likely have hundreds of photos already on Facebook. But when the photo has been in print, Mr Toop said, even those who don’t read newspapers know it’s the real deal.

The other constant theme of the conference was community. We

certainly believe our newspaper is a valuable part of the YP community and will continue to inform, promote and advocate for locals. We are always happy to promote the good work of our many recreational, service and charity organisations, and we owe it to our valued readers to continue with this support.

State and national newspapers must compete with the internet and television for their audience.

In regional areas such as Yorke Peninsula, the newspaper stands alone. The YP Country Times is your only source of professional and

wholly local content.

This is why it is, and will continue to be, a must read for anyone wanting to be kept up to date with what is happening in their backyard. It is why 20,000 people read the Country Times every week, and why it provides a can’t-miss opportunity for local businesses to advertise.

Yorke Peninsula has what it takes to develop, grow and prosper well into the future.

And as it does the Country Times will be right there, cameras and notepads ready, to take all of its readers along for the ride.

CURRENT STAFF... The Yorke Peninsula Country Times staff of today, back: Karina Natt, Dennis Gill, Nick Perry, Michael Ellis, John Sanders, Sonny Coombs, Ian Shaw, Erica Andrews; middle: Jodee Cavenett, Marcia Guerrero, Lindsay Rover, Wayne Rivers, Sue Bussenschutt, Leonie O’Leary, Justin Price, Jo Elsworthy; front: Bernice Williams, Rhiannon Koch, Pauline Phillips, Amie Price. (Absent: Lucy Short, Lachlan Newbold, Judith Gordon, Leah Roebuck).

The press at the People’s Weekly was oil engine powered. There was a tin on top of the chimney to keep the rain out, and when the pressure would build up too much the tin would shoot off. A staff member, usually Trevor Ellis, would go and collect it from a neighbouring yard.

Michael Ellis and his family at Kadina, ❝South Australia, should be very proud of the endeavour of their forbears, grandfather Cecil J. G. Ellis and father Trevor F. Ellis, which helped them reach such a pinnacle.

— Bob Yeates, Country Press Australia president

❞

REUNION... Past and present Yorke Peninsula Country Times staff gathered in the press room for a reunion to celebrate the 150-year milestone last Thursday, February 26. Pictured are Trevor Ellis, Jenifer Ellis, Wayne Edwards, John Prout, Bernice Williams, Keith Bailey, Meg Roberts, Nancy Hann, Ian “Bodgie” Shaw, Sharon Dodd, Rhiannon Koch, Doris Boyd, John Sanders, Lachlan Newbold, Erica Andrews, Ros White, Marcia Guerrero, Justin Price, Rod Penna, Judith Gordon, Maxine Baines, Dennis Gill, Rosemary Cock, Wayne Rivers, Pauline Phillips, Michael Ellis, Nick Perry, Jodee Cavenett, Lucy Short, Leah Roebuck, Jo Elsworthy, Jenny Oldland, Kaylene Ellis, Lindsay Rover, Leonie O’Leary, Sue Bussenschutt and Sonny Coombs.