Unique beginnings
The state’s first newspaper (the South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register ) was founded in London in 1836 as part of the Wakefield plan, to create a sense of ‘concert’ (community) amongst British immigrants.
South Australia’s first newspapers were free of government censorship or regulation, in contrast to Britain and the other colonies.
Prolific press
The number of newspapers published in Adelaide peaked at 23 titles in 1894 - with 24 country newspapers and 3 suburban.
Radio, television and the Internet in the 20th century have all eroded newspaper production. The cost of publishing and loss of advertising income has made newspaper production increasingly risky.
Monopolies
The South Australian Advertiser was founded in 1858 as a competitor to the Register.
Each newspaper published an evening (tabloid) title, and a week-end (country) edition.
Electronic (telegraphic) news was expensive, so Adelaide newspapers joined with dailies in Melbourne and Sydney to buy news from bureaus such as Reuters.
The Melbourne Herald bought both the Register and the Advertiser in 1929, amalgamating them under the title the Advertiser.
Cartoon depicting James Allen, editor/owner of the Adelaide Times
(Monthly Almanac and Illustrated Commentator, May 1850)
1836 First issue of the South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register published in London
1837 Second issue of the South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register published in Adelaide
1837 Margaret Stevenson the first woman to write for the South Australian press as 'A Colonist' in the Register July 1837
1839 First country newspaper, the Port Lincoln Herald (short-lived)
1841 First illustrated newspaper, the Adelaide Independent published with loose cartoon-style illustration supplements
1841 First lady's column ('Jane's letters') published in the South Australian Magazine December
1843 The Adelaide Observer founded for country readers
1844 Andrew Murray took over the South Australian and began printing the writings of his sister-in-law, Catherine Helen Spence
1844 The Register published as first daily for just eight weeks from December 1844 to February 1845
1845 The first religious newspaper, Australiana, published
1848 First non English newspaper in Australia, Die Deutsche Post, published in Adelaide
1849 First sporting newspaper published, the Mercury and South Australian Sporting Chronicle
1850 The Register published daily (six days per week) from this time until its closure in 1931
1850 First in-text illustrations printed in the Mercury and South Australian Sporting Chronicle
1850 First free newspaper, the Adelaide Commercial Advertiser
1853 First commercial newspaper company formed to found the short-lived Examiner, closed after a few weeks and company took over the Register
1855 Steam printing introduced at the Register
1858 Australia's first inter-city telegraph line completed, linking Adelaide with Melbourne
1858 The South Australian Advertiser founded
1860 First successful country newspaper, the Northern Star, published at Kapunda
1861 South Australia's oldest country newspaper still in operation, the Border Watch, founded at Mount Gambier by Janet Laurie with her two sons
1862 First evening newspaper, the Telegraph published
1864 'Housewife's Corner' in Kapunda Herald first women's column in a country newspaper
1865 Adelaide Punch first published - no copies have survived
1867 The South Australian Catholic community began publishing the Southern Cross newspaper
1867 First locally published fully illustrated newspaper, the Illustrated Adelaide Post founded
1867 Catherine Helen Spence's 4th novel (Hugh Lindsay's Guest) serialised in the Observer May to November
1868 The Observer published its first regular 'Ladies column' and the rival Chronicle published a similar column titled 'The House'
1870 War correspondent dispatched to the Franco-Prussian War (William Ramage Lawson) by the Register
1872 Overland Telegraph Line completed, linking Adelaide directly with London
1874 First known children's column appeared in the Farmers' Weekly Messenger (Kapunda) in May
1876 First published lady cartoonist, Margaret Little, illustrated the single-issue Ephemera
1876 First illustrations in a country newspaper published in the Farmers' Weekly Messenger
1878 Catherine Helen Spence became a paid contributor to the Register and the Observer newspapers
1885 First suburban newspaper, the Free Press at Norwood - no copies have survived
1887 'Half-tone' photographs printed in the Observer in March
1887 'Sun pictures' or outdoor photographs first published in an Adelaide newspaper, Pictorial Australian, in May/June issue
1890 Comic strip consisting of a crude two frames only and without speech bubbles, drawn by C. Wall for Pictorial Australian from August
1890 Local edition of the Truth first published
1893 The Pictorial Australian moved completely to photographs rather than lithograph illustrations
1894 The Weekly Herald founded to support the Labour movement
1895 The Observer and the Chronicle began producing occasional photographic supplements
1896 Winifred Scott, possibly our first full-time woman reporter, appointed to the Observer
1899 'A lady reporter' first acknowledged in the Register
1900 Mrs Edith Dickensen 'special correspondent' for the Advertiser during the South African ('Boer') War
1902 The Observer and the Chronicle both began publishing weekly photographic supplements
1905 The Register and the Advertiser first began publishing weather maps
1912 First issue of the Mail, later titled the Sunday Mail
1914 Australia's first Greek language newspaper, Okeanis, published in Adelaide by George Nikolaides
1916 The Australische Deutsche Zeitung closed due to anti-German feeling during the First World War
1921 Possum's Pages began in the Mail in July
1921 Rebecca McGregor (nee Toseland) printer at the Port Augusta Dispatch took over the West Coast Recorder early and very politically outspoken female country newspaper owner/editor
1923 First issue of the News
1925 Crosswords first published in Register on 18 April as 'The Puzzle'
1929 The Register and the Advertiser taken over by Keith Murdoch of the Melbourne Herald
1929 Ginger Meggs cartoon strip first appeared in the Register on 14 September
1931 The Register ceased
1942 The Advertiser began putting news (rather than advertisements) on the front page from February
1948 The News changed from broadsheet to tabloid size
1951 Messenger Press founded at Port Adelaide
1972 The Sunday Mail first printed on a Sunday (rather than Saturday night) on 5 November
1975 The Chronicle, a weekly rural newspaper, ceased
1976 The last Saturday issue of the News published on 28 August
1984 Adelaide Review founded
1992 The News ceased, Adelaide's last evening newspaper
1992 The Advertiser introduced colour printing for photographs
1997 The Advertiser changed from broadsheet to tabloid size
2004 The Independent Weekly founded
2008 Launch of Trove web-site, containing digitised historic Australian newspapers
2011 The Independent Weekly became an on-line version only, as Indaily
2020 Adelaide Review ceased