EVERY so often in our jobs as journalists we come across a little piece of magic.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
And that was certainly the case when a “sewing friend” of my wife gave her an old newspaper to show me.
It was a copy of the Australian Town and Country Journal, a paper I had never heard of.
It was from February 1903 and it carried a feature “Nowra Illustrated” and in particular on the Nowra Show.
Incredibly the paper had been donated to a local church fete.
What took me as soon as I saw the front cover was the elaborate masthead. For 1903 it was simply stunning, just so intricate.
It seems not a lot has changed in the past 100 plus years - it proudly boasts a circulation three times that of any other weekly newspaper in Australia.
The paper features some wonderful photos of a packed Nowra Show and some the proud local award winners.
It was the 29th annual show, with the report stating it was “larger than any previous exhibition” and “nearly 6000 people were on the ground the second day.”
The crowd shots of a packed Nowra Showground are amazing.
There were strong cattle, horse, swine (pigs), dogs (cattle dogs) and fruit sections among others.
There was also a wrap up of the major award winners which included names such as - Morton, Bourn, Shepherd, Hyam, Cork, Gallagher, Thorburn, Dwyer, McGlinchy just to name a few.
There was a feature on some of the area's prominent men - Messers MF Morton (MLA for Shoalhaven), TR Peak (Mayor), AR Morton (president Nowra School of Arts) and JW Mills (council clerk and secretary of the Nowra School of Arts).
There are also some superb historical photos of early Nowra - featuring the Nowra Co-Operative Dairy Company, the Shoalhaven River and its iron bridge and the Princes of Wales and Albion hotels, then at the eastern end of Junction Street where the Commonwealth Bank and Best and Less today stand.
Other public buildings like the School of Arts in Berry Street, complete with the Boer War Memorial out the front and the Nowra Courthouse also feature.
There are also some wonderful scenery photos showing the river, both Nowra and Bomaderry creeks and some of the pass over Cambewarra Mountain - and we complain about the road now!
And while some of the photo reproduction may not be great you do have to remember it was 1903!
It also features some amazing advertisements for firms such as Anthony Hordern and Sons and Grace Bros.
Research showed the Australian Town and Country Journal was a weekly English language broadsheet newspaper published in Sydney, from 1870 to 1919.
The paper was founded by Samuel Bennett with his intention for it to be "valuable to everybody for its great amount of useful and reliable information.”
The paper was known for its diversity in dealing with domestic and foreign news as well as featuring essays on literature, science and invention.
The first issue of the Australian Town and Country Journal was published on January 8, 1870 and ran until June 25, 1919.
After June 2, 1878, when Samuel Bennett died, publication of the paper was taken over by his sons, Frank and Christopher.