The Menzies Miner

The Menzies Miner was a weekly newspaper based in the mining town of Menzies, Western Australia, which operated from 1895 to 1901.[1]

It was established in December 1895 by future federal Labor government minister Hugh Mahon, who had previously been a newspaper editor at nearby Coolgardie.[2] It was the first newspaper on the North Coolgardie goldfields.[3]

Mahon's editorship was credited with a successful campaign for the establishment of public mining batteries and the exposure of the Perth Ice Company fraud.[4][5] In 1909, Mahon was alleged to have engaged in newspaper cable piracy during his time at the Miner, a claim that he strongly denied.[6][7]

Mahon sold the business to the owners of conservative rival Menzies newspaper the North Coolgardie Herald in August 1898, with which Mahon had clashed both personally and ideologically.[8][9] In 1909, Mahon would claim that the Herald had been "started and carried on with the object of ruining [him]".[6]

The owners of the Herald continued to operate both newspapers from the same office for some years, with the weekly distribution of the Miner in combination with the daily Herald, and distributed it through the North Coolgardie goldfields until local competition emerged in other towns.[10]

It ceased publication in 1901.[1]

  1. ^ a b "The Menzies Miner (WA : 1896 - 1901)". Trove. National Library of Australia. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  2. ^ "The "Menzies Miner."". The Golden Age. No. 325. Western Australia. 14 January 1896. p. 2. Retrieved 12 June 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ "[?]". The Western Australian Goldfields Courier. No. 69. Western Australia. 4 January 1896. p. 7. Retrieved 12 June 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ "Federal Elections". The Umpire. Vol. 6, no. 5. Western Australia. 26 January 1901. p. 3. Retrieved 12 June 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ "PEEPS AT PEOPLE". Sunday Times (Perth). No. 621. Western Australia. 28 November 1909. p. 1 (THIRD SECTION). Retrieved 12 June 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ a b "MR. MAHON'S EVIDENCE". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 19, 775. Victoria, Australia. 6 December 1909. p. 9. Retrieved 12 June 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ^ "NEWSPAPER CABLE SERVICE". Kalgoorlie Western Argus. Vol. XIV, no. 785. Western Australia. 23 November 1909. p. 34. Retrieved 12 June 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ "No Title". The Golden Age. No. 1128. Western Australia. 9 August 1898. p. 2. Retrieved 12 June 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ^ "WARDEN'S COURT". The Golden Age. No. 1130. Western Australia. 11 August 1898. p. 4. Retrieved 12 June 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ^ "EARLY NEWSPAPERS". Western Mail. Vol. 56, no. 2, 911. Western Australia. 18 December 1941. p. 39. Retrieved 12 June 2022 – via National Library of Australia.