George Howe: He started the first newspaper in the nation

There was nothing of the usual pomp over the launching of the Sydney Gazette that March day, 1803, only in the Governor’s room. The only surprise on people faces was that they had a ‘news-sheet’. 

It was 16 years ago, March 5, 2003, that a special event at the site of the first Government House to mark the birth of Australia’s first “news sheet”, The Sydney Gazette and New Wales Advertiser, took place two hundred years ago to the day.

This historic celebration was only a few metres from where the convict, George Howe, printed the inaugural issue on Saturday, March 5, 1803.

More than 120 guests attended the first informative Breakfast Briefing, which hosted me and the Museum of Sydney. A forum ‘briefing’ on the impact of the “www” revolution on the print media was one of the highlights of the morning.

For 30 odd years, there has been an ongoing debate over whether the internet will kill newspapers. It managed to kiss goodbye to dozens of newspapers for various reasons, but mainly it was the internet.

The first seven years he was facing ‘penury’; he felt like he’d run out of steam.

But the newspaper as a whole is struggling to stay alive; some have been taken over.

In 1969, in March, the World Wide Web was “conceived as a user-friendly layer” to partner to the internet. We know how it works. We know the power it has. We know the challenges and the power and influence it has over newspapers.

Australia's first Government House.

Meanwhile, George Howe’s publication continued to appear weekly despite adversity. The first seven years he was facing “goading penury” – he felt like he’d run out of steam. Howe never realised that once you became a newspaperman you’re always a newspaperman. But he soon realised it.

The quality of the paper was poor and varied, the type was worn, the old wooden screw press was close to “decrepitude”, and he was sorely pressed to find sufficient paper for each edition.

But he battled on. He had the courage of his undertaking.

As Government Printer he took it upon himself to suggest to Governor Philip Gidley King the production of a weekly news sheet.

King backed the idea. His Excellency considered that it would be a desirable addition to the colony provided a Government Officer approved its contents.

“It was out of felt need that the Australian Press was born,” says media historian, Frank S. Greenop, “Looking at the yellowish files we cannot imagine the interest the Gazette aroused”.

In his opening editorial, Howe wrote that “Innumerable as the obstacles were, we are happy to affirm that they were not insurmountable.

“The utility of a paper in the colony, as it must open a source of solid information will, we hope, be universally felt and acknowledged.

“We open no channel to political discussion or person animadversion. Information is our only purpose.”

The Gazette had a monopoly on Sydney journalism for 21 years. Although the paper was heavily censored, it paved the way for a free press.

A few months earlier, Howe had also published the first book. He would go on to become the patriarch of Australia’s first publishing dynasty.

Howe died in 1821 aged 52. The cause was from a condition called edema, or “dropsy,” which is the abnormal accumulation of fluid in the cells, tissues or cavities of the body.

His estate was valued at four thousand pounds ($8000). His son, Robert, started running the paper from the next issue, August 13, 1821.

There had been one of “much activity and an anxiety” toward the 26-year-old R. Howe. He has been associated with the Gazette since its inception and was qualified with “intimate knowledge” of the printing business “to successfully carry on the work”.

But the end was to come sooner the Robert expected.

In was an untimely but “accidental” drowning just off Fort Denison, NSW, the was cicureos. He was buried on January 29, 1829. Anne Howe, Robert’s wife, filled the area, and became Australia’s woman newspaper proprietor.

Frank Morris comment: Following the George Howe Breakfast Briefing, I was invited to join the ‘George Howe Descendants Reunion’ to unveil a new memorial in honour of Australia’s first newspaper proprietor to head a dynasty. The Reunion was on Sunday, March 9, 2003. It was conducted by the Rector of St Philip’s the Rev Allan M. Blanch at Pioneer Park, Eastern Suburbs Cemetery, for over 70 Howes from cities near and far. As a writer, I had this to say: “The moment George Howe pulled the foolscap-size image , printed on inferior paper, on which were smudged impressions of old battle-worn type, Howe, aged 34 years, had ventured, without scruple, to undertake the high task of enlightening the public mind … That’s why George Howe was called the Father of the Australian Press”.

Top: A special day. Howe watched the birth of a newspaper; the stained glass window illustrates the printing of the first Australian newspaper, the Sydney Gazette. The printer, George Howe, presented the first to Governor King. 

Australia’s first printery sees the light of day!

The end of the first printery.

In one of the outbuildings at the first Government House, on which site now stands the Museum of Sydney, is where George Howe made history.

It was there that Howe printed the first book, first newspaper, and a raft of other government documents that were important communication links in the new colony.

Howe operated from this location for about two years. But still he wasn’t first printer in the colony; it was George Hughes.

Hughes went on to produce over 200 individual government … orders and regulations for Governor King. Among his best work as a compositor was the comedy The Recruiting Officer and The Virgin Unmasked, which King presented on Saturday on March 8, 1800.

In the l980s, as the excavation of the site progressed, it was like opening Pandora’s Box. 

Among the thousands of objects unearthed were pieces of lead type and other artefacts that were intrinsically connected to Howe’s printery.

But the commercial development that was planned on the site threatened to eliminate every fragment of this unique culture.

Stop Press 23 May 2022: Experienced radio and TV broadcaster, Caroline Jones, died last weekend from a heavy fall. She was 84. At one time she told me that “small newspapers … play a vital in community affairs and their importance should not be underestimated.

“The first printery … once again depended on the government for survival,” writes historian, Sandra Blair. Premier Neville Wran later announced his government would preserve the First Government House site as a museum.

Designed by architect Denton Corker, the Museum of Sydney opened in May 1995.

“It’s a place of many layers” says a Museum spokesperson. “The archaeological remains of Governor Phillip’s house, the modern architecture and the permanent and temporary displays created by historians, curators, artists and others, would remain.”

It’s historic association with early printing – the “black art” – the masthead that forms part of the heading, is a unique example of why Sydney Gazette is a masterful mainstay of colonial graphic art.

When he’d back-track over the first 15 years before the colony has its own newspaper, he know that how did Australia keep an eye on its existence.

The gossip and general goings-on in the colony, which was mainly directed by a prominent person, was disseminated by a device known as a ‘pipe’.

The ‘pipe’ was still used after the first newspaper came into being.

This was a cylinder, which contained hand-written sheets, and was passed from person to person or shoved under doors or placed strategically in public places.

These early muckrakers wrote “frankly, if libellously, against social wrong”. Pipes were still used as a mode of communications long after the first newspaper, The Sydney Gazette spewed from the press in 1803.

Published under close scrutiny of successive governors, the Gazette remained the sole organ of the colony until Wentworth’s “independent” Australian, which promised to be “unmoved by favours and by fear”, appeared in 1824.