''The Whanganui Chronicle'' is

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

's oldest newspaper. Based in

Whanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whang ...

, it celebrated 160 years of publishing in September 2016. It is the main daily paper for the Whanganui, Ruapehu and Rangitīkei regions, including the towns of Patea, Waverley, Whanganui,

Bulls Bulls may refer to: *The plural of bull, an adult male bovine *Bulls, New Zealand, a small town in the Rangitikei District Sports *Bucking bull, used in the sport of bull riding * Bulls (rugby union), a South African rugby union franchise operated ...

, Marton, Raetihi, Ohakune and

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History

Local resident Henry Stokes first proposed the paper for Petre, as the town was then called, but initial publication was held back by lack of equipment. As no

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the ...

was available, Stokes approached the technical master at

Wanganui Collegiate School Whanganui Collegiate School (formerly Wanganui Collegiate School; see here) is a state-integrated, coeducational, day and boarding, secondary school in Whanganui, Manawatū-Whanganui region, New Zealand. The school is affiliated to the Anglican c ...

, Rev. Charles Nicholls, and together they constructed a maire wood and iron makeshift printing press, on which, with the help of the staff and pupils of the school, the first edition of the ''Wanganui Chronicle'' (as it was then spelled) was printed on 18 September 1856. The motto of the paper, printed at the top of the editorial column, was "''Verite Sans Peur'',"

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for "''Truth without Fear''." Initially the paper was sold fortnightly, at a price of six pence. In 1866 the ''Chronicle'' went tri-weekly, and in 1871 began publishing daily and has done so since. The paper was owned and edited by

Gilbert Carson Gilbert Carson may refer to: * Gilbert Carson (American football) (1901–1988), college football coach * Gilbert Carson (politician) Gilbert Carson (1842 – 4 March 1924) was an independent conservative Member of Parliament in New Zealand. ...

from 1875 onwards. In the 1880s Carson's sister Margaret Bullock worked as a reporter and assistant editor for the paper, and, along with Laura Jane Suisted, was one of the first female parliamentary correspondents in New Zealand. The woman editor for a time in the 1920s using her birth name Iris Wilkinson, later published poetry and novels as Robin Hyde, and is now "acknowledged as a major figure in New Zealand twentieth-century culture". The ''Chronicles rival from 1867 onward was ''The Evening Herald'' (later '' The Wanganui Herald''), founded by John Ballance. The ownership of the two daily papers merged in the 1970s, and in 1986 the ''Herald'' became a free weekly, later renamed the ''Wanganui Midweek''. The ''Chronicle'' is currently Whanganui's only daily newspaper.

Recent History

The paper was acquired by the new company NZME in September 2014, after the merger of APN News and Media and The Radio Network. It is one of NZME's 32 publications, including

The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspape ...

Bay of Plenty Times The ''Bay of Plenty Times'' is the regional daily paper for the Bay of Plenty area, including Tauranga, in the North Island of New Zealand. History The ''Bay of Plenty Times'' was first produced on 4 September 1872 as a bi-weekly publication. It ...

, The Northern Advocate and Hawkes Bay Today. It is based in the NZME offices on Guyton Street, alongside other NZME operations such as Newstalk ZB, The Hits and OneRoof. On Monday, 10 September 2018, the paper changed its name to the ''Whanganui Chronicle'', to correspond with the corrected Māori spelling of the Whanganui district that became official in December 2015. In September 2020, the paper reached an average issue readership of 23,000 people aged 15 and above. This was 8000 more readers during the same survey period in 2019, and up 3000 readers on the previous survey ending March 2020. The Chronicle has some of the highest readership per capita of any publication in New Zealand.

References

{{NZ newspaper Newspapers published in New Zealand Mass media in Whanganui Companies based in Whanganui Publications established in 1856 New Zealand Media and Entertainment 1856 establishments in New Zealand