The ''Melbourne Observer'' is a weekly newspaper circulated across
Victoria, Australia
Victoria, commonly abbreviated as Vic, is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state (after Tasmania), with a land area of ; the second-most-populated state (after New South Wales), with a population of over 7 million; ...
.
History
The newspaper was established by transport magnate
Gordon Barton
Gordon Page Barton (30 August 19294 April 2005) was an Australian businessman and political activist.
Biography
Barton was born in Surabaya, Java, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) of a Dutch mother and Australian father. He showed his intellig ...
in September 1969 as the "Sunday Observer",
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
's first Sunday newspaper. Barton ran the paper for 18 months, with a $1.5 million loss, going on to publish the ''Sunday Review'', later known as ''The Review'', then ''Nation Review''.
Maxwell Newton
Maxwell Newton (29 April 1929 – 23 July 1990) was an Australian media publisher. He was a founding editor of ''The Australian''. He was the owner of ''Daily Commercial News'' from 1969 to 1981, publisher of the '' Melbourne Observer'' from 197 ...
started his version of the ''Melbourne Observer'' in March 1971, two weeks after Barton closed his enterprise.
From August 1973, the newspaper was re-titled "Sunday Observer".
About 1977, after financial pressures,
Peter Isaacson
Peter Stuart Isaacson, Order of Australia, AM, Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom), DFC, Air Force Cross (United Kingdom), AFC, Distinguished Flying Medal, DFM (31 July 1920 – 7 April 2017) was an Australian publisher and decora ...
purchased the ''Melbourne Observer'' for $425,000. He ran the weekly paper until June 1989.
The ''Melbourne Observer'' was resurrected in 2002 as a midweek publication by Victorian publisher Ash Long. It has achieved a weekly readership of more than 55,000. The content sources include original columnists and contributors as well as material aggregated from other influential media sources such as social media, newspapers and on line.
See also
*
National Library of Australia Newspaper Histories
References
{{Reflist
Newspapers published in Melbourne
Weekly newspapers published in Australia
Newspapers established in 1969
1969 establishments in Australia