The ''St George and Sutherland Shire Leader'' is a regional newspaper serving part of the

southern Sydney Southern Sydney, also commonly referred to as the Southern suburbs, is the southern metropolitan area of Greater Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Southern Sydney is a title for the regions and neighbourhoods which fall dire ...

region. is owned by

Australian Community Media Australian Community Media (ACM) is a media company in Australia responsible for over 160 regional publications. Its mastheads include the '' Canberra Times'', '' Newcastle Herald'', '' The Examiner'', '' The Border Mail'', '' The Courier'' an ...

and serves around 500,000 people and caters for the

St George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the R ...

and

Sutherland Sutherland () is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in the Scottish Highlands, Highlands of Scotland. The name dates from the Scandinavian Scotland, Viking era when t ...

areas of southern

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

History

The paper was first published on Wednesday, 29 June 1960, as a weekly publication. It was formed as a merger of smaller local newspapers: ''The Times'', ''The Express'', ''The District and Shire News'' and ''The Kingsgrove Riverwood Courier''. By 1961, the newspaper had a circulation of 81,000 free weekly copies and sold another 1,000. It ranged in size from 48 to 56 pages. It employed two sub-editors, four reporters, one photographer, a columnist and used outside contributors. In 1984, ''The Leader'' moved to a twice-weekly publication on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Goan Goans ( Romi Konkani: , ) is the demonym used to describe the people native to Goa, India, formerly part of Portuguese India (''Estado Português da Índia''). They form an ethno-linguistic group resulting from the assimilation of Indo-Aryan, ...

Kenyan-born journalist

Cyprian Fernandes Cyprian "Skip" Fernandes (born September 1943) is a retired journalist and author. Having started life and his career in Kenya, he is now based in Sydney, Australia. Early life and education Cyprian Fernandes was born in September 1943 into a ...

was editor for around 10 years in the late 1980s to 1990s. At the time, regional newspapers were flourishing, and there were 20 journalists writing for the paper. The ''Leader'' won Newspaper of the Year during this time, after he had introduced colour to the layouts. On 30 July 2020, state Member for Miranda

Eleni Petinos Eleni Marie Petinos is an Australian state politician in New South Wales. She served as the Minister for Small Business and the Minister for Fair Trading in the Perrottet ministry from December 2021 until her Ministry was ceased on 31 July 20 ...

moved a notice of motion in the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...

congratulating the publication "on a fantastic 60 years". The names of the editorial team were mentioned: Craig Thomson, Murray Trembath, John Veage, Merryn Porter, and Chris Lane.

Ownership

The entity was formerly owned by

Fairfax Media Fairfax Media was a media (communication), media company in Australia and New Zealand, with investments in newspaper, magazines, radio and digital properties. The company was founded by John Fairfax as John Fairfax and Sons, who purchased ''The ...

, prior to its merger with

Nine Entertainment Nine Entertainment Co. Holdings Limited is an Australian publicly listed company with holdings in mass media radio and television broadcasting, publishing and digital media. It uses Nine as its corporate branding. The entity is largely a succ ...

in 2018. In April 2019, Nine sold the business to Australian Community Media, owned by Antony Catalano and Alex Waislitz.

Publication and readership

On 16 December 2015, the paper reverted to a weekly publication on Wednesdays. As of 2020, its circulation was nearly 150,600, which was "the largest of any suburban newspaper in Australia". It is also available online.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint George and Sutherland Shire Leader St George (Sydney) Sutherland Shire Newspapers published in Sydney 1960 establishments in Australia