''The Whanganui Chronicle'' is

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

's oldest newspaper. Based in

Whanganui Whanganui, also spelt 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. Whanganui is ...

, 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 Patea ( ) is the third-largest town in South Taranaki District, New Zealand. It is on the western bank of the Pātea River, 61 kilometres north-west of Whanganui on . Hāwera is 27 km to the north-west, and Waverley, Taranaki, Waverley 17 ...

, Waverley, Whanganui, Bulls, Marton,

Raetihi Raetihi, a small town in the centre of New Zealand's North Island, is located at the junction of New Zealand state highway network, State Highways 4 and 49 in the Manawatū-Whanganui region. It lies in a valley between Tongariro National Park, ...

Ohakune Ohakune is a small town at the southern end of Tongariro National Park, close to the southwestern slopes of the active volcano Mount Ruapehu, in the North Island of New Zealand. A rural service town known as New Zealand's Carrot Capital, Ohaku ...

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 printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in whi ...

was available, Stokes approached the technical master at

Wanganui Collegiate School Whanganui Collegiate School is a state-integrated, coeducational, day and boarding secondary school located in Whanganui, in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. Affiliated with the Anglican Church, it is the third oldest school in ...

, 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''," French 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 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 John Ballance (27 March 1839 – 27 April 1893) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 14th premier of New Zealand from January 1891 until his death in April 1893. He governed as the leader of New Zealand's first organised List of pol ...

. 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 in New Zealand, ...

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 ''The Northern Advocate'' is the regional daily paper for the city of Whangārei and the Northland Region in New Zealand. History ''The Whangarei Comet and Northern Advertiser'' was founded in 1875 as a weekly paper by George Alderton and, des ...

and Hawkes Bay Today. It is based in the NZME offices on Guyton Street, alongside other NZME operations such as

Newstalk ZB Newstalk ZB is a nationwide New Zealand talk radio, talk-radio network operated by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, NZME Radio. It is available in almost every media market, radio market area in New Zealand, and has news reporters based in m ...

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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 Newspapers established in 1856 New Zealand Media and Entertainment 1856 establishments in New Zealand