“Read all about it! He-r-ald!” The once-ubiquitous call of the newsboy at busy intersections is long gone, as is the sight of heavily-laden bikes bearing paperboys around the suburbs. Newsagencies, in the last fifty years in Australia, have undergone great changes. This article focusses upon newsagencies from the 1950s until the mid-1970s, drawing upon memories of the Clayton and McKinnon newsagencies in suburban south-east Melbourne at that time.

What was a newsagency?

Before and during the twentieth century, a newsagency in Australia was a specialist shop which essentially sold newspapers, and if it was an “authorised” newsagency, delivered them. Newsagencies usually also sold magazines, stationery, greeting cards, tobacco items, sweets, and sometimes gift items and related merchandise. Tobacco was a major item, since so many people, men in particular, smoked in those days. Sometimes the business also sold lottery tickets (issued by Tattersalls in Victoria) and was combined with a small Post Office. As with milk and bread, customers expected newspapers could be delivered to their homes. Newsagents were very hard-working, coping with long hours and high service expectations, but they were well respected in their communities as honest and sound business people. (1)

In Victoria, the ownership and operations of newsagencies were formerly controlled by the Newsagents’ Council of Victoria (NCV). This consisted of two representatives of The Age newspaper publisher, two representatives of News Ltd (The Herald, The Sun and The Weekly Times) and one representative of the Victorian Authorised Newsagents’ Association (VANA).

The tight control of the NCV (in other words, of the publishers) over the ownership, territories of operation and services provided by newsagencies was originally thought to be in the public interest, because dissemination of print news needed to be universally available in a consistent manner.(2)

Within a specified territory the one “authorised” (that is, by NCV) newsagent might be linked to several sub-newsagencies. The authorised newsagency was responsible for supplying the “sub-agents” with their daily newspapers which the latter would sell in their shop but not deliver.

Newsagencies provided essential goods and services

Before the advent of television, people relied upon radio and newspapers to stay up to date with news. Reading the newspaper on public transport en route to work was as standard as commuters using their mobile phones nowadays – inconvenient though the large pages were to turn. (3) Compared to radio, newspapers provided much more detailed news, as well as advertisements, sports results and personal notices such as births, deaths and marriages. Morning and evening newspapers meant that the general population could stay up to date with the news before the advent of 24/7 television and online channels. In war time and during historic events this was especially important.

Magazines were also staple reading for much of the population. The Australian Women’s Weekly was hugely popular from 1933 when it was first published on a weekly basis . (4) Woman’s Day, its rival, also sold extremely well. (5) Both magazines played a key part in presenting news and social issues, mainly directed to women, but men were also keen readers.

Other items essential to the public were the stationery items sold almost exclusively by newsagents. Coles/Myer opened its first Officeworks shop in 1994; before that, most people would only visit the city for stationary if they had a specialised need.

Selection of newsagents and performance standards

If a newsagency came up for sale, the NCV interviewed applicants for the business and chose the winner. It also set the sale price. The major publishers had performance standards which newsagents had to meet, with sanctions for non-compliance. For example, the publishers stipulated the deadline by which morning newspapers had to be delivered, which was around 6.45 am for morning papers in metropolitan areas.

Clayton Authorised Newsagency

The Clayton newsagency was owned by the Richardson family in the 1950s to 1960s. It was located directly opposite the ramp leading up to Clayton Station; an ideal location for commuters to the city who could buy their newspaper (usually The Sun) and cigarettes en route to work.

Clayton newsagency in the 1960s is the third shop down on the right. Photo is taken from Clayton Railway Station, courtesy of Brian Gobbi.

Brian Gobbi, a History Monash Inc member, worked at the Clayton Newsagency in the 1950s and 1960s, first as a paper boy and later opening and managing the shop in the early mornings. He remembers that when the paper boys arrived in the early morning, all the newspapers for their rounds were neatly stacked along the length of the floor. The boys brought their own two-sided hessian bag into which they would pack the papers for delivery. They were given the instructions for their delivery round, set out according to streets and house numbers, covered in a clear plastic folder in case of wet weather.

Brian’s round went north up Clayton Road with the Convalescent Home, now the Monash Medical Centre, being his second delivery. The boys disliked having to deliver The Age as it was so heavy, especially on Saturdays. Rain, hail or shine, Brian did not miss a day. Because he often got back to the shop early he was sometimes called on to do the rounds of the boys who had not turned up. Brian enjoyed this responsibility and the quietness of the mornings. He can still remember the streets, the route and some of the houses and their orders today.

At age seventeen he was serving alone on the morning counter for the Richardsons’ newsagency. This work started at about 5.00 am and it was always busy due to the proximity to the station. Brian’s reliability in this work enabled him to secure a reference from Mr Richardson which helped with gaining employment with the Commonwealth Bank.

Reflecting on newsagents via his banking experience, Brian Gobbi noted, “they [newsagents] were very important and respected people in their communities. Their word was the gospel to most, and newsagents were always honest and reliable in most people’s eyes and could be relied upon”. (It was not uncommon for newsagents to have come from the banking sector.)

McKinnon Authorised Newsagency

The operations of this business, operated by Eddie and Ruth Code between 1964 and 1974, were very similar to the Clayton Newsagency. This suburb was more established than had been Moorabbin, the location of the Codes’ first business in 1956, where many of the roads were then unmade and unlit. (And where, nonetheless, the customers expected to receive their deliveries on time.)  The McKinnon newsagency was also located opposite the McKinnon railway station, but it had a kiosk on the station platform. This sold a small range of goods (eg cigarettes and sweets) as well as newspapers and magazines. Small packets of sweets were big sellers, with popular items being “Steamrollers” (round mints), Lifesavers and QuickEze (antacid tablets). For locations further from the shop and station, “honesty boxes” were sometimes utilised: a metal box on legs with a shelf for storing newspapers and a slot for inserting the coins as payment by honest customers. A newsboy sold evening newspapers inside the McKinnon Hotel in the evenings, and although the experience of venturing inside during the six o’clock “swill” was unpleasant, good tips were usually given. Some newsagents also stationed boys to sell newspapers at busy intersections. The latter was a hazardous venture, as motorists waiting at red lights would call the boy over for a hasty transaction. One of the Codes’ sons recalls selling newspapers to cars queued at the McKinnon Road railway crossing gates.

The paper boys needed to be strong and to have a good sense of balance – and no fear of dogs! Their absences were a constant worry and Eddie was very fortunate to have two fit sons to help him in emergencies when they were old enough. Sometimes Eddie also needed to do deliveries by car when boys did not turn up – usually in winter. Newspapers did not arrive folded and in plastic and could not be thrown onto lawns. Not all houses had a good-sized letterbox or a newspaper tube, so those delivering would sometime struggle to jam a newspaper into any other convenient location, such as near the hinges of wrought iron gates.

Once the paper boys had been despatched on their rounds, it was time to update the posters in the large metal “cages” (ie frames) which stood on the footpath against the shop windows. Each newspaper had its own headline poster for the day, designed to entice people to want to buy it. Magazines also had their posters. Eddie would usually rush off for a quick breakfast then open the shop for the day.

To most customers, their newspaper was an essential part of the start to the day, and they would ring or come into the shop to complain if it hadn’t arrived or was late. Sometimes a missing paper was due to paper boy error, but sometimes due to theft by a passer-by. More happily, customers would frequently come to the shop for regular goods and a chat. On Saturday evening, for example, the pink Sporting Globe was essential for sports fans, as was a chat about the results. The Globe was often late in arriving and a great crowd of customers would gather in the shop and outside on the footpath and wait for it to arrive – an indication of how hungry people were for sports results and news in those days.

The newsagency at 148 McKinnon Road. (The staff shown are not the owners, the Codes.)

Almost all takings were in cash, although some customers settled their accounts by cheque. In 1966 Australia’s conversion to decimal currency created a huge workload. All items had to be re-priced, cash registers changed and the supply of cash converted. On 14 February 1966, the Codes observed the price of a newspaper changing to 4 cents. Four cents also became the base rate for a letter stamp in the Post Office in 1966.

Changes

By the early 1970s, there were ominous precedents being set in Sunday trading in some areas of the retail industry. In addition, there were fears that some newsagency goods might be sold more widely, such as in “unauthorised” convenience stores and supermarkets. During the 1970s, aspiring competitors pressed for changes to aspects of the newsagency industry which they regarded as anti-competitive; for example, the rights of the State newsagency councils to define the territories in which authorised newsagents had exclusive rights to distribute publishers’ newspapers and magazines. (6) In 1979 the Trade Practices Commission (the TPC, established in 1974) declared that the system was anti-competitive. (7)

The major newspaper publishers and newsagents’ associations in the bigger States – NSW, Queensland and Victoria – successfully pushed back, arguing that the existing system operated for the public good, by providing a cheap, efficient system which benefitted the public and outweighed any anti-competitive effect. In 1988, however, the TPC commenced another review of the newsagency system. When the TPC in 1993 proposed changes to open up the system,several parties, including 7-Eleven Stores Pty Ltd and the Australasian Association of Convenience Stores Inc (AACS) claimed that these changes would not go far enough.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, (ACCC), the successor to the TPC from 1995, took over from the TPC in further reviewing the system. In 1998 the Australian Competition Tribunal mandated significant changes to the distribution, sale and delivery of newspapers and magazines.
“The last elements of authorisation of the distribution system were removed for NSW, QLD and Victoria on 1 February 2001.” (8) The basis had been set for newsagencies to change profoundly.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thank you to:
• Gerard Attwood, Director of the Victorian Authorised Newsagents’ Association, son of a newsagent and himself an award-winning newsagent;
• Brian Gobbi, who worked at Richardsons’ newsagency in Clayton between the ages of 12 and 17;
• The sons of Eddie and Ruth Code.

FOOTNOTES

1.  Brian Gobbi
2. Gerard Attwood 2023
3. The Age was broadsheet whilst The Sun was tabloid.
4. The Australian Women’s Weekly became a monthly issue from 1983.
5. Published from 1948.
6. See references to these competitors’ claims in VACC DETERMINATION A91117 21 April 2009:  The newsagency industry.
7. Some of this summary is drawn from “Delivering Newsagents from Competition“, Ross Jones, in Agenda: A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform Vol 3, No.3 (1996) ANU Press
8. ACCC Print Media Distribution and National Competition Policy – Executive Summary Paper, on www.accc.gov.au/system/files/public-registers/documents/D04%2B18386. This paper is undated and despite this writer’s best efforts, a date has not been found.  Judging by its contents it was written after 2003.

© Ann Nield 2023`