Thomas Daniel and family set the Goulburn Post on its way

The Goulburn Evening Penny Post (GEPP) and Southern Counties General Advertiser made its unassuming first appearance on October 6, 1870.

Its front page was heavy with classified advertising, spruiking Charles Gillespie's first prize for his manufactured boots in the Intercolonial exhibition, and William Southall's coach building business next to the Royal Hotel, which made "every description of coaches, buggies and carriages."

Inside the four-page publication, a notice stated that single copies of the Penny Post could be collected from Henry Parr's store on the Yass Road (now Hume Street) or from the paper's office in town, the "late Mr Blatchford's store" in Auburn Street.

There were circuit court and police reports, regional and national news and a letter to the editor from "O.K" lamenting that since the railway's arrival in 1869 "Goulburn had ceased to become the principal place for "the reception and exchange of commodities it formerly was."

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The Franco-Prussian war, which was nearing an end, dominated editorial space.

One hundred and fifty years later, the now Goulburn Post is celebrating its proud history and reflecting on a quantum shift in the media environment.

The Goulburn Evening Post "began life as John Lancashire Harris's "cheap, lively, local tri-weekly," former Post journalist Ian Frazer stated in his 1993 university thesis. It ran for just a few months until August, 1870 before financial trouble hit.

Thomas Daniel and George Gray bought the plant and machinery, started the GEPP in October and "turned it into 'a popular family journal of a moral tone,'" Frazer wrote. It entered almost every household in the municipality.

The pair bought the newspaper from Harris who had been financially ruined by a libel case brought by the Mayor of Wagga, George Forsyth, who claimed the publication had "falsely and maliciously" reported the collapse of his stock and station business.

The first editor, John Henniker Heaton, had a short two-year career, according to Steve Tazewell's Grand Goulburn.

The masthead continued under Gray and Daniel and carried the banner 'Established 1870 - printed by steam.' It was printed on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

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So began a long ownership dynasty by the Daniel family that lasted until 1962.

Thomas Daniel was born in Staffordshire and came to NSW apparently with no thought of starting a newspaper. He was engaged to oversee Stevens and Stokes' printing office in Sydney.

He started his own 'jobbing office' in Sydney CBD but then decided to go gold mining at Adelong. While returning to Sydney he stopped off in Goulburn. Over the next 10 years Daniel worked for the Goulburn Herald as overseer before partnering with Gray to buy the Goulburn Evening Penny Post.

In 1871, the premises moved about 100 metres to the opposite site of Auburn Street to the current site, research reprinted in a 1992 special edition stated.

George Martyr became the editor in June, 1879, according to a brief newspaper article, and in 1881 the newspaper converted to broadsheet.

Tennyson Smith appears to have been appointed editor in about 1882/83, according to newspaper records. A caricature of him by artist SG Wells hangs in the Goulburn Post's office.

A new press was installed in 1891, enabling an issue to be turned out in three hours, Frazer wrote.

"Well printed as any, our paper today, and sold for one penny, by Daniel and Gray," was the popular catch cry around town.

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Thomas died in 1895 but his sons Walter and Alfred assumed ownership. After Alfred's death in 1920, Walter became the sole owner until the amalgamation with the Southern Morning Herald in 1927. A proprietory company was formed and the GEPP was produced five days a week rather than three. Walter remained as chairman of directors until his death in 1935.

His son, Thomas Lesley Daniel, was managing director up until his death in 1940, after which his brother JA (Jock) Daniel assumed the role until his retirement in 1961. He died in Sydney in 1969.

The Daniel family's legacy endured, with Vernon, son of Thomas Lesley, regarded as "a master printer" during the 1940s. He was also a working director.

Upon his death in 2005, longtime employee Barrie Williams, who worked in the printing division, described 'Vern' as "a very fair man who was a stickler for detail."

"All the staff looked up to him," he said.

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Vern's brother, Col, was also a comp room foreman in the 1950s when Mr Williams started. They and their brother John were at The Post when it was sold to the Henderson family in 1962.

The masthead had changed its name to The Goulburn Evening Post in 1940 due to the wartime effect on prices.

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