Historic headlines still look hot off the press at Puke Ariki

The cost of groceries and an election on the horizon – the stuff of headlines today was also making the news when the first edition of the Taranaki Herald came off the press in 1852.

Back then butter cost 1 shilling a pound on the New Plymouth Markets and the Herald was calling for candidates for the Provincial Assembly, “men who have got something to lose if they make a blunder -- men who have been long enough in the colony to know what is wanting for the welfare of this embryo empire".

Every Wednesday, New Plymouth residents waited eagerly for the latest news from "home" (Britain), around the province and abroad to come fresh off the cast-iron Albion newspaper handpress.

Made in London in 1830, the press printed Taranaki's first newspaper until 1862, but the Taranaki Herald went on to be New Zealand's oldest surviving newspaper before it closed in 1989.  

“Our newspapers are an important record of life in Taranaki over the last 175 years, shining a light on how people of the time saw and reacted to the major issues of the day.  Puke Ariki’s archives and online sources remind us of this history and give us an insight into how much things have changed,” said Puke Ariki Libraries Manager Angela Jowitt.

“At our libraries we still gather and present newspapers from around the country to our visitors. While much of the news can be found online, it is the stories that surround the headlines – the advertisements, editorial and classifieds – that give a richer insight into the life of New Plymouth almost 175 years ago.”

The Albion press has been preserved and is on display on level one of Puke Ariki’s Central Library, alongside digital newspapers and magazines from around the world, and examples of the printing plates – reversed versions of the final newspaper that were hand assembled every edition.

Fast facts:

• The first edition of the Taranaki Herald stated that it would be “the advocate of Taranaki” and it intended “to promote the prosperity and improvement, moral and physical, agricultural and commercial" of its readers.
• In its pages, local stores advertised goods including sperm candles, snuff, Manilla cheroots, Jamaica rum in quarter casks, quill pens and nibs, bears grease, ship biscuit, a variety of guns and pistols, gunpowder, and “most useful articles for colonial furnishing”.
• In the news:
  • Candidates for the Provincial Assembly of New Ulster (as the upper North Island was known) set out their platforms.
  • It was noted “how frequently it happens that passengers shipped for New Plymouth stop short at Auckland” due to “disgraceful” misrepresentations by Aucklanders.
  • Britain warns the “Dictator of France” against invading Belgium.
  • A cavalry horse that saw action at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 has died at over 40 years old.
• The Taranaki Research Centre on Level 2 has digital access to historic newspapers plus hard copies of the Taranaki Herald from 1852  to 1989 and the Taranaki Daily News from 1900 onwards. 

Caption: Archive Collection & Exhibitions Curator at Puke Ariki Museum Glenn Martin by the Albion Press with a copy of the first edition of the Taranaki Herald, Wednesday August 4, 1852.