THE HISTORY

  

THE STORY and development of the Yorke Peninsula Country Times over the last 156 years follows a web of newspapers spun together since the first Yorke Peninsula paper appeared as the Wallaroo Times and Mining Journal in 1865.

This newspaper was the product of Andrew and David Taylor who came to Australia from Invercargill in New Zealand that same year.

Copper had been discovered near Kadina in 1859 and in Moonta in 1861, and in the mid-1870s both mines employed more than 1000 men. Smelting operations began in Wallaroo in 1861.

The paper flourished at Elizabeth Street, Wallaroo, until 1888, when due to pressure from Kadina traders, the business was moved to Taylor Street, Kadina, and became The Kadina and Wallaroo Times.

In 1891, Andrew died and David continued until his death when Mrs Clara Furner-Taylor headed the business.

In 1910, Andrew’s son, William F. Taylor and James Harry Pengelley, both of Kadina, entered into a partnership which lasted 25 years until 1935 when Mr Pengelley died. His son, Fred, then became a partner.

Also in 1910, John Verran became Premier of South Australia, having been elected MP for the District of Wallaroo in 1901. 

The famous Moonta Mining Co. closed in November, 1923, and an important part of local history ended. 

When William Taylor died in 1945, Fred Pengelley took control, with Mrs Agnes Taylor maintaining a financial interest until 1962 when the family finally relinquished a 92-year connection with the Times.

Fred Pengelley’s association with paper ended in 1963 when Moonta Newspaper proprietors Cecil. J.G. Ellis and Trevor. F. Ellis, who ran The People’s Weekly, purchased the Kadina business.

The Ellis family continued to print both papers, one in each town, until 1966, when the Moonta paper was incorporated into the Times to become the Kadina, Wallaroo and Moonta Times.

Two years later another change occurred when The South Australian Farmer, another Kadina-based paper, owned by Mr and Mrs H. W. Tossell, of Adelaide, merged with the Times, resulting in a new newspaper, the Yorke Peninsula Country Times, its first edition printed on September 4, 1968.

In 1970, the publishers purchased the rights to the YP News Pictorial, published in Yorketown, which was an amalgamation of the Maitland Watch and the SYP Pioneer.

In 1979, the paper’s new Goss Web Offset Press was officially commissioned by Member for Goyder, Mr E.K.(Keith) Russack.

The Yorke Peninsula Country Times has enjoyed a long and proud history through three generations of the Ellis family, with Trevor’s son, Michael, now the managing editor/owner, after having joined the firm in March, 1982.

From 1888, the old Taylor Street office in Kadina, served as the headquarters of the Times, while the newspaper was printed in the firm’s pressroom in George Street, Moonta. The printing press was moved to 31 Goyder Street, Kadina, in 2004.

YPCT’s production, editorial and administration staff moved to the paper’s new Goyder Street building in 2008, and the building was officially opened on November 6, 2008, by Senator Alan Ferguson. The Yorke Peninsula Country Times has been a regular winner of prestigious Country Press SA Inc. awards. Awards in recent years include 2003 excellence in journalism; 2004 best advertising feature, best advertisement, best front page; 2005 best front page, excellence in journalism; 2006 best advertising feature; 2010 best advertisement (priced product), best sports photo.

The paper circulates throughout the Yorke Peninsula, a rich agricultural area renowned for its quality grain production. Tourism is also a major industry for the peninsula.