The Mercury (Hobart)

Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Tabloid
Owner	News Limited
Editor	Garry Bailey
Founded	1854
Political alignment	Conservative
Headquarters	93 Macquarie Street, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, 7000
Circulation	44,317 (weekdays) 61,020 (Sat) 58,148 (Sun)
Official website	www.themercury.com.au

The Mercury is a daily newspaper, published in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, by Davies Brothers Pty Ltd, part of News Limited and News Corporation. The weekend issues of the paper are called Mercury on Saturday and Sunday Tasmanian.

History

The newspaper was started on 5 July 1854 by George Auber Jones and John Davies and two months subsequently (13 September 1854) John Davies became the sole owner.^[1] It was then published twice weekly and known as the Hobarton Mercury. It rapidly expanded, absorbing its rivals, and became a daily newspaper in 1858 under the lengthy title The Hobart Town Daily Mercury. In 1860 the masthead was reduced to The Mercury and in 2006 it was further shortened to simply Mercury.

After Davies' retirement in 1871, the business was carried on by his sons John George Davies and Charles Ellis Davies who later traded as Davies Brothers Ltd. John Davies died on 11 June 1872, aged 58. The company remained in the family's hands until 1988, when it was taken over by News Limited, a subsidiary of News Corporation.

Other Tasmanian titles published by the company are the weekly rural newspaper Tasmanian Country, the weekly regional newspaper The Gazette, and the monthly travel magazine Treasure Island.

The Saturday Evening Mercury, known locally as the 'SEM' was printed and circulated for readers on a Saturday evening from 1954 to 1984, it was replaced in early 1984 by the first Sunday circulations in southern Tasmania, known as the Sunday Tasmanian which still exists today.

At various stages in its history there have been limited experiments with regional papers—such as The Westerner which succeeded The West Coast Miner in 1979 to serve the West Coast until its demise in 1995—as well as suburban newspapers for the Hobart market, which appeared in various guises from 1966 until 1998. In November 2006 the company launched what it called a "newspaper in a newspaper" the Kingborough Times which appears monthly within the Sunday Tasmanian. This was followed in June 2007 by the Northern Times with news from Hobart's northern suburbs.

Since November 2001 the Editor of the Mercury and Sunday Tasmanian has been Garry Bailey.^[2]

Future

The Mercury's building at 93 Macquarie Street, Hobart

In July 2007 News Corporation approved a new $31 million press centre for Davies Brothers Pty Ltd, publisher of the Mercury and the Sunday Tasmanian. It will include the installation of the latest full-colour press.^[3]

Davies Brothers will develop the centre at Technopark, north of Hobart. It will replace the 35-year-old press housed in the Argyle Street wing of the company's city site. All other operations of the newspaper group will continue to be based in the heart of the city at 93 Macquarie Street.

Circulation

As of March 2011, the Mercury reported its Monday–Friday circulation as 44,317 with an average readership of 107,000 and its Saturday circulation as 61,020 with readership of 146,000.^[4] The Sunday Tasmanian reported circulation of 58,148 with readership of 129,000.^[5]

See also

• List of newspapers in Australia

Notes

1. ^ The Mercury 5 Nov 1995, page 4f, 'The Jubilee of The Mercury'
2. ^ Profile of Garry Bailey, Mercury website.
3. ^ $31m press upgrade for Mercury, Mercury website, 25 July 2007.
4. ^ Facts: Mercury, NewsSpace, March 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
5. ^ Facts: Sunday Tasmanian, NewsSpace, March 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2011.

External links

• Official website
• Digitised historic Mercury from the National Library of Australia
• Digitised Hobarton Mercury from the National Library of Australia
• Digitised Hobart Town Mercury from the National Library of Australia
• Digitised Hobart Town Daily Mercury from the National Library of Australia