Truth (Sydney newspaper)

The Truth was a newspaper published in Sydney, Australia. It was founded in August 1890 by William Nicholas Willis and its first editor was Adolphus Taylor. In 1891 it claimed to be "The organ of radical democracy and Australian National Independence" and advocated "a republican Commonwealth created by the will of the whole people, [cite book
last =Pearl
first =Cyril
title =Wild Men of Sydney
publisher = W.H. Allen
date = 1958
location =London
pages =255
id = ISBN 0207135398 p47] but from its early days it was mainly a scandal-sheet. Subsequent owners included Adolphus Taylor, Paddy Crick and John Norton. [Pearl, p38]

Norton established several subsidiaried, including the "Sportsman" (1900), [Pearl, p165] the "Brisbane Truth" (1900), the Melbourne Truth (1902) and the "Perth Truth" (1903).cite web
first=Michael
last=Cannon
title =Norton, John (1858 - 1916)
publisher =Australian National University
work=Australian Dictionary of Biography
url =http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A110048b.htm
accessdate = 2007-05-13]

Ezra Norton

Although John Norton disinherited his estranged wife, Ada Norton and his son Ezra Norton at his death in 1916 (with the bulk of his estate going to his daughter, Joan), Mrs Norton persuaded the New South Wales Parliament to backdate the new "Testator's Family Maintenance Act" to take effect before Norton's death. Under this legislation, she succeeded in having his will rewritten in 1920 so that she and Ezra Norton each received a third of his inheritance, allowing Ezra Norton to gain control of the "Truth" group. [Pearl, p245]

End of the Truth

In January 1941, Norton launched the Daily Mirror. In October 1958, he replaced the Sydney "Truth" with the "Sunday Mirror". In the following December 1958, Norton and the other shareholders sold their shares in "Truth and Sportsman Ltd" to the Fairfax group, which on-sold it to Rupert Murdoch's News Ltd. [cite web
first=Valerie
last=Lawson
title =Norton, Ezra (1897 - 1967)
publisher =Australian National University
work=Australian Dictionary of Biography
url =http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A150576b.htm
accessdate = 2007-08-19]

References