School of Social and Political Sciences - Theses

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End date: 1979 × Subject: history × Subject: 1851-1891 ×

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    “The Age” on public affairs from 1861 to 1881
    Whitfield, L. F. ( 1950)
    At the present, time, we may buy the Age in Melbourne every morning except Sunday for twopence. It enjoys the reputation for being a reliable newspaper, not sensationalist, and only using its largest headlines for some matter of real importance, not of just passing popular interest. Its leaders are serious, thoughtful, with a tendency to the left rather than to the right; but not expressing merely the views of any one political party. Once, the Age was the organ of change. It persistently opposed what it called the pretences of the wealthy - the squatters and the importers. It was a popular paper, pleading for the small man, to give him a place to live his own life and work for himself. Today, we may still find the same old tone, upholding the rights of the individual against the attempts of the large group, who threaten to absorb him. It no longer has the highest circulation among Melbourne papers. The tabloid press has outstripped it in that. I have looked at the Age in this earlier period to find out what it was like, and what it was saying. In this thesis I am trying to give an account of what the Age said about some important matters of public interest during the years 1861 to 1881. A newspaper, in giving the news and in reviewing it in articles, deals with many sides of the community's life. In order to bring the subject of this thesis within a reasonable compass, attention has been given to certain subjects only which happened to be dealt with by the Age in these years. These are the opening of the land in Victoria, the introduction of protective tariffs, and the struggle over a number of years between the lower and upper houses in the Victorian Parliament as constituted in 1854. Since the Age spoke most frankly and forcefully on these matters, some attempt will be made to estimate how much it influenced public opinion in these matters. (From Chapter 1)