[PRESBYTERIANS IN NEW SOUTH WALES] Prospectus of a weekly paper, to be entitled “The Colonist.”

A$150 · Offered by Douglas Stewart Fine Books

[Caption title]. Beneath title: Union is Strength . Sydney : Printed by F. Mason, [1863]. Broadside (250 x 203 mm), lithograph printed recto only on blue paper; very mild sunning and wear at edges, but a near fine copy. Ferguson, 14446 This obscure prospectus for a Sydney newspaper aimed at the Presbyterian readership in New South Wales was published on 12 February 1863. For whatever reason, the paper which was to be co-edited by politician George Dunmore Lang and was to have taken its name from his father John Dunmore Langs weekly, The Colonist (in circulation from 1835 to 1840) never saw the light of day. The first three paragraphs of the broadside set out the rationale for the new newspaper: the colony, unlike other parts of the English-speaking world where the population has a large Presbyterian component, lacks a channel of influence in the local press. This has perhaps been due, it is suggested, to the factionalism that has existed in the Presbyerian Church in Australia in recent decades. With the prospect now on the horizon of unity returning to the Church, this new weekly would provide the Presbyterian community with a common outlet for both both religious and political intelligence. The text continues: It is proposed, therefore, to publish on Saturday the 4th April next, a weekly journal, to be entitled The Colonist, to circulate principally, but not exclusively, among the Presbyterians of the coony. It will be printed in the Demy Folio form, half the size of the pre

• Binding: Hardcover

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