Australian Theme - developing local, regional and national economies.
NSW Theme - communication.
Local Themes - activities related to the creation and conveyance of information.
Post Office, telephone exchange, newspaper office, network of telegraph poles.

Newspapers

Newspapers were critical in providing contact for communities with other local areas, the region and the outside world.  Newspapers were published in both Bingara and Warialda.  Prior to the development of the local newspapers, reports on both of these towns were frequently published in the Town and Country Journal as well as Tamworth and Inverell newspapers.

Bingera (Bingara) Telegraph and the Bingara Advocate

The Bingera Telegraph was launched in August 1884 (or 1883) by John Charles Lawson (J.C.L.) Veness.  Later the site of the office was occupied by Ritter’s petrol station.

By June 1886, Wiskens and Veness were proprietors of the Bingera Telegraph and Warialda Gazette.  Following the retirement of J.C.L. Veness, the paper was in turn managed by Leslie Veness and later by Mrs Annis-Brown of Gravesend. 

In 1932 Samuel Dickson came from Portland to Bingara to manage the Bingara Telegraph.  Not long afterwards, he left the newspaper to establish a small printing office in Cunningham Street.  Then in 1934, he founded the Bingara Advocate and on 30 January 1935, the newspaper completed its first year of service.

 The Bingara Telegraph, Bingara’s first newspaper ceased publication when J.C.L. Veness was forced to retire after a long period of ill health in 1934.  The printing press was sold and taken to Mungindi by Mr Mahony in October 1936.  All files of the newspaper were lost when the printing office was destroyed by fire.

Warialda Watchman

It is claimed that the Warialda Watchman started in 1894 but the Inverell Times mentions it by name on 7 September 1892.  The proprietor was Alfred Wiskens and the newspaper was printed at an office in Hope Street.  The small building stood in the grounds of the present school.  It closed in 1899 and its plant was sold at public auction on 20 March 1899.  Alfred Wiskens left the town and later went into partnership in a newspaper in the Grafton district.  The six copies held at the New South Wales Library in Sydney cover the period 12 January to February 1899. 

Warialda Standard

The Warialda Standard and Northern District Advertiser was first published on 4 May 1894 under its editor, Robert Buist. 

In 1918 Andrew Stewart purchased the paper and on 1 September 1951, James Gordon Pyrke became the new owner.  He died three years later in August 1954.  The estate managed the paper until William Samuels purchased it in September 1963.  On 2 April 1975, the Standard’s Office was destroyed by fire and Douglas G. Wilson became the owner in 1983.

Warialda Post Office

Warialda, one of the earliest post offices in New South Wales, opened on 1 January 1848 with William Geddes the first postmaster.  After starting in Geddes’ store the post office then moved to premises rented from M.T. Meares.  In 1878 the government bought the present site in Hope Street.  Samuel Senior won the building contract and it was opened on 30 September 1880.  Repairs were completed nine years later and in about 1897 the building was extended and private letterboxes added.  

J. Keenan of Pillaga was awarded the contract costing ₤236 to complete repairs and alterations to the Warialda Post Office in November 1903.  At the same time, he was to repair the Warialda Court House.  In November 1912 and in May 1913, substantial alterations and additions to the post office costing between ₤800 to ₤900 were announced.  Contractor E.W. Anderson was awarded the contract for ₤844 in July 1913.

In October 1897 the tender of W. Acheson of Tamworth was accepted for construction of telegraph line from Warialda to Wallangra via Coolatai.  In December 1937 the P.M.G. called tenders for the supply and delivery of wooden telegraph posts from Warialda to Goondiwindi.

Photograph 32: Warialda Post Office. Blake & Wilson 2006

Postal services to the north were established early once Europeans arrived in the north.  Tenders for the conveyance of mails to and from Sydney to Tamworth were approved in September 1839 and a Post Office was opened at Tamworth on 1 January 1840.  The mails were carried from Sydney by ship to Morpeth and then by road.

Horseback and coaching mails were established to meet the increased demand for mail services.  There are few documents to reveal who had the contracts to convey the mails north of Tamworth in the 1850s but John Gill of ‘Moonbi Station’ situated east of Tamworth, won many contracts serving the north in the early 1860s.  The Reports of the Postmaster- General in 1861 report that John Gill held the following contracts amongst others: Tamworth, Warialda and Callandoon (one weekly) and Warialda and Wee Waa (one weekly).  In the following year, he held the Tamworth-Manilla-Barraba-Bingera-Warialda contract.  This contract was carried out twice weekly by horseback for some years.   

Olsen also notes that in 1871 Joseph Chaffey of Tamworth took over the Tamworth, Manilla, Barraba, Bingara, and Warialda twice-weekly service.  Although Cobb and Co. took over the Muswellbrook-Armidale service from Gill that year it was not until 1883 that the company took over the Tamworth to Warialda service and held the service until about 1888.