Melbourne Observer

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The Melbourne Observer newspaper was established by transport magnate Gordon Barton in September 1969 as a Sunday newspaper, Melbourne's first. He ran the paper for 18 months, with a $1.5 million loss, and he went on to publish the Sunday Review, later known as The Review, then Nation Review.

Maxwell Newton started his version of the Melbourne Observer in 1971, two weeks after Barton closed his enterprise. About 1977, after financial pressures, Peter Isaacson purchased the Melbourne Observer for $425,000. He ran the weekly paper until 1989. The Melbourne Observer was resurrected in 2002 as a midweek publication by Victorian publisher Ash Long. It has achieved a weekly readership of more than 50,000, and is editorially linked with radio station 3AW.