The 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,[1] but from its early days it was mainly a scandal sheet. Subsequent owners included Adolphus Taylor, Paddy Crick and John Norton.[2]

Norton established several subsidiaries, including the Sportsman (1900),[3] the Brisbane Truth (1900), the Melbourne Truth (1902) and the Perth Truth (1903).[4]

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.[5]

End of the Truth

In January 1941, Ezra Norton launched The Daily Mirror. In October 1958, he replaced the Sydney Truth with the Sunday Mirror. In 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.[6]

Digitisation

The paper has been digitised as part of the Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program (ANDP) project of the National Library of Australia.[7][8]

See also

External links

References

  1. ↑ Pearl 1958, p. 47
  2. ↑ Pearl 1958, p. 38
  3. ↑ Pearl 1958, p. 165
  4. ↑ Cannon, Michael. "Norton, John (1858 - 1916)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australian National University. Retrieved 2007-05-13.
  5. ↑ Pearl 1958, p. 245
  6. ↑ Lawson, Valerie. "Norton, Ezra (1897 - 1967)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australian National University. Retrieved 2007-08-19.
  7. ↑ "Newspaper and magazine titles". Trove Digitised newspapers and more. National Library of Australia. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
  8. ↑ "Newspaper Digitisation Program". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 5 June 2013.

Sources

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brisbane Truth.