PAPERSPAST

The Hawera & Normanby Star was founded in 1880 by Patrick Galvin, Joseph Innes and J.C. Yorke. Southern Taranaki was being opened up at this time and they saw an opportunity to establish a paper there. All three had worked together on the New Zealand Times in Wellington and their partnership was forged there.

The first issue appeared on 10 April 1880 and the paper was published twice a week. In 1881 Galvin retired due to ill health and his place was taken by Joseph Armit. However Galvin continued to be involved with newspapers for the rest of his life, founding the short-lived Hawera Morning Post in 1894 and contributing to the New Zealand Times.

The Star saw off a challenge early on from Joseph Ivess, publisher of the nearby Patea Mail. Ivess had been publishing the Patea Mail since 1875 and had ambitions to establish a chain of papers in Taranaki. He tried to persuade Galvin not to set up in Hawera. When Galvin persisted, he opened an office in Hawera, from which he briefly published the Hawera Times. However the residents of Hawera preferred the Star and Ivess abandoned his new paper after two issues.

The Star progressed steadily in its first two decades. In 1882 a new press was installed and the paper began daily publication. In 1885 it started the Egmont Star, a weekly compendium of items from the parent paper for distribution to the backblocks of Taranaki. The Egmont Star ceased in 1914. In 1895 the Hawera Star survived a fire that destroyed the paper's premises and plant.

In 1889 Yorke became sole proprietor; in 1893 he sold the Star to the paper's editor, William Alfred Parkinson. Parkinson ran the paper until his death in 1920. Ownership changed several more times through the 20th century. The paper ceased daily publication in 1977 and became a community paper the following year. It is still published in that form today.