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Otago Daily Times
Background
Region
Otago
Available online
1861-1950
The discovery of gold in Gabriel’s Gully in 1861 led to a huge increase in the population of Dunedin, going from fewer than 2,000 inhabitants to nearly 15,000 by the end of the 1860s. Julius Vogel (1835-1899) arrived in Dunedin in October 1861 and became editor of the weekly Otago Witness. Together with the Otago Witness publisher William Cutten, Vogel started up the Otago Daily Times. The first issue appeared on 15 November 1861, making it the first daily newspaper in New Zealand, and the one with the longest history of daily publication.
Vogel’s support for separating the South and North Islands led to his dismissal in 1868, leaving him to concentrate on national politics, whilst always retaining an interest in journalism.
After a merger of the Otago Guardian and the Otago Daily Times, a public company, The Otago Daily Times and Witness Company, was floated in 1878. One of the highlights of the paper’s history is the exposure of working conditions in Dunedin sweatshops in the 1880s by chief reporter Silas Spragg and editor George Fenwick.
Nearly a century later the Otago Daily Times Ltd and the Evening Star Company Ltd merged in 1975, followed within a few years by the transformation of the Evening Star into a community newspaper. This left the Otago Daily Times as the city’s only daily newspaper.
Copyright statement
For material published 120 or more years ago, to the best of the National Library of New Zealand's knowledge, under New Zealand law, no copyright exists in that material. You can copy that material, share it, and post it on a blog or website. It can be modified, remixed and built upon. It can be used commercially. If reproducing this material, it is helpful to include the source.
For material published fewer than 120 years ago, the following statement applies.
Allied Press Ltd is the copyright owner for the Otago Daily Times. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons New Zealand BY-NC-SA licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Allied Press Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
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