About Yea Chronicle

Yea Chronicle

The Yea Chronicle is a weekly newspaper circulating on Wednesdays throughout the western region of the Murrindindi Shire in Victoria, Australia. The newspaper started as The Yea Telegraph in October 1885 and took the Chronicle name in 1890. Since May 1993 it has been published by Alexandra Newspapers — the publishers of the Alexandra Standard and the Yea Chronicle, serving the Murrindindi region for more than 150 years.

Overview

The Yea Chronicle is the weekly paper of Yea and the western Murrindindi Shire — the Upper Goulburn district, the country of the Goulburn River's headwaters, the Cathedral Range, and the farming towns between Melbourne and the high country. Yea is the district's western service town: the centre of the region's beef, sheep, and cropping districts, and the gateway to the Murrindindi's forests and rivers.

The paper circulates on Wednesdays through the western Murrindindi Shire, published by Alexandra Newspapers Pty Ltd (ACN 006 971 937) — the active Australian private company behind the Alexandra & Eildon Standard and the Yea Chronicle, "150+ years serving the Murrindindi region." Alexandra Newspapers offers digital subscriptions allowing readers to read the Alexandra Standard and the Yea Chronicle online — the Wednesday paper in print and on screen.

History

The newspaper started as The Yea Telegraph in October 1885 — the paper of the Upper Goulburn's pioneering era, when the valley was still being settled and the gold era's legacy shaped every town. The name changed to The Yea Chronicle in 1890. An early owner was Frederick G. Purcell. The paper absorbed the Yea Telephone and Upper Goulburn Advocate (1908–1912) — the consolidation of the district's early press into the Chronicle that survives today.

The Chronicle was later owned by Tom Dignam, who sold the paper to Ash and Fleur Long in 1984. The Longs owned the Chronicle through the 1980s and early 1990s — the Yea years that shaped Ash Long's career. Ash Long won the statewide Westpac Award for best local reporting for his fearless coverage of Yea Council events in 1986–87; he was a charter member and past president of the Rotary Club of Yea, named a Paul Harris Fellow; and the couple began many community involvements in the town. The Longs' Yea decade — the young publisher learning the country-press craft — preceded Ash Long's resurrection of the Melbourne Observer in 2002 and his founding of The Local Paper in 2016.

In May 1993 the Longs sold the paper to Geoff Heyes and Jenny Smith of Alexandra Newspapers — the beginning of the Alexandra era that continues today. Alexandra Newspapers Pty Ltd (ACN 006 971 937) is the active publisher behind the Alexandra & Eildon Standard and the Yea Chronicle — "150+ years serving the Murrindindi region," in the company's words — along with the Murrindindi & District Business and Trades Directory and the Murrindindi Magic publications.

The Yea Chronicle (Yea, Vic.: 1891–1920) is digitised on Trove — the pioneering record preserved for researchers: the Telegraph-Chronicle's account of the Upper Goulburn's settlement era, the gold legacy, and the valley's pioneering families. The paper's circulation was recorded at 637 (2016) and 524 (2018) — the small but loyal readership of the western shire, the Wednesday paper's faithful.

The district the Chronicle serves is the Upper Goulburn: Yea, the service town on the Goulburn Valley Highway; the Goulburn River winding through the valley; the Cathedral Range's dramatic escarpments; and the farming communities of the western Murrindindi — the beef, sheep, and cropping districts. It is the country between Melbourne and the high country: the commuter belt's rural fringe, the weekenders' retreats, and the working farms.

The Murrindindi Shire — the municipality the Chronicle serves with its Alexandra stablemate — is bushfire country: the Black Saturday fires of February 2009 devastated Marysville and swept through the shire, and the district's papers were the chronicle of the disaster and the recovery. The Alexandra & Eildon Standard (the eastern shire's paper) and the Yea Chronicle (the western shire's) together covered the shire's darkest days and its rebuilding — the community press at its most essential.

Content

The Yea Chronicle provides local news coverage, business updates, sports results, and council announcements. Its journalism spans the western shire's life: the Murrindindi Shire Council's western wards, the Upper Goulburn's farms and towns, and the community calendar — the Wednesday paper as the district's noticeboard, record, and forum. Its journalism spans:

• Western shire news: Yea and the western Murrindindi — the Murrindindi Shire Council news, the district's development, and the community life, from the council chambers to the main streets of the valley towns.
• Agriculture: the beef, sheep, and cropping districts of the Upper Goulburn — the valley's working farms, the saleyards, the seasonal rhythms that the Wednesday paper has recorded since the Telegraph era.
• Sport: the district's football and netball clubs, the Yea Racing Club (the Sister Olive Yea St Pats Cup — the 3000-metre autumn feature), the Yea Golf Club (the Dalhousie Vets competition), and community sport — the Upper Goulburn's sporting calendar in full.
• Community: the schools, the events, the milestones, and the social record of the western shire — the weekly chronicle of the valley's civic life, from the school achievements to the community fundraisers that define the district.

Coverage & Audience

The Yea Chronicle is a weekly newspaper circulating on Wednesdays throughout the western region of the Murrindindi Shire, published in English, in print and with digital subscriptions through alexandranewspapers.com.au. The Wednesday rhythm is the week's midpoint anchor: the paper that arrives as the valley's week takes shape, the western shire's midweek record. Its audience is the residents of the western Murrindindi — the townspeople of Yea, the farming families of the Upper Goulburn, and the district's communities — who rely on the paper for the local news, sporting coverage, and community record of the western shire. In a shire defined by the river, the ranges, and the fire seasons, the Wednesday paper is the week's anchor: the news of the valley, delivered to the district's doorsteps, the record of the Upper Goulburn since the Telegraph era.

Ownership

The Yea Chronicle is published by Alexandra Newspapers Pty Ltd — the publishers of the Alexandra Standard and the Yea Chronicle, owned by Geoff Heyes and Jenny Smith since May 1993. The company (ACN 006 971 937, ABN 12 006 971 937) is an active Australian private company based in the Murrindindi region, also publishing the Murrindindi & District Business and Trades Directory — the business of the shire in print, alongside its two newspapers.

Digital Presence

The Yea Chronicle is available online through alexandranewspapers.com.au — the Alexandra Newspapers website, offering digital subscriptions to read the Alexandra Standard and the Yea Chronicle online. The site carries the group's news articles — the Yea racing, the golf, the district's stories — extending the Wednesday weekly's reach beyond print, to the valley's readers wherever they are.

For Yea and the western Murrindindi, the Chronicle remains what it has been since 1885: the western shire's own paper — the Wednesday record of the Upper Goulburn, from the Yea Telegraph of the pioneering era to the Alexandra Newspapers of today, still publishing for the district, still the valley's midweek voice, every Wednesday, without fail, the western shire's Wednesday paper, since 1885, and still going strong, week after week, year after year.