About Kimberley Echo

Kimberley Echo

The Kimberley Echo is a community newspaper based in Kununurra, Western Australia — the East Kimberley town on the Ord River. Founded on 28 April 1980 by James O'Kenny and Brian Cole, the paper was a fortnightly from 1980 to 1993 and has been a weekly since 1993. In 2007 the newspaper was acquired by West Australian Newspaper Holdings — the sale investigated by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, which did not oppose it. The Echo serves the East Kimberley: Kununurra, Wyndham, and the surrounding districts. The ACMA Register of eligible news businesses lists kimberleyecho.com.au as the paper's domain.

Overview

Kununurra — the irrigation town built on the Ord River scheme, the service centre for the East Kimberley's agriculture, mining and tourism — is the Echo's home: the community newspaper of the eastern Kimberley. As a weekly, the paper covers the district's life: the Ord Valley's farming, the shire's affairs, the tourism industry, community events, sport and the social fabric of one of Australia's most remote settled districts. The ACCC's 2007 merger record describes the Echo as a paid weekly with a circulation area taking in Kununurra, Wyndham, Fitzroy Crossing, Halls Creek, Derby and Broome — the Kimberley-wide reach of the East's paper.

History

James O'Kenny (born James Kenny) and Brian Cole founded the Kimberley Echo on 28 April 1980 — launching a community newspaper for the East Kimberley town that the Ord River scheme was building. The fortnightly years (1980–1993) served the district's pioneering decades: the Ord Stage One expansion, the Argyle diamond discovery, the tourism emergence. In 1993 the paper went weekly — the district's growth sustaining the weekly rhythm. O'Kenny — remembered in The West Australian's 2011 obituary as a "larrikin journalist" who "stood by his beliefs" — died in Kununurra on 15 August 2011: the founder who stayed with his town and his paper.

In 2007 West Australian Newspaper Holdings acquired the Echo. The ACCC's public informal merger review — "West Australian Newspapers Holdings Ltd (WANH): acquisition of The Kimberley Echo" — examined the relevant markets (advertising space and content supply in the circulation area) and concluded the acquisition was unlikely to substantially lessen competition, noting little overlap between the Echo and WAN's publications and radio licences in the area. The sale brought the independent East Kimberley weekly into the state's biggest newspaper group.

Content

The Kimberley Echo covers the East Kimberley: the Ord Valley's agriculture — the sandalwood, the mangoes, the chia, the cattle — the Shire of Wyndham East Kimberley's affairs, the Argyle legacy and the mining industry, the tourism operators, the community events, sport and the social life of Kununurra and Wyndham. The paper's photography — the Kimberley's landscapes and wildlife — is its visual signature: the stunning country, in print. For tourists, the Echo is the insider's guide: the cultural events, the festivals, the local stories.

Coverage and Audience

The Echo's circulation area — Kununurra, Wyndham, Fitzroy Crossing, Halls Creek, Derby, Broome — spans the Kimberley: the East's irrigation districts, the West's pearling coast, the inland mining towns. Its readers are the Kimberley's residents: the Ord farmers, the mine workers, the tourism operators, the shire staff, the Traditional Owners, the station families — and the visitors the paper's tourism coverage serves. The National Library, the Battye Library and the State Records Office (holdings 1982–1985) preserve the paper's publishing history: the East Kimberley's record since 1980.

Ownership

Founded independently by O'Kenny and Cole in 1980, the Kimberley Echo was acquired by West Australian Newspaper Holdings in 2007 — now part of Seven West Media's Western Australian regional portfolio. The ACCC's non-opposition cleared the independent weekly's passage into the state's biggest media group: the East Kimberley's community paper, under Seven West Media ownership.

Digital Presence

The Echo maintains its digital presence through the ACMA-registered kimberleyecho.com.au domain and Seven West Media's West regionals digital platform. The paper's weekly journalism — the Ord Valley's news, the East Kimberley's events — reaches the district's readers online as well as in print: the fly-in-fly-out workers, the southern investors, the tourists planning the Kimberley trip. From the 28 April 1980 founding fortnightly to the Seven West Media weekly, the Kimberley Echo has been the East Kimberley's community newspaper for 46 years.

The 1980 Founding

James O'Kenny and Brian Cole's 28 April 1980 founding of the Kimberley Echo came as Kununurra was becoming a town: the Ord River irrigation scheme — Stage One's farms established, the dam building Lake Argyle — was creating an agricultural district in the East Kimberley, and the district needed its newspaper. The fortnightly Echo served the pioneering years: the farmers learning tropical agriculture, the town building its institutions, the Argyle diamond pipe discovered in 1979 promising a mining future. The founders' paper was the district's diary from the start: the fortnightly record of the Ord's transformation.

The Larrikin Journalist

James O'Kenny — born James Kenny, the "larrikin journalist" of The West Australian's 2011 obituary — embodied the Echo's character: the journalist who stood by his beliefs, who stayed in Kununurra, who built the town's paper and kept it independent for 27 years. O'Kenny's death in Kununurra on 15 August 2011 closed the founding era: the co-founder who had given the East Kimberley its community newspaper and never left. The Echo's independence — 1980 to 2007 — was O'Kenny's legacy: the district's paper, owned in the district.

The Weekly Years

The 1993 move from fortnightly to weekly marked the district's maturity: Kununurra's growth, the Ord expansion, the tourism industry — enough news, enough advertising, enough readers for the weekly rhythm. The weekly Echo carried the district through the 1990s and 2000s: the Ord Stage Two debates, the Argyle mine's life, the native-title era, the tourism booms. The National Library and Battye Library holdings — recording the publication's changes — trace the fortnightly-to-weekly evolution: the paper growing with its town.

The 2007 Sale

The 2007 acquisition by West Australian Newspaper Holdings ended the Echo's independent era — and the ACCC's investigation was the measure of its significance: the competition regulator examining the sale of a Kununurra weekly to the state's biggest newspaper group. The non-opposition — little overlap with WAN's publications and radio licences in the circulation area — cleared the deal: the East Kimberley's paper joining the West Australian's stable. The sale price was not disclosed; the significance was: the last independent Kimberley weekly, consolidated.

The Ord Valley's Paper

The Ord Valley — the irrigation district the Echo has covered since 1980 — is the paper's agricultural heart: the sandalwood plantations, the mango orchards, the chia crops, the cattle stations, the experimental farms. The paper's farming coverage follows the water: the Ord River's flows, the irrigation allocations, the crop trials, the harvest results. For the Ord's farmers — the tropical agriculturists of the East Kimberley — the Echo is the district's farming paper: the market reports, the seasonal news, the community's agricultural record.

The East Kimberley's Record

The Echo's 46-year run — the State Records Office's 1982–1985 holdings, the NLA and Battye collections, the weekly issues since — is the East Kimberley's modern archive: the Ord scheme's development, the Argyle era, the tourism growth, the shire's decisions, the community's life. From O'Kenny and Cole's 1980 fortnightly to the Seven West Media weekly, the Kimberley Echo has recorded the East Kimberley's transformation: the irrigation town's paper, still publishing every week.