About The Courier (Mount Barker)

The Courier (Mount Barker)

Overview

The Courier is an independent weekly newspaper published on Wednesdays in Mount Barker, South Australia, serving the Adelaide Hills — described by the SA Country Press association as the state's main growth area — and a circulation area that takes in the Mount Barker and Adelaide Hills council districts and parts of the Barossa and Alexandrina council areas. Founded on 1 October 1880 as The Mount Barker Courier and Onkaparinga and Gumeracha Advertiser, it is one of Australia's oldest continuously published country newspapers: an ABC report in May 2020 noted that the paper had never missed a print run in its history to that point. The Courier has been owned by the Marston family since 1952, across four generations, and is edited by Elisa Rose, who took over the editorship in December 2021. It publishes in print each Wednesday and online at courier.net.au — the paper's own description reads, "The Courier has been the newspaper of the Adelaide Hills since 1880."

History

The newspaper was founded as The Mount Barker Courier and Onkaparinga and Gumeracha Advertiser on 1 October 1880, priced at threepence for four pages, with Charles M. R. Dumas as sole proprietor and its offices on Gawler Street, Mount Barker. Publication was initially every Friday morning. In his first editorial, Dumas promised: "In Politics, we shall be liberal; — but while advocating to the best of our ability every measure likely to be of benefit to the District, we shall carefully avoid making our Paper the organ or any particular party of clique," a philosophy the SA Country Press profile says the paper's current owners still espouse. Dumas edited the paper for 50 years, became a prominent local citizen and was elected to parliament as the Member for Mount Barker in 1898. His son Sir Lloyd Dumas went on to become managing editor and later chairman of The Advertiser in Adelaide — though, as the Country Press profile notes, he never worked at The Courier itself.

The paper absorbed the Mannum Mercury and Farmer's Journal (1912–1917), and Dumas had earlier opened a Murray Bridge printery and launched the River Murray Advocate in 1909, which by 1911 survived only as a supplement within the Courier. After Dumas died on 19 February 1935, his family ran the paper until May 1938, when it was taken over by T. H. Monger, previously of Tasmania's King Island News, whose eight-year tenure ran to March 1946 and through the Second World War. E. L. Perry and H. Edmondson followed, and from 1952 the proprietors were F. T. (Frank) Marston and E. L. Perry, with Norman E. K. Marston as publisher. The Marston family, which had previously run papers at Eudunda and Burra, bought the Courier in 1952 and has owned it ever since.

The title was shortened to The Mount Barker Courier in 1960 and to simply The Courier by 1983. A long-running local-history feature, "A Jewel Casket" by "P.W" — later identified by the State Library of South Australia as Percy Whitington — ran mostly weekly from March 1947 to June 1950. Norman Marston, who had arrived in 1952 as production manager, took over the paper's management with his brother Peter in 1966 and remained its central figure for decades: he was inducted as a "Rural Media Icon" by Rural Media South Australia in October 2011. Under the Marstons the paper grew with the district — from eight-to-twelve pages and a circulation of about 1,900 in 1953, to an average of more than 76 pages a week and around 15,000 copies by 2005, per Rural Media SA's account — and in 2011 it installed a new press line capable of full colour on every 24-page run. When COVID-19 forced many regional papers to suspend printing in 2020, the ABC profiled the then 91-year-old Norm Marston still putting the paper out each week. He remained managing editor until his death in October 2025.

Programming and Content

The Courier covers the life of the Adelaide Hills comprehensively: the Mount Barker District Council and Adelaide Hills Council, planning and development in one of Australia's fastest-growing regional districts, local business, schools, community groups, courts and emergency services — including coverage of a district scarred by the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires — and extensive local sport. Agriculture remains a core subject in a region the SA Country Press profile describes as strong in apples, pears and cherries, fresh vegetables, potatoes, beef cattle and sheep, cereal crops and lucerne on the Angas Plains and Bremer Valley, alongside a major wine industry drawn by the Hills' cool, high-rainfall climate and a large tourism sector. The paper's journalism continues to win recognition: the Adelaide Hills Council's minutes of 10 March 2026 record the council congratulating editor Elisa Rose on being presented by the Premier with the plaque for Best House Ad, and journalist Fin Dunford on winning the Excellence in Journalism Award, at the Country Press Awards 2026.

Audience and Reach

The Courier's circulation was about 7,500 copies in May 2020, as reported by the ABC, down from a heyday of around 15,000 in the 1970s and 1980s — figures reported at those dates rather than current audited numbers, and no more recent audited circulation has been published. Its market is the Mount Barker and Adelaide Hills council areas, with a healthy part of the Barossa and Alexandrina council areas also taking the paper, according to the SA Country Press profile. Mount Barker's transformation from a quiet dairying town into a major growth centre — the profile calls the Hills the state's main growth area — has continually reshaped the readership the paper serves, from farming families to commuters and new subdivisions. The SA Country Press profile credits the paper with about 30 full- and part-time staff at the time of writing.

Digital Presence

The Courier publishes online at courier.net.au, where Hills news from the weekly print edition and the newsroom's ongoing coverage are posted for readers beyond the print distribution area. Print nonetheless remains the paper's centre of gravity: it is printed on its own press line at Mount Barker — upgraded in 2011 to deliver full colour throughout — and the paper famously kept printing through the 2020 pandemic disruption that closed or suspended many comparable titles.

Ownership and Organisation

The Courier is an independent, family-owned newspaper. The Marston family purchased it in 1952 — its fourth generation has worked at the paper — and a member of the family has been at the helm ever since, according to the SA Country Press association's profile, which lists the Marstons as the current owners. Norman Marston led the paper for six decades, first as production manager, from 1966 in total management with his brother Peter, and as managing editor until his death in October 2025. The current editor is Elisa Rose, who succeeded long-serving editor I. J. Osterman (editor from 1996 to 2021) in December 2021. The paper's record in industry judging, as listed in its SA Country Press profile, includes being named best newspaper in Australia in 1987, 1988 and 2005, the Shakespeare Award for editorial excellence in 1990, 1995 and 2005, the Coates Award for excellence in the use of colour in 1995 and 1999, and a long list of Country Press SA best newspaper (large circulation) wins between 1963 and 2009, together with repeated awards for advertising, photography and journalism.

Contact and Availability

The weekly print edition is published each Wednesday and sold through newsagents and outlets across Mount Barker and the Adelaide Hills, with subscriptions available from the paper. Business listings give the newspaper's office as 46 Hutchinson Street, Mount Barker SA 5251, with the phone number (08) 8391 1388; its website is courier.net.au, and it describes itself as "the newspaper of the Adelaide Hills since 1880". The paper is a member publication of Country Press SA, the state country press association.