By FORMER EDITOR, JOHN WOODS
I WAS privileged to be editor of The (Dandenong) Journal for more than 30 years, during a time in which there were of course many and varied changes in how it was produced and also its appearance … but not its basic mandate: serving its readers and advertisers not only via content but, equally if not more importantly, community involvement.
And that’s what has to this day enabled The Journal to not only survive for an incredible 150 years, but maintain its stature as a shining light in Victoria’s newspaper industry.
The only disappointment I now harbour is that the paper is no longer Dandenong-based – I have vivid memories of the 1960s and ‘70s when it was produced from go to whoa from a ramshackle building in Scott Street and when literally hundreds of people queued up on a Wednesday afternoon to buy the paper as it came off an equally – by today’s standards – ramshackle press, capable of somewhat slowly churning out only 16 pages at a time. And that was when the overall size of paper was at least 64 pages.
It was somewhat disappointing that because of the company’s growth, some of that immediate face-to-face involvement with the community was lost when the office moved to Dandenong South. It also meant that for the first time in the paper’s history, thirsty staff were domiciled without a hotel at the back door!
There aren’t many organisations in the Dandenong area which, over the years, have not relied on The Journal for support, a tradition which continues today. It was, and still is, the quintessential local newspaper. In that respect, little has changed since the first issues rolled off the presses in 1865.
But change there has obviously been. You’ll get the picture if, for instance, you can imagine your local newspaper today having a seemingly zillion classified advertisements on its front page. Or no photos, or pages inside the paper each containing literally dozens of stories. Yes, dozens.
The Journal was a sold weekly newspaper when I joined the staff, with between 18,000 and 20,000 copies being bought directly from our Scott Street office or from newsagents. It also continued to enjoy many profitable years after it became a free publication and went bi-weekly (Monday and Thursday).
During this time, the company was able to employ – and help train – many young journalists hoping to make a name for themselves in the newspaper business. Quite a few did, including Nikki Savva, Daryl Timms, Peter Ellingsen, Craig Dixon, Frank Quill and Andrew Holden, now editor-in-chief of The Age which, by the way, is just 11 years older than The Journal.
And of course, there was the redoubtable, one-of-a-kind Marg Stork who was working for the newspaper when I joined, and was still doing so until her death last year. There was very little Marg didn’t know about her beloved Dandenong – and there were few people who did not know her.
She and former owner-editor Greg Dickson knew what made a local newspaper tick and gave the people what they wanted via their wise words and community coverage.
That mantra is at the heart of any local newspaper worth its salt. And it certainly has applied to The Journal … for a magnificent 150 years.
