Stories Above the Street • Cue

Murchison Times

Established in 1894, Cue's newspaper reported the gold rush as it happened — recording the mines, businesses, politics, people and everyday life of the Murchison for almost half a century.

Est. 1894

Cue was booming. It needed a newspaper.

The first edition of the Murchison Times and Day Dawn Gazette appeared at Cue on 15 August 1894, only a few years after the discovery of gold had transformed the district.

Its pages became a running record of life on the Murchison — mining discoveries, accidents, council affairs, court cases, births, deaths, marriages, sport, elections, advertisements and the businesses that lined Austin Street and the streets of Day Dawn.

At a glance

First edition: 15 August 1894
Founded by: James Thomson
Original title: Murchison Times and Day Dawn Gazette
Published at: Cue
Early frequency: Twice weekly
By late 1896: Three times weekly
Newspaper lineage ended: 1942

The man behind the press

He came west to report the gold rush — then stayed to print its story.

The founder of the Murchison Times was James Thomson, an experienced journalist whose life had already taken him from Ireland to Victoria, through newspaper offices, exhibitions, mining and extensive travel before the Murchison caught his attention.

1852

Born in Ireland

James Thomson was born at Cullycapple in County Londonderry, Ireland, in 1852. His family emigrated to Victoria while he was still an infant.

A YOUNG GOLD MINER

Gold before newspapers

As a schoolboy Thomson and several mates formed their own small mining syndicate and successfully panned for gold at Wattle Flat. The venture ended abruptly after a serious explosion. He later worked as a mine manager before journalism became his career.

1894

He chooses Cue

Commissioned by Melbourne's Age to write about Western Australia, Thomson travelled west in 1894. He became captivated by the Murchison, imported a Wharfdale printing machine and established his own newspaper at Cue.

Jimmy Thomson

Journalist, traveller, raconteur — and very much a goldfields character.

Thomson was remembered as a sociable and colourful storyteller who mixed easily with people from all walks of life. His career had taken him through major newspapers, government inquiries and international exhibitions before he arrived in Western Australia.

While travelling in London, his appearance apparently caused him to be repeatedly mistaken for the famous explorer Henry Morton Stanley.

But perhaps the best indication that Thomson had become accustomed to life on the Murchison came when a bearded prospector entered his bedroom and dropped 900 ounces of gold — about 25.5 kilograms — onto the floor. Thomson was reportedly unperturbed.

A very Murchison story

25 kilograms of gold on the bedroom floor.

In most places, someone walking into your bedroom carrying more than 900 ounces of gold would be an extraordinary event.

For James Thomson, it apparently barely disturbed the day. The Australian Dictionary of Biography records that a bearded prospector once dropped the haul onto Thomson's bedroom floor and the newspaperman remained remarkably unfazed.

900 oz of gold

About 25.5 kilograms

The story captures the extraordinary environment in which the Murchison Times was born — a place where huge quantities of newly won gold could become part of everyday life.

Austin Street • 1901

The newspaper office became Cue's live results screen.

This remarkable photograph was taken at the Murchison Times office during the federal poll of 1901. A large results board has been erected across the verandah and a crowd has gathered beneath it.

Murchison Times Office Cue during the 1901 federal poll

Australia's first federal election

News was something you gathered around.

The original caption identifies the photograph as being taken at the time of the Federal Poll, with the results displayed on the verandah. The crowd, bicycles and enormous results board give us a rare glimpse of how major news was shared before radio, television or the internet.

29 March 1901

Cue watched Australia's new Parliament take shape.

The 1901 poll was no ordinary election. It was the first election for the newly created Commonwealth Parliament of Australia, held only months after Federation.

For Cue residents, the newspaper office was one of the places where a distant national event became immediate and local. Results arriving from elsewhere could be displayed on the board for people gathered in Austin Street.

The handwritten caption beneath the surviving image describes it as “early morning after the battle” — a wonderfully evocative reminder of the excitement surrounding the count.

Before radio. Before television. Before the internet.

The newspaper office was part newsroom, part noticeboard and part meeting place.

THE NEWS

News arrived from beyond Cue

Telegraph connections and correspondence allowed information from Perth, the other colonies and overseas to reach a remote Murchison community.

THE PAPER

The press made it local

The Murchison Times mixed wider news with the things that mattered immediately in Cue — mining, business, council affairs, crime, sport, social life and people.

THE CROWD

Major news drew people together

The 1901 photograph shows information as a communal experience. People physically gathered outside the newspaper office to discover what had happened.

Cue in real time

The newspaper recorded the district while history was still happening.

The Murchison Times began while Cue and Day Dawn were still being created. That makes its surviving pages one of the richest records of the region's gold-rush years.

It reported mine developments and disasters, government decisions and elections — but just as importantly it preserved the ordinary details of community life.

Advertisements tell us what shops sold. Social notices tell us who married and who travelled. Court reports reveal disputes. Sporting results record weekends. Even a Christmas shopping notice can tell us what people hoped to put on the table.

The newspaper behind these stories

Today, its old pages are helping Cue tell its stories again.

Many of the businesses remembered in Stories Above the Street can now be understood in much greater detail because their advertisements and stories survived in the pages of the Murchison Times.

WILLY CHARLES HOPPE

The manufacturing jeweller

Hoppe's advertisements tell us that customers could bring in their own gold, while a 1909 feature records his regional reputation and Sandstone branch.

H. F. GOSS

The draper & furnisher

Goss's 1901 advertisement provides an extraordinary catalogue of men's clothing, tailor-made suits, furniture and household goods available in Cue.

W. J. ROCK

The general storekeeper

A 1909 Christmas notice records Rock stocking his Austin Street store with special festive goods and an extensive supply of fruit.

Nearly half a century in print

The name changed. The newspaper continued.

1894–1925

Murchison Times and Day Dawn Gazette

The original title linked the two great neighbouring goldfields communities from the newspaper's first issue.

MID-1920s–1937

The Murchison Times

As the original gold-rush communities changed, the newspaper adopted the shorter Murchison Times title.

1937–1942

Cue, Big Bell & Reedy

Its final title reflected a new generation of Murchison mining communities. The newspaper series ended with its issue of 28 March 1942.

From boomtown to archive

The Murchison Times story.

1894

James Thomson establishes the newspaper at Cue.

1896

Publication increases to three editions each week.

1901

Crowds gather at the office during Australia's first federal election.

1942

The final newspaper in the Murchison Times line is published.

Murchison Times Office heritage sign above Austin Street Cue

Stories Above the Street

The masthead is back above Austin Street.

The modern Murchison Times Office sign closely recalls the enormous painted sign visible above the newspaper office in the 1901 photograph.

More than decorative lettering, it remembers an institution that once connected Cue with events across Western Australia, Australia and the wider world.

And today, more than a century later, the surviving pages of that newspaper are helping reconstruct the stories of the very businesses whose names now appear beside it above Austin Street.

Historical note

This page draws on the surviving Murchison Times newspaper record, State Library of Western Australia material and the Australian Dictionary of Biography entry for founder James Thomson. The 1901 office photograph is identified as having been taken during the Federal Poll, with election results displayed on the verandah. Where interpretation goes beyond what is directly recorded in the surviving caption, cautious wording has been used.