HAPPY Birthday to us!
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Bega District News is celebrating its 150th anniversary with a very special souvenir edition released on Friday.
Our journalists have been hard at work for the past few months digging into back issues and photo archives to uncover the history of the Bega press, as well as the changes seen by the district during the past century and a half.
The result is a wonderful glossy magazine-style publication inside Friday's paper that we hope you treasure and enjoy as much as we did in putting it together.
Included are stories of how newspapers came to be printed in Bega - from the Bega Gazette in 1865 through the days of the Bega Budget, Southern Star and the Standard, and then the amalgamation and formation of the Bega District News in 1923.
Hear from former editors about their time in the chair, as well as learn more about the renowned everyman Curly Annabel, who not only edited the paper, but did so much for the community that stands to this day.
Read also about the major events, triumphs and tragedies of the Bega district, all as covered by the newspapers of the day, with photos and front pages from the archives.
There is also a selection of familiar faces and famous people all who had their start in the Bega Valley (there are too many to contain within the 56 pages, but hopefully you’ll enjoy those we have included and forgive any oversights).
To help us celebrate the 150th anniversary, employees past and present gathered on Wednesday for a big staff photo and cake cutting.
The occasion was made particularly special by the presence of so many faces from the BDN’s history – former ad reps, production assistants, journalists…and four of only six editors the BDN has had in its 90-odd years as the biggest-selling newspaper of the Far South Coast.
The Bega District News 150 Years souvenir edition is included inside Friday’s BDN and will also be inserted into the Merimbula News Weekly and Eden Magnet next week.
A limited number of additional copies will also be available from the BDN office on the corner of Gipps and Carp St, Bega, from Friday.
