Australian journalism's robust and diverse genesis

Journalists have reason to be proud of the robust and diverse origins of the Australian press, which was founded in Sydney and Hobart in the early 1820s. The first non-government paper, the Australian (not related to the present-day newspaper of the same name), together with newspapers such as the Monitor, the Gleaner and the Colonist, established significant traditions in crusading and challenging journalism in the spirit of a strong Fourth Estate, leading governors to jail and banish some early editors, printers and journalists. This paper focuses on the press traditions of the 1820s, 1830s and early '40s and the momentum they provided for the swift transformation of convict subjects to citizens, and penal colonies to self-governing states.