{{Short description|Historical Australian newspaper}} {{distinguish|The National Advocate}} {{Use Australian English|date=June 2020}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}} {{Italic title}} '''''The Bathurst Advocate''''' was a weekly English language broadsheet newspaper published in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia.<ref name="the newspaper">{{cite web|title=Bathurst Advocate (NSW : 1848 - 1849)|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-title54|work=Trove Digitised Newspapers|publisher=National Library of Australia|accessdate=3 April 2013}}</ref> thumb|Cover page of ''Bathurst Advocate'', 5 February 1848
==History== This newspaper was first published on 5 February 1848 by Benjamin Isaacs, possibly with financial support from Geoffrey Amos Eagar, an accountant.<ref name="PANPA March 1998">{{cite journal|last=Kirkpatrick|first=Rod|title=Read all about it: Bathurst editor jailed for assault|journal=PANPA Bulletin|date=March 1998|issue=164|page=62|url=http://library.sl.nsw.gov.au/record=b1390276~S1}}</ref> Isaacs had previously set up two newspapers in Parramatta, New South Wales, as well as one in New Zealand.<ref name="PANPA March 1998" /> After 10 issues of the paper had been published, its subscribers numbered 70.<ref name="PANPA March 1998" /> Only 87 issues of the paper were published, the last being number 39 of Volume 2, which was published on 29 September 1849.<ref name="the newspaper" /> The short life span of the newspaper has been attributed to two libel actions which were brought against the editor in 1849.<ref name="PANPA March 1998" />
During that year the paper regularly published criticisms of the local police, and in particular the Chief Constable, John Davies. A poem published by the paper resulted in a libel action by Davies. In reporting the libel action in the newspaper, Isaacs re-published the verses which had sparked the court action, thus leading to a second action.<ref name="PANPA March 1998" />
Before the libel suits came to court, Isaacs sold the Advocate's press, types and building to William Farrand for £450. Farrand then started up the Bathurst Free Press newspaper, publishing the first issue on 6 October 1849. Isaacs was imprisoned for two months and was fined £40 1s.<ref name="PANPA March 1998" />
==Digitisation== The paper has been digitised as part of the Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program of the National Library of Australia.<ref>[http://www.nla.gov.au/ndp/selected_newspapers Australian Newspapers Digitisation Project]</ref><ref name=Brown>{{cite journal|last=Brown|first=Jerelynn|title=Tabloids in the State Library of NSW collection: A reflection of life in Australia|journal=Australian Journal of Communication|year=2011|volume=38|issue=2|pages=107–121}}</ref>
==See also== * List of newspapers in New South Wales * List of Newspapers in Australia * List of Defunct Newspapers of Australia
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Trove newspaper|54 |Bathurst Advocate |NSW : 1848 - 1849}} * [http://www.nla.gov.au/anplan/heritage/NewspaperChronology.html%20 Press timeline]: Select chronology of significant Australian press events to 2011 * [http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/birth-of-the-newspaper The birth of the newspaper in Australia] * Isaacs, Victor, Kirkpatrick, Rod and Russell, John (2004). [http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/eserv/UQ:9521/anb_rk.pdf Australian Newspaper History: A Bibliography] * Isaacs, Victor; Kirkpatrick, Rod, [http://www.nla.gov.au/sites/default/files/sydnews.pdf Two hundred years of Sydney newspapers: A short history], Rural Press Ltd
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bathurst Advocate, The}} Category:Newspapers established in 1848 Category:Publications disestablished in 1849 Category:Bathurst, New South Wales Bathurst Advocate