1919 - 1939: GR Phillips pictured at Dar El, Eden.
1939 - 1945: Fabian Phillip, son of GR Phillips, officially takes on ownership and editor's role with his father's death in 1939.
1968 - 1990: After 10 years as "compositor, linotype operator and occasional reporter" Kevin becomes editor in 1968. In 1970 he is part of a local syndicate, Southern Publishers, which buys the Magnet, the Moruya Examiner and the Bega District News.
1990 - 1996 and 1998 - 2004 : The Magnet's first female editor Leanne Abernethy is at the helm for the technological transition to more modern publishing
2004 to 2005: editor Donald Kerr (right) with then manager Mark Brooker.
2006 - 2009: Managing editor Kate Yates (nee Lincoln).
Current managing editor Amanda Stroud on her first day in 2009.
Welcome, and thankyou
The Magnet is proud to commemorate 120 years of continuous local publishing in the Eden and Pambula region.
While it is impossible to condense 120 years of news into six pages, and online galleries, we have tried to give you a taste of the main industries, issues and events that have been the focus for editors and journalists over the years.
The newspaper has been a friend to this district through wars, fires, floods, and major restructures of the timber and fishing industries.
Our own business of publishing and printing has also undergone massive change.
Today, our news is not just published in print every Thursday, but also digitally where we can bring breaking news at it happens and offer readers archival browsing that goes back to 2001.
During the past 120 years we have enjoyed a special partnership with our readers in helping us present the issues that are important to you.
The business community has worked hand in hand with us in terms of advertising support while a network of valued contributors has helped make our extensive sporting and social coverage possible.
Our thanks to the Eden Killer Whale Museum, past editors and local families who have assisted us with this feature.
We hope to continue this association for many years to come, and we hope you enjoy reading this commemorative feature.
Got something to add? Please comment below.
Timeline
1885
Courthouse and post office built.
1848
Customs House built.
Roan Horse Inn built.
1857
November: Eden Central School opens.
1859
The goldrush at Kiandra causes Eden’s population to swell to 4000.
1860
First harbour master appointed.
The Twofold Bay and Mareroo Telegraph is published a few months before the Twofold Bay and Mareroo Observer.
1891
Saint Mary MacKillop founds St Joseph’s Catholic School after her mother died in the Lyee Moon disaster at Greencape in 1886.
Oyster industry opens in Pambula Lake.
1892
Saturday, August 27 – The first edition of The Pambula Voice is printed under founding editor William Daniel Pfeiffer. Along with his own writings were articles from correspondents at Wyndham, Merimbula, Lochiel.
1900s
Sleeper cutting begins. Butter and canned rabbit meat are produced at Pericoe and Wyndham.
1904
November: The Pambula Voice is sold to George Hall, an experienced newspaper man who moved to the area for the role.
1905
Eden’s first agricultural show is held, Eden Agricultural Exhibition.
Markets at the Fishermen’s Club site site have meat, fish and fruit for sale.
1906
Federation of Imlay Shire with WJ Moorehead as president.
1908
June: The Twofold Bay Magnet first published by Leo Sheehy in Imlay Street near the old post office.
1913
Edrom Lodge is built by JR Logan.
1915
Leo Sheehy sells the Twofold Bay Magnet to Rod Morris.
The Magnet office was owned by Charles Ramsey and stood on the Eden Fishermen’s Club site in Imlay Street. Circulation is around 2000.
1919
Mr Morris sells the Twofold Bay Magnet to GR Phillips, who builds what will be the Magnet Arcade, which includes a two-storey printery built by Alf Bollar and Jimmy Love.
1920s
The sleeper cutting industry is booming with thousands of sleepers produced for China and Japan.
Eden’s first fuel bowsers are installed as family motoring increases.
1929
Last whale killed near Boydtown, signalling the end of whaling as Eden’s major industry.
1930
Old Tom dies in September, and in 1931 the Eden Killer Whale Museum is built to house his skeleton.
1936
JR Logan completes the log cabin in Bass Street.
1937
Frogs Hollow Aerodrome is opened.
1939
GR Phillips dies and son Fabian Phillips takes over the newspaper.
1940s
Sleepers are now being shipped to Pakistan and New Zealand.
Fishermen experiment with purse seine fishing.
1941
The Voice merged with the Eden Magnet as a war-time measure. Voice editor Eustace Phillips and his brother George Fabian Phillips used the merger to conserve precious inks and paper.
1945
The Phillip's sell up the Magnet and Fabian becomes a sleeper cutter.
The Eden Fishermen’s Cooperative is built by Sid Dawson to handle, process and market fish.
1946
The Magnet is sold to John Fairfax and WB "Curly" Annabel.
1948
The Magnet is sold to Doug Hepburn, who takes the editor’s chair on January 1, 1948.
Eden’s population stands at 957, Pambula 324 and Merimbula 260.
The paper’s weekly circulation is 550 and it had just four pages.
1949
Eden tuna cannery opens at Cattle Bay, moving from a salmon canning factory on Lake Curalo.
1950s
Boydtown restoration is complete.
Mobil Oil terminal is built.
1958
Doug Hepburn has grown the paper’s circulation to 1000. Future editor Kevin Turnbull is apprenticed as a compositor, linotype operator and occasional reporter.
1959
Vacuum Oil Co builds towering storage tanks at Snug Cove.
Early 60s
Jack Seiffert Bridge is built, and sealing progresses on the Princes Highway granting Victorians flood free access to the South Coast.
Mid 60s
The Eden chipmill is built and establishes shipment of chips to Japan for paper pulp. People flood to Eden for work and the population grows to 3000. In 1967 it is incorporated as Harris-Diashowa.
1968
The Magnet is sold to Maxwell Newton, founder of the Australia Financial Review and well known Canberra based journalist. Eden resident Kevin Turnbull takes up position as editor.
1969
March: The first clear, local photograph, an aerial image of Snug Cove, is published on the Magnet’s new offset duo-tone press. The colour red is used for the first time.
1970
Newton sells to a syndicate called Southern Publishers which includes Eden local Kevin Turnbull, the Woods Family of Queanbeyan and the Bradleys of Temora. The syndicate includes the Eden Magnet, The Bega District News and the Moruya Examiner.
1972
Eden High School opens.
1982
Syndicate partner Keith Bradley takes up camp in a tent at the back of the Bega District News while filling in for Kevin Turnbull.
Mid 70s
The Magnet opens an office in Merimbula.
Late 70s
Printing takes another huge step forward with the purchase of a second hand offset press. Unfortunately on the trip to the Bega printery a couple of feet of machinery was sheared off on a low level bridge near Nowra. The paper continues to grow, which editor Kevin Turnbull credits to the boom created by the chip mill and increasing tourism in Merimbula.
Early 1980s
Marion Clark establishes the long running Chit Chat social column.
1981
Imlay Shire merges with the struggling Mumbulla Shire and the strong Bega Municipality to form the Bega Valley Shire.
1980s
Over 100 pages are being printed each week and the Magnet is the biggest circulating masthead in the Southern Publishers syndicate.
1985
Southern Publishers sells the Magnet, Bega District News and Moruya Examiner to Macquarie Publishers. The Magnet moves to a bi-weekly and is published on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
1990
May: Editor Kevin Turnbull steps down. In his time the paper went from an eight-page weekly to a bi-weekly of over 100 pages. Journalist Leanne Abernethy takes his place, the first female editor of the paper. With her comes new technology. The “Super Page” computer system, operated by Judi Chenhall, allowed pages to be “flowed” on computer and sent to Bega via modem.
1991
Heinz Greenseas cannery struggles to compete domestically with imports.
Workers produce a recipe book which becomes part of a nation-wide campaign to promote Australian made tuna product. The Magnet gave $20,000 worth of free advertising across the publications.
1992
The Tuesday edition is 64 pages and at least 80 pages on Thursday.
Sports pages make up between 24 and 30 pages each week.
1993
February: Eden celebrates 150 years. Significant extensions to the Eden Killer Whale Museum are completed in time to celebrate.
April: Greg Pierce takes over from Leanne Abernethy.
1995
Rural Press bought Macquarie Publications which at the time was the largest independently owned publisher in Australia. The stable included 56 newspapers and magazines including the Eden Magnet, its most southern publication.
February: Michael Gorey takes over as editor.
1996
December: Macquarie Publishers sell to Rural Press for $69m dollars.
1996
Journalist and roving reporter for the Far South Coast, Stuart Carless, is appointed editor. The Magnet returns to a weekly publication and full colour is introduced for the first time.
1998
Stuart Carless leaves in January 1998, replaced by Leanne Abernethy for her second stint as editor, this time as managing editor.
1999
June: Cannery closes.
August: Bega Valley Shire Council is sacked and an administrator appointed.
First meeting of the Sapphire Coast Turf Club is held. Previously races were held at Pambula.
2000
October: Leanne Abernethy publishes the Magnet's first online story, about the Eden Whale Festival.
2004
Donald Kerr takes up the position of editor.
A submarine is the first visitor to the Naval Ammunitions Wharf.
2005
May: Young journalist Jake Lynch (returns) as editor after working as a cadet from 2002 to 2004.
Eden’s first female harbor master, Jo Clark is appointed, stepping down in 2010.
2006
Kate Lincoln appointed editor.
Trawling fleet reduces to five boats in the Commonwealth fishing restructure.
2008
November: The Sapphire Coast Marine Discovery Centre opens at the Eden Wharf after securing a long lease of the Wharf building.
2009
Amanda Stroud takes up the position of editor after relocating to Eden from Canberra.
2010
May: Hotel Australasia closes.
May: BP tanks demolished.
2011
December: St Joseph's Primary School closes and is absorbed by Lumen Christi Catholic College at Pambula Beach.
2012
Eden’s population hovers just under 4000. Many projects are in the pipeline for the port including extensions to the Eden wharf, upgrading the port to import status, and introducing wave and wind energy.
