Berwick

THE Berwick News is part of the Star News Group, and 2009 marks the 100th anniversary of the original publication, the Berwick Shire News and Pakenham and Cranbourne Gazette.
The founding proprietor, Albert Edward Thomas, had a vision for what was in those days the Berwick Shire, which covered a wide area including Berwick, Cranbourne, and Pakenham and beyond.
The press would be a “moral elevator of the people”, Albert Edward Thomas wrote in his editorial on 8 September 1909.
In recent decades the business has grown to incorporate publications across metropolitan Melbourne and rural and urban areas to the north, east, and west.
The role of a newspaper has always been to voice the concerns of the community to achieve better conditions.
The first newspaper in what is now the Star News Group was produced in Berwick. The Thomas family opened an office in Pakenham in 1917.
Albert’s son, Herb, took over in 1948. In 1951, Herb’s son Ian joined the business, and in 1992 Ian’s son, Paul, joined the team and became the fourth generation to steer the business. In 1979 Ian’s wife Dorothy joined the business and became editor, working for the company for 19 years.
The establishment of the Berwick City News in 1987 marked a major step. The paper serviced what was then the City of Berwick. That was followed by the South Eastern Real Estate News in 1992, by which time Paul Thomas, the fourth generation of the family and the managing director today, had joined the staff.
With the local council amalgamations, the City of Berwick became the City of Casey, and the Berwick City News changed to two papers: the Berwick News and the Cranbourne News.
Each has its own identity, to cover specific areas of the municipality.
The Berwick News and its sister publication the Cranbourne News are major components of an award winning newspaper dynasty.
“Local newspapers are said to be a mirror of our society,” editor Garry Howe wrote ten years ago on the 90th anniversary of the business.
“Good ones will accurately portray an image of the people they serve – their joys, their triumphs, their tragedies, their grievances.”