This month we are featuring the old Ballarat Courier building on Sturt Street.

The Courier was established by Robert Clark and Edward J. Bateman in 1867.

Bateman was born in London in 1832 and migrated to Australia during the early years of the gold rush.

Robert Clark was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, in 1826. He was apprenticed as a bookbinder with his father at just ten years old.

Clark worked as a compositor in Glasgow, Belfast and London before venturing to Australia aboard the Black Ball clipper Champion of the Seas.

Journalist Thomas Bury, or ‘Tom Touchstone’, who contributed his ‘cornerisms’ column to The Courier from 1882 to 1900, was a fellow passenger.

Clark worked at The Argus before the prospect of striking it rich lured him to the goldfields. Failing as a digger, Clark had a stint at both the Ballarat Times and the Ballarat Star before starting his own paper in Talbot, the Back Creek Register.
He abandoned the Register for The Northwestern Chronicle, later renamed the Talbot Leader, becoming a part proprietor with Bateman. He also served as the Mayor of Talbot.

Clark returned to Ballarat in 1865, managing the Ballarat Sun before starting The Courier with Bateman in 1867.

In 1871, The Courier relocated to 24 Sturt Street. Despite its art deco-ish features, the current building is made up of two Victorian buildings, the business later expanding into number 26.

In 1889, Bateman left the business and Clark became the sole proprietor. Bateman died in 1893. Clark died in 1902, aged 75. He left behind his wife, six sons and three daughters. Clark’s son Norman became manager of The Ballarat Courier, and three other sons were working at the paper at the time of his death.

The Ballarat Courier relocated to Creswick Road in 1982, ending 111 years at 24 Sturt Street.

The building has subsequently been occupied by the Liberal Party and Northgate Communications, both of which have left their marks in ghost signs on this now unoccupied building.

Did you know we have a close to complete collection of The Ballarat Courier? For research enquires chat to our lovely librarian Rosemary.