Bellarine Historical Society Inc

Regarding local newspapers - I have gathered the following from local residents and asked them what they remembered - there are a few gaps in years of publication.

The starting point is the Bellarine Herald which began in 1896 and stopped in 1920. Arch Woolnough remembers when an aeroplane used to fly over the Esplanade and drop the Bellarine Heralds in a hollow there, and invariably burst open.

It would appear there is a gap then until the Thirties when a paper called the Pilot appeared. This paper ran until after the Second World War but there is no date available when it stopped. [Note : This may have been the fore-runner of the Queenscliff Pilot ... Ed.]

We then have out of the blue the Portarlington - Bellarine News Pictorial in July and August 1958. Again, out of the blue, appears Port News with copies existing from August to October 1958. I haven't been able to find out how long these ran - not many people remember them or when they started and finished.

We then jump to 1962 when Alix and John Townsend first published the Bellarine Peninsula Echo which, by its format, covered the whole of the area and proved very popular.

Mr. Keddle, a printer from Harding Street produced a newspaper type publication called the Reflector - he may also have produced the Portarlington - Bellarine News Pictorial and the Port News.

The Townsends first tried to buy out Keddle in 1962 but it was not until 1965 that the Echo took over the Reflector. The Echo, since 1962, covered the area as the local newspaper and was automatically accepted by people every Wednesday.

The Port Report was created when the Portarlington Development Association Sub Committee on 9th October, 1991 agreed to promote a town newsletter for its traders' and residents' benefit. It was first published on Friday 20th December, 1991 and continues as a bi-monthly periodical.