Provincial Newspapers (QLD) Ltd. (PNQ) was a regionally-based newspaper publishing enterprise established in Queensland, Australia on 1 April 1968, lasting for 20 years until it was taken over in 1988 by Australian Provincial Newspapers.
PNQ was created through the amalgamation of six privately owned, regionally-based Queensland newspaper companies which represented multiple generations of family control since 1861. PNQ is recognised as the world's 'oldest continuously owned newspaper proprietorship, stretching over five generations.'
Prior to the formation of the PNQ conglomerate, six Queensland families: the Mannings; Irwins; Dunns; Parkinsons; Stephensons; and Kippens owned several regional newspaper empires, with their combined circulation area stretching from Toowoomba in south-east Queensland to Mackay in central Queensland, spanning the period from 1861 to 1968. The PNQ was an alliance of these established newspaper dynasties designed to expand the families' business interests, limit unhelpful competition and protect locally published newspapers from metropolitan competition and multinational take-overs. At the time of formation, the companies published six dailies and a weekly newspaper. Between 1968 and 1988 the company expanded its publishing activities to include nine daily newspapers in Queensland and four in New South Wales.
The knock-on effect of an Australian government determination that News Limited, through its purchase of the Herald and Weekly Times which in turn owned a significant proportion of PNQ shares, could not control both the major capital city newspaper, The Courier-Mail, plus a majority of country newspapers, meant that PNQ was bought by the Irish media company Haswell Pty Ltd on 26 July 1988, and then onsold on 2 November 1988 to Australian Provincial News and Media Limited Corporation, a subsidiary of APN News & Media Ltd (APN).
History and Family Involvement
From 1968 to 1988, PNQ published local, national and international news through a range of daily, weekly and periodic newspapers in regional areas of Queensland aiming to 'keep readers in touch with the world as well as the local community.' Country newspapers operated in a different readership environment to their metropolitan counterparts. PNQ's newspapers focused on the local communities in which their newspapers were distributed. The popularity of its newspapers was reflected in the loyalty of the town-based readership which appreciated the availability of local news reporting, community interest editorials and a strong personal allegiance to a home-grown enterprise.
The Dunn Family
The Dunns owned or part-owned newspapers in the Queensland country towns of Maryborough, Rockhampton, Toowoomba, Nambour, and Bundaberg. It was the most influential family in the PNQ conglomerate.
Andrew Dunn (Senior) (1854-1934 ) was born on 24 May 1854 at Greenock, Scotland. In 1879, Dunn married Kate McIntyre and the couple arrived in Queensland in 1880. They had five sons, one of whom died in infancy. The remaining four later played integral roles in the family's newspaper business. Kate Dunn died in 1889, at the age of 34.
On 18 November 1891, Dunn married his second wife, Jane Cran. Together the couple had four children, two sons and two daughters. The sons of this marriage were also involved in the family newspaper trade. Dunn and his wife worked amicably as a ‘power couple’ and Jane was noted as an '... astute adviser in business affairs.' Encouraged by the already well-established newspaper dynasties of the time, Dunn had his family trained in newspaper industry practices. Dunn's participation in the community extended beyond his involvement in the newspaper business, and in 1903 and 1914 Dunn served as the mayor of Maryborough.
In 1911, using the profits generated by The Chronicle, the Dunn family expanded their enterprise by acquiring the controlling interest in the Rockhampton Morning Bulletin. Dunn employed his children, Andrew Dunn Jr. and Herbert Dunn, in managerial positions within his provincial publications.
The Dunn family soon realised that their provincial newspapers could not survive in a region so close to a metropolitan area, where the newspaper industry was more technologically advanced. This realisation led to their merger of The Warwick Argus with the Irwin family's Examiner & 'Times. This resulted, on 1 February 1919, in Andrew Dunn becoming the '...man who initiated the first chain of major provincial newspapers in Queensland.’ These families also merged the Widebay and Burnett News and the Maryborough Chronicle.