In 1840 George Cavanagh first published the Port Philip Herald. It became the Port Philip Morning Herald in 1849. In 1855 it became the Melbourne Herald and then The Herald. In 1869 The Herald became an evening paper, the same year that the Herald's owners first published The Weekly Times. In 1871 the papers were acquired by partnership headed by Samuel Winter (editor) and John Halfey. 1880 daily circulation reached 30,000, and twelve years later the Herald group bought the Melbourne Daily Telegraph and The Weekly Times.

In 1902 the Herald & Weekly Times incorporated as public company with authorized capital of £250,000.

In 1921 Keith Murdoch became Editor-in-Chief of the Herald, which then became the highest circulation paper in Australasia. The following year Hugh Dennison's Sun Newspaper Company (established in 1910) launched the Melbourne Sun News-Pictorial. The Herald & Weekly Times was an aggressive company, however, and in 1925 it bought and then closed down the Melbourne Evening Sun, a competitor to Herald, as well as the Sun Newspaper Co. The Sun News-Pictorial then became the highest-circulating Australian daily newspaper.

In 1928 the company opened a new building in Melbourne, which it celebrated with the issue of a medal (NU 33124). At that time the Herald and Allied Publications published the Herald, The Sun News- Pictorial, The Weekly Times, Sporting Globe, Table Talk, The Listner-In, The Home Beautiful, The Weekly Times Annual and Table Talk Annual.

In 1929 the business expanded into Melbourne radio, buying radio station 3DB. The business expanded with interstate newspapers, and in 1956 it launched HSV-7 commercial television station. The following year it gained control of the Melbourne Argus, including a stake in GTV-9, which it quickly sold. In 1960 its purchases included the Melbourne and Brisbane Truth. Rupert Murdoch, Keith Murdoch's son, launched the Australian in 1964 and began to buy extensive international publishing businesses in the later 1960s.

In 1986 the company closed the Melbourne Saturday Weekend Herald; the following year Rupert Murdoch gained control of Herald & Weekly Times Ltd for $1.8 billionn.

The Herald Sun was established in 1990 as an amalgam of the afternoon daily, The Herald, and the morning daily, The Sun News-Pictorial.

References:
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sectionindex2/0,5443,dhsaboutus%255ETEXT%255Eheraldsun,00.html, accessed 19/1/2004.
Ketupa.net media profiles http://www.ketupa.net/hwt2.htm, accessed 19/1/2004.

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