The Sydney Morning Herald will celebrate its 195th anniversary on Saturday, April 18, cementing its place as one of the oldest continuously printed metropolitan newspapers in the world.
On April 18, 1831, three men – Alfred Ward Stephens, Frederick Stokes, and William McGarvie – worked in a small office off George Street in a growing colony to print 750 copies of a four-page weekly called The Sydney Herald. The first edition rolled off the presses 70 years before Federation when Australia had a population of just 70,000 and King William IV was ruling the British Empire.
Nearly two centuries on, in a world awash with misinformation and AI generated fake news, The Sydney Morning Herald’s role of providing trusted, independent journalism has never been more vital. The Herald is now read by 7.6 million people across print and digital, and just as Sydney has evolved since 1831, so too has the Herald, with the masthead now financially driven by digital subscribers.
Re-named The Sydney Morning Herald shortly after John Fairfax bought the publication in 1841, its continuous print puts the masthead alongside titles like the UK’s The Guardian (1821), The Daily Telegraph (1855) and The Times (1785), and the New York Post (1801), The New York Times (1851) and Washington Post (1877) as one of the world’s oldest metro newspapers.
An eight-page souvenir insert in the Saturday edition will mark the incredible achievement, showing how the Herald has forged a lifelong trust with generations of Sydneysiders with its quality journalism and unique lens on reporting the life and times of the Emerald City.
Featuring a spread of powerful photographs from across the decades, the insert will illustrate how the Herald’s photographers have been documenting stories that have shaped Sydney since the early 1900s. Photography at the Herald began in 1908 and colour only came into use in the mid nineties.
There will also be numerous features and video content including well-known Australians revealing their Herald memories; the favourite stories from some of the masthead’s most-read journalists, and a longform feature detailing the rich history of the masthead.
The Herald’s reporters have borne witness to every heartbeat of Sydney. Its pages have carried the news of eight British monarchs; it was there in 1901 to record the birth of a nation at Federation; it stood on the shores of the harbour in 1932 as the Coathanger finally linked the city, a decade before a Japanese submarine brought WW2 directly to us; and it witnessed the 1973 opening of the Sydney Opera House.
It has captured the euphoria of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games; the heartbreak of the Granville train disaster; the Luna Park ghost train fire; the Lindt Cafe siege and more recently, the Bondi terrorist attack. And it has chronicled the rapid growth and diversity of Sydney’s population from a small colonial outpost to one of the world’s largest metropolitan urban sprawls.
Jordan Baker, Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald, said: “The Herald is almost as old as Sydney itself. For 195 years, it has championed Sydney’s residents, helped shape its destiny, and chronicled its triumphs and tragedies. It has played a crucial role in holding the powerful accountable and fostering civil debate, which are essential to the health of Australia’s democracy. It is synonymous with credibility, integrity and balance.
“We are a modern newsroom that’s excited about our future and proud of our heritage. As we power towards our bicentenary, the world we report on will change and the way we deliver the news will evolve, but the essence of the Herald will remain.”
Luke McIlveen, Executive Editor, said: “The Sydney Morning Herald has been the voice of this city for 195 years, reporting on world wars, politics and natural disasters – but also the beautiful moments that make Sydney the envy of the world. We’re so proud to mark this occasion and pay tribute to the generations of incredible journalists who have made the Herald the benchmark of Australian publishing.”
The Sydney Morning Heraldwill mark its 195thanniversary with a souvenir insert on Saturday, April 18.
Thursday 16 April, 2026
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