A silent friend: Why The Age has been part of these readers’ lives for decades

Credit: Illustration: Matt Golding

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Key part of my day
The Age has been an integral part of my life since the mid-’60s. My day is never complete unless I’ve read it thoroughly; front page first, then letters page with thought-provoking ideas from correspondents and The Age’s cartoonists, followed by the often hilarious cynicism of CBD. The news pages come next and if there is a gem from Tony Wright, I’m in heaven.
For some years, I worked at the then-David Syme and Company suburban offshoot in Footscray. A highlight was subbing the printed slugs of metal in the Age compositors’ cavern, before the presses rolled. I still have the book 125 Years of Age, edited by Geoffrey Hutton and Les Tanner, given to staff to mark that anniversary. The largesse was as thrilling as the volume itself. The halcyon days of ICPOTA bouncing around on multitudinous broadsheet classified ads pages are further fond memories.
While it pains a lover of language to say so, pictures tell a thousand words and Age photographers continue this proud tradition. As do cartoonists. One my favourites was of a certain Liberal premier, mouth agape, his leg arched, his foot firmly in the cavity. Ron Tandberg at his best. Keep up the good work.
Jane Ross, San Remo

An Age colour advertising poster circa 1868-1900 showing a newspaper girl selling copies of The Age.Credit: The Age

Heavy load for a paper boy
In the early 1950s, aged about 14, I earned pocket money by doing an early morning newspaper delivery round. I left the newsagency about 6am with two hessian bags full of the three daily morning papers (The Age, The Sun, The Argus) over the bar of my bike, to deliver to maybe 150 homes; a lot to remember.
Saturday mornings were a different matter. On Saturdays, The Age carried the news and a weekend magazine, and also the classified advertisements. These included employment vacancies, houses for sale and to let, cars, boats and much else for sale, entertainment, personals, anything worth advertising. Each newspaper was about 1.5 inches (about four centimetres) thick and the bike couldn’t cope. Paper boys were issued a billycart piled high with papers and, like earlier boys in coal mines, struggled off with the heavy load. The newsagent had already left the other half of the load at the halfway point of the round to refill the cart and finish the job. I was paid 15 shillings a week, and glad to have it.
Ken Farmer, Box Hill

Informing young minds
Over nearly five decades as a teacher of senior English classes, I have extensively utilised The Age as an invaluable teaching tool. I encourage my students to not only keep up to date with what is happening in their world, but to also look more deeply into and critically appraise the way opinion is presented on divisive issues affecting contemporary Australian society. It is very rewarding to see their critical thinking and analytical skills developing over the years and to hear them participating in well-informed debate. The letters to the editor, longer comment pieces, political cartoons and editorials, with their diverse tones and persuasive techniques are dissected at length and many of the skills honed in this activity are displayed in students’ formal oral presentations of their point of view on a current issue. From often initial reluctance to read a newspaper in middle school, to witnessing many students choosing to actively engage with The Age beyond their school years is very fulfilling. I really cannot imagine what I would do without it.
Paula Johnson, Noble Park North

Tradition of accuracy
Congratulations on achieving 170 years of continuous publication, a rare achievement for any organisation. My own recollections of The Age span only 70 years. Upon turning 10 years of age my parents allowed me to become a morning delivery boy, graduating to selling The Age to tram commuters a year later. I learnt rare skills such as darting between passing cars to hand over a fresh copy in return for three pence and the very occasional penny tip. I recall single-handedly folding a broadsheet copy to fit the tiny tube attached to most front gates as I wobbled on my bike around the streets of Kew. All this before a full day at school.
Following the lead of my parents, I became a regular reader, graduating from the comics and sports pages to editorial comment, politics, endless classified advertisements, and ultimately letters to the editor.
A lifetime habit was created, and I will always be grateful for the rigorous reporting in The Age. Whether it was the Maitland floods, the debilitating bushfires in the Dandenongs, the Vietnam War or the recession we had to have, one could always rely on the accuracy of The Age reporting. Long may it continue.
Adrian Jones, Mt Eliza

Something for everyone
We’ve been getting The Age delivered daily for close to two decades. We share sections of it in bed, then I read the online version at lunchtime for news updates, and article comments. In weekend editions, we do the quiz without fail, and have brushed up on our mad quiz skills! We keep the unread supplements to read during the week. There isn’t much of it that doesn’t get read. We keep lots of restaurant reviews at hand ready for our next restaurant adventure. Love The Age, keep up the good work.
Cate Broadbent, Yarraville

The first look at the wider world
I have been reading The Age since my upper years of high school – that’s at least 40 years. We discussed several of Leunig’s cartoons in our English classes and I still have a few Phillip Adams articles kept from the back page of The Saturday Age in the early 1980s. I really liked buying the paper from the kiosk at the train station on the way to school. It was the first time I really engaged independently with local and world news.
Louisa Ennis, Thornbury

A silent friend
I first changed to The Age some 60 years ago when the “other” Melbourne newspaper had a large headline regarding the royal family which was pure flim-flam. I have never regretted the change. I receive the paper delivered to my nature strip through subscription, which gives me digital rights as well. Any slip-up with delivery is handled through the subscription office, very efficiently. As someone who needs the physical touch of the newspaper, I rarely use the digital copy. It took me some time to adapt from the broadsheet, but am very happy with the paper in its present form. After skimming the various sections of the paper, I hone in on the puzzle pages, and am always very happy, if sometimes frustrated, with what I find. I find the various supplements always informative, the recipes most helpful. The letters page is a particular delight, good to hear others’ views and occasionally submit my own. For someone my age, not all that ambulant, the paper makes my day much more interesting, a resource I can turn to at will, a silent friend. Keep up the good work.
Dr Doris LeRoy, Altona

Inspiring a lifetime love of reading
My first job was selling The Age as well as two other papers, The Sun News-Pictorial and The Argus tucked away in an alcove doorway at the Wattle Park tram terminus stop for tram number 70. I was nine years old, and lived 200 yards away in Hamel Street. Each day I would be the first student to greet my grade 3 teacher, Miss Reddy, as she alighted to pick up her Rennie’s bus to Box Hill South Primary School. This experience started my newspaper reading career, and probably fed my later love of reading, which took off when I was about 16. It did not take long for me to focus on The Age as my paper! I have been a book lover and collector ever since. So I credit The Age with developing my spelling, vocabulary, reading skills as well as my love of books. Thank you.
Trevor Smith, North Melbourne

Antidote to fake news and scams
My earliest memories of The Age was when we arranged for the local newsagent to home deliver it in about 1964. The daily arrival of The Age was part of the routine of breakfast time. You had a quick read before school. It was there every day, except Sunday.
At some point, The Age tried to get rid of the greenness of the Green Guide but had to change back, because of the outcry. When I went to work for two years in Canberra, I really missed reading The Age each day. Its absence reinforced my homesickness.
A favourite was the cartoon For Better or Worse, which detailed the daily lives of an ordinary Canadian family. Sometimes funny, sometimes serious. Who can forget the storyline where young April nearly drowned and Farley, their dog, died trying to rescue her?
My most memorable story would be the cruel detention of the Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka, the “Biloela family”. How inspiring were the efforts of their friends and supporters in Biloela? They never gave up on the family, until they were finally allowed to stay.
The Age has never been more important in these times when we are inundated with false news, scams and social media hysteria. We need its independence and integrity, as much now as we ever did.
David Fry, Moonee Ponds

Courageous journalism
I have been an avid reader of The Age for 70 years and I am grateful to The Age for careful and fair-minded reporting on all major and minor issues, enabling me to participate as an informed citizen on so many social and political issues. I admire The Age for courageous journalism over 170 years.

For many years, Michael Leunig lifted our spirits, and reminded us of the simplicity and complexity of being human in a world we share with animals, which gave us peace and pleasure.
The articles on the economy by Ross Gittins are always important to read. I also enjoy the critiques of cultural performances. Above all, The Age has, on so many occasions, discovered serious outrages of unfair practices, especially in the banks, aged care, and inappropriate behaviour from our politicians. The graphs are invaluable, giving key information at a glance, whatever the issue.
As a woman, I value the reporting on economic unfairness to women, as well as the serious evil of domestic violence.
Keep up the good work – I shall read The Age as long as possible, then my grandchildren will read it to me.

Greta Christie, Ballarat

AND ANOTHER THING

Small joys
Lazy Saturday mornings reading The Age and having a coffee bring a small happiness to me.
Peter Auden, Macclesfield

In touch with readers
Well-researched and presented stories. The Age understands the demographics of its many types of readers and their wants.
Paul Anderson, Geelong

A lifetime of correspondence
My earliest connection with The Age was as a teenager in the 1950s. I still have the letter that was published in the Junior Age for which I was paid the princely sum of 15 shillings and sixpence. At the age of 80, I am still writing letters to The Age.
Susan Munday, Bentleigh East

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