Collection 3474 - Narrandera Argus and Narrandera Ensign

There may have been a newspaper started up in Narrandera in late 1877 or early 1878 (1), which might have been called the Narrandera Argus, but no evidence of it has been found so far.

The first known issue of the Narrandera Argus was published on 3 January 1880, apparently with its first editor having never having seen its publication (2). Mr Samuel Gill (1850-1928) had taken over the reins of the Argus by 1881 (3), having been at Deniliquin with The Pastoral Times (4), before launching the Jerilderie and Urana Gazette in 1877 (5).

Other editors of the Narrandera Argus were James Ashton (c.1893), Ernest Lapthorne and Maurice Charles (c.1899), Edward Thomas Lapthorne (c. 1927) and Donald PL Drover (c.1935), who claimed the paper had been established in 1877 (6).

As of 2021, the Narrandera Argus is still an independently-run newspaper, with a circulation covering Narrandera, Leeton, Yanco, Griffith, Coolamon, Ganmain, Matong and Grong Grong (7).

References:
(1) The Sydney Morning Herald, 27 December 1877, Page 2 [accessed via National Library of Australia, Trove: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28396783]
(2) The Riverine Grazier, Hay, 17 January 1880, Page 2 [accessed via National Library of Australia, Trove: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/141035766]
(3) The Australian Town and Country Journal, 19 March 1881, Page 23 [accessed via National Library of Australia, Trove: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/70953825]
(4) The Riverine Herald, Echuca and Moama, 13 September 1877, Page 3 [accessed via National Library of Australia, Trove: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/115203914]
(5) The Jerilderie Herald and Urana Advertiser, 22 November 1928, Page 3 [accessed via National Library of Australia, Trove: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/134613615]
(6) The Narrandera Argus, 20 April 1935, Page 10
(7) The Narrandera Argus website [https://www.narranderaargus.com.au/about-us]