Sunday Mail turns 100

Staff at Adelaide’s Sunday Mail celebrated the 100th anniversary of the paper last week

ADELAIDE’S Sunday Mail has celebrated its 100^th anniversary with a cocktail function attended by executives, staff and community leaders.

Past editors Mark Day, Rex Jory and Kerry Sullivan joined Advertiser News Media managing director Ish Davies, News Limited group manager Jerry Harris, community leaders, key advertisers and staff at a function last week.

Staff of News Limited South Australia also shared in a giant birthday cake on the May 4 anniversary.

To mark the milestone, The Sunday Mail published a lift-out titled “100 years of Pride” looking back at the issues, events, trends and people that have left their mark since 1912.

Since the first edition in 1912, The Mail, has undergone multiple makeovers, new  mastheads designs, a new name (to Sunday Mail in 1954), changed its size, adopted several slogans, moved homes, documented changing social tastes and covered breaking news, sport and entertainment.

The Sunday Mail has been part of News Limited since 1923, when its predecessor The Mail was acquired by News’ founder Sir Keith Murdoch.

Today, it remains the last of the original media assets Sir Keith’s son Rupert inherited, which he used as a springboard to launch a global media and communications company, News Corporation. Rupert became publisher of The News and The Mail after the death of his father – and by October 1953 was in a Sunday newspaper fight with The Advertiser, which launched the Sunday Advertiser. Rupert added Sunday to the masthead, in February 1954, before both companies called a truce in late 1955, joining forces to publish The Sunday Mail under the umbrella of Advertiser-News Weekend Publishing.

Sunday Mail editor Megan Lloyd said: “At a time when Australians have never been more interested in their ancestry, it’s been a privilege to revisit the history of The Sunday Mail and to be editor during such a milestone”.

“For a century The Sunday Mail has been proudly parochial of South Australia and its community of readers – their lives, causes, interests, success and pursuits.”