Thanks to an email forwarded by an avid collector , researcher and writer of illustrated articles on exotic Australian subjects , the latest about kewpie dolls , including the one that inspired Summer of the Seventeenth Doll , Little Darwin now has a greater understanding of the expression "the local rag " , a description long used to describe real newspapers, many of which are unfortunately shutting down or struggling to survive in the digital age .
In the latest newsletter of the Australian Newspaper History Group , edited by Rod Kirkpatrick, a worthy digest , is mention of an early Sydney Morning Herald printed on rag , supposedly to make it last longer than paper for an archive open to the heavy handed public .
In the latest newsletter of the Australian Newspaper History Group , edited by Rod Kirkpatrick, a worthy digest , is mention of an early Sydney Morning Herald printed on rag , supposedly to make it last longer than paper for an archive open to the heavy handed public .
It went on to say that the history of the Sydney Morning Herald , Company of Heralds , A Century and a half of Australian Publishing , by Gavin Souter , of which Little Darwin has a presentation copy, did not mention there having ever been a rag copy of the paper. Feature writer Souter travelled far and wide in this scorched brown land for the Sydney Morning Herald .
He knew the crusading editor of Darwin's Northern Territory News, the late " Big Jim " Bowditch , and spent time in Queensland interviewing the crew of the raft La Balsa which in 1970 drifted 15,862 kms from South America to Australia , with a cat called Minet , finally towed into Mooloolaba, for an exclusive series about their adventure . This blog's Shipping Reporter was there at the time looking after the rafters .
