The Gazette this month celebrates 100 years in Pakenham.
Company founder Albert Edward Thomas was persuaded by the business people of Pakenham to relocate from Berwick and the first edition of the Pakenham Gazette and Berwick Shire News was published on 11 May 1917.
To mark the occasion, the Gazette will produce a glossy commemorative edition on Wednesday 7 June, looking at the history and development of the Pakenham district through the eyes of the newspaper.
Albert Edward Thomas had previously operated from Berwick, in and office opposite St Margaret’s, from 1909.
Moving to Pakenham, the Gazette first operated out of an old wooden building opposite the hotel in Main Street.
In May 1919, the family bought the prime half acre block between the Berwick Shire Hall and the Presbyterian Church on the corner of Main Street and John Street.
A home was built on the site in 1922 and was complemented in 1935 by a new brick office facing Main Street, which still stands today.
In 1984, the expanding company extended next door, taking over the old shire office building, which was relocated to the corner of the Princes Highway and Main Street a few years back and now houses the Berwick Pakenham Historical Society Museum.
In September 1994, the company moved its headquarters to the current site at the corner of Princes Highway and Army Road, on the site of the former Henty’s Restaurant.
Now operating as Star News Group, the company has passed through another three generations of the Thomas family – Albert Edward’s son Herb, his son Ian and his wife Dot and then to their son Paul, the current managing director.
– Tell us your favourite memory of the Gazette, or the time you appeared in its pages. Email dailyeditor@starnewsgroup.com.au.
To advertise in the special gloss commemorative edition on 7 June, contact the Gazette office on 5945 0666 or email advertising@starnewsgroup.com.au.
