Retirement 112 years in the making

- Bev Hutchins

FOR the past 112 years, the Numurkah Leader has been in the hands of the Morris family, but today’s issue will be the last one published in the Morris name.

The Leader wasn’t started by the Morris family, however. It began in 1895, and was purchased by my grandfather’s brother Klon, in 1908, while my grandfather Tom bought the Standard. Eventually they amalgamated the two titles under the Numurkah Leader masthead, and continued to run the business from the same building which the Leader still occupies today.

My father Brian became the second generation in the family business in 1955, when he and my mother, Lorna, purchased Klon’s share, and they ran a father/son partnership until Tom had a heart attack in 1962 and was forced to retire.

Just five years later, Dad died suddenly, leaving Mum with five children aged between 15 years-old and five months, along with a business to run, staff (who were not comfortable working for a woman) to pay, and a huge debt.

Although Mum was given an offer to sell the business, the amount offered wasn’t even enough to pay off the mortgage she and Dad had taken out to buy Tom’s share, and she never felt that she had any other option but to carry on their business.

That was back in 1967, when women were expected to quit their jobs when they got married, and were unable to borrow money from a bank. But, with a fierce determination and the help of many wonderful friends and a supportive community, Mum somehow managed to survive long enough to bring a third generation of the family into the business.

My older brother Tony was just 13 when Dad died, but he decided that he wanted to help share Mum’s load, and left school as soon as he could to begin an apprenticeship as a linotype operator.

Tony eventually took over as editor, and Mum started to cut back her hours, and eventually, rather reluctantly, retired fully, well into her 70s.

My younger brother Terry joined the business in 1984, starting his printing apprenticeship, which he completed at Kyabram, to gain experience in a larger printshop.

By the time I started working at the Leader - well, more than the few hours I used to do here and there to help out when things were busy or someone was on holidays - Lorna, Tony and Terry were all a part of the company structure that had been set up. That was 33 years ago, and I only became a shareholder in 1997.

After Dad’s death, the next biggest disaster to strike the Numurkah Leader was a major fire in 1987 that completely destroyed the back part of the building, but fortunately spared the historic facade.

Once again the community rallied behind our family and, even though the fire was early on a Wednesday morning, the Leader carried the fire on our front page that day, continuing an amazing record of never having missed publishing an issue, thanks largely to the Shepparton News, where the Leader was printed.

I did have concerns for a while during COVID this year that I could also be the one responsible for the Leader missing its first issue ... ever! But fortunately that didn’t happen, and we did manage to keep going and producing a newspaper every week.

I can’t say how proud I am to have followed in my mother’s footsteps, although a career as a journalist was never on my agenda as I am far more comfortable working on the administration side of things. That said, I have written a few newspapers, basically on my own, in the past six years, since Tony retired and I took over as editor, but it’s not something I ever felt comfortable with.

One achievement I was particularly proud of in my time as editor, was winning a Victorian Country Press Association award for the best community campaign, for a campaign we ran encouraging Numurkah residents to attend the community meeting to vote on a preferred option for the Numurkah flood mitigation plan.

These four articles and an editorial were all run whilst I had no journalist early in 2018 (before Dom started), and I was particularly pleased to hear the judge’s comments about ‘the well written editorial’ that was all my own work. 

Being editor of a newspaper has certainly taught me a few things, and thrown up many challenges.

Over six years, I’ve faced several threats of legal action that never progressed because, I must say, we are always cautious and know what we can and can’t say. It’s our job after all.

Coronavirus this year threw up a whole new set of challenges. For various COVID-related reasons, there were only three of us working, and I think we were in a bit of a daze for the first couple of weeks, not knowing how we were going to manage to put out a newspaper when there was nothing happening anywhere - no sport, no meetings, no events, nothing.

A Cuppa with Dom, and our weekly Sporting Legend were born, for which we received so much positive feedback. While Dom did a great job with our sporting legends, she wasn’t comfortable with the sporting mantle, and almost cried when the first proposed return to sport went by the wayside. But she carried on stoically, and ended up writing 26 of these articles - a whole half year - before cricket, tennis and bowls started up in October.

It’s always challenging when staff go on holidays, or worse, when they suddenly become ill, because in our office, we generally only have one qualified person for each position. But that’s where being the boss comes in, and I have stepped in as journalist, graphic designer, photographer and salesperson.

I’ve learnt to take photos, but if anyone asks, I say I know nothing about our camera, I just know what I have to know - set it on auto, focus, and shoot.

The golfers think they are going to get a reprieve from me snapping their photos all around the golf course, but, as president of the golf club, I believe it is great for the club (and the newspaper) to have good coverage of our golf, so I’m going to disappoint a few, and say that I will continue snapping and submitting my photos. I also plan to spend some time actually learning how to use my own camera properly.

I’ve often rushed off from golf to get other sport photos when I haven’t had a photographer to work on Saturdays, and hey, I even managed to get my husband taking photos for me.

I’ve seen a few major changes in my time at the Leader. Although I was only helping Mum out occasionally during the days when the paper was printed in lead, I grew up in that environment.

My typing skills came into their own when we shifted to computerised typesetting, which is what got me into the business in the first place, and then we went one step further to producing the whole paper digitally, and sending it to the printers electronically.

Then came the introduction of a website, which was replaced by a much more sophisticated website a couple of years ago, and an online version of the paper, which is seeing ever-increasing subscriptions.

My family have been terrific, and very supportive, my young family putting up with me working long hours at times. Now that they’re older, they often help out taking photos, etc., and my husband Bugs is a great sounding board, with a very down-to-earth attitude to life that keeps me grounded.

When my family and I started talking about selling, a little over 12 months ago, we weren’t sure that we would ever be able to.

We had thrown this around a few years ago, when Terry bought Edge Print in Mooroopna, moving the printing division with him and leaving me with the newspaper, but it was never a realistic option.

The bigger media companies around, who once would have given anything to take the Numurkah Leader into their fold, are no longer interested in small town newspapers. But there was one person we thought who might be interested, and we knew was more than capable of producing a newspaper every week, because she had been doing it for us for two years.

My journalist, Dominique Cosgriff, was both nervous and excited when we discussed our plan with her, and, after a few hiccups along the way, due to it being 2020 and COVID-19 putting paid to many plans, it is finally coming to fruition, and the next edition of the Numurkah Leader will be Dom’s.

It is a very big thing for me, emotionally, to be the one to lose the family connection with the Numurkah Leader, but this was certainly a far better option than having to close down the newspaper that has been in the family for 112 years. And I say this from not only the family perspective, or for Dom, but, we feel, the Numurkah community. Not to mention the staff she will continue to employ.

The rise of the internet and social media has put the delivery of news into a whole new realm, but in a small country town, really, the only place to get well written, well researched and trustworthy local news is your local newspaper.

And now I become the one who finally lets the Numurkah Leader fall from the Morris family hands, but at least it continues on.

I wish Dom all the best for her future as editor and proprietor of the Numurkah Leader, and I hope the business people and readers will give her the support she needs, and deserves, in order to continue running a newspaper in a small country town.

The year 2020 became known for people wanting to shop local and support local business, and a newspaper is no different to any other small local business. 

As for me? Anyone who knows me, even a little bit, will expect me to be spending more time on the golf course, and I certainly intend to make that happen, along with a bit more time on the practice fairway too. I also want to be able to spend more time with my family, and be more available to them, and, for a while anyway, I’m looking forward to a bit of relaxation time. I’m also a bit of a hoarder, so my house needs me too.