Herald Sun facts for kids

The Herald Sun is a popular morning newspaper in Melbourne, Australia. It's a tabloid newspaper, which means it has a smaller page size. The newspaper is published by The Herald and Weekly Times. This company is part of News Corporation, a big media group.

You can buy the Herald Sun in Melbourne and other parts of Victoria. It's also sold in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory, and some areas of South Australia and New South Wales. The Herald Sun often shares stories with other newspapers owned by News Corporation in Australia. It is the biggest selling daily newspaper in Australia. About 515,000 copies are sold every day. Around 1,500,000 people read it.

How the Herald Sun Started

The Herald Sun newspaper began in 1990. It was created when two older newspapers joined together. These were The Sun News-Pictorial and The Herald. The Sun News-Pictorial was a morning tabloid paper. The Herald was an afternoon broadsheet paper (a larger size).

The first Herald-Sun (with a hyphen) was published on October 8, 1990. The hyphen was removed from its name on May 1, 1993.

The Herald Newspaper

The old Herald and Weekly Times building in Flinders Street.

The Herald newspaper started a long time ago, on January 3, 1840. It was first called The Port Phillip Herald. In 1855, its name changed to The Melbourne Herald. Just a week later, it became simply The Herald. From 1869 onwards, it was an evening newspaper.

The Sun News-Pictorial Newspaper

The Sun News-Pictorial began on September 11, 1922. The Herald and Weekly Times company bought it in 1925.

The Newspapers Join Together

The Herald used to sell many copies, almost 600,000. But by 1990, its sales had dropped a lot, to under 200,000. This happened because people started watching evening television news. Also, more people used cars to get home, so they didn't buy an afternoon paper. The Sun News-Pictorial (the morning paper) was selling much better.

Because of this, The Herald and Weekly Times decided to combine the two newspapers. The Herald published its last separate newspaper on October 5, 1990. The next day, The Sun News-Pictorial also published its last edition. The Sunday versions of the two papers had already joined. The new Herald Sun newspaper looked like The Sun News-Pictorial.

Sales kept falling, so the afternoon edition of the Herald Sun was stopped. The last afternoon paper was published on December 21, 2001. Now, News Limited (part of News Corporation) makes mX. This is a free afternoon paper you can pick up in central Melbourne.

Cool Collectible Items

Over the years, the Herald Sun has offered many fun collectible items. These often came with magazines, pins, or other special things. You could get them from the newspaper or by using a special token from the paper. Here are some examples:

• The 2000 Olympic Torch Relay Pin (and album) (2000)
• Australian Football League trading cards (every year since 2004)
• The Simpsons pins (2006)
• Socceroos medallions (2006)
• Celebrate 50 Years of TV (2006) – with Nine Network
• The Ashes series pins (2006)
• Family Encyclopedia CD-ROM Collection (2006) – with Dorling Kindersley
• The Greatest (2007) – a 14-part magazine series
• Amazing Pictures (2007) - a 4-part magazine series
• Discovery Atlas DVD Collection (2009)

Journalists and Writers

Many people write for the Herald Sun. Here are some of the notable journalists and columnists:

• Jon Anderson
• Andrew Bolt
• Robert Fidgeon
• Terry McCrann
• Neil Mitchell
• Mike Sheahan
• Jill Singer
• Mark Knight (cartoonist)
• Gary Ablett Jr.
• Jimmy Bartel
• Jason Akermanis
• Eddie McGuire
• Gerard McManus
• Osmar White

Other Newspapers Like It

The Sunday edition of the Herald Sun is called the Sunday Herald Sun. In other cities, the Herald Sun is connected to other newspapers owned by News Corporation:

• In Sydney: The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph.
• In Brisbane: The Courier-Mail and The Sunday Mail.
• In Adelaide: The Advertiser and Sunday Mail.
• In Perth: The Sunday Times.
• In Hobart: The Mercury and The Sunday Tasmanian.
• In Darwin: The Northern Territory News and Sunday Territorian.

Images for kids

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  The old Herald and Weekly Times building in Flinders Street.

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  The Melbourne Arts Centre Spire viewed from behind the rooftop signage for the Herald and Weekly Times building.

See also

In Spanish: Herald Sun para niños