The English and Chinese Advertiser 英唐招帖
Date Published
: newspapers, advertising
: Central Goldfields (Vic)
: Ballarat
: 1856 to c.1858
The Chinese Advertiser was the earliest bilingual Chinese-English newspaper in Australia.
The English and Chinese Advertiser 英唐招帖
Early Chinese Newspaper in Australia: Trove Presents a New Perspective on Australian History, Chinese Southern Diaspora Studies, Vol 7, 2014-15, pp 160-165
The Chinese Advertiser was the earliest bilingual Chinese-English newspaper in Australia, first appearing in May 1856. It was published by Robert Bell, an Englishman, in Ballarat every Saturday, had a circulation of 400 copies and was distributed for free. The name of the newspaper changed later in 1856 to the English and Chinese Advertiser, after which time more of the paper’s content was in English. The Chinese name of the newspaper varied in the earliest editions, but the Chinese title 英唐招帖 (Yingtangzhaotie) appeared consistently under the English masthead from late 1857. The latest remaining copy of the newspaper is dated 7 August 1858.
Only ten issues of the newspaper are known to still exist, all of which have been digitised and made available in Trove. The newspaper published government notifications, advertisements and Biblical passages, rather than news articles or editorials.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/283014256
See also:
BY ELY FINCH, MELBOURNE, MARCH 2015 C.E.
In 1896 the editor Robert Bell defended the quality of the publication and also reported that:
"The affair got into the best form during 1857, and a copy of the paper was printed on silk with gold bronze, and presented to Sir Henry Barkly by Mr Humffray, M.L.A., on the occasion of, but immediately after, his Excellency’s memorable visit to Ballarat in February, 1858.—Yours, &c., ROBERT BELL."
