The Murray Pioneer, About Us.

The Murray Pioneer is a bi-weekly newspaper covering the Riverland irrigated fruit growing areas of South Australia, extending from the Victorian border to south of Blanchetown, as well as the Northern Murray and Murray Mallee farming districts. Three quarters of the papers printed each week, however, are sold within the confines of the Riverland irrigation areas.

The Murray Pioneer is the parent company for a group of companies which includes three newspapers and a commercial printing company, JC Irving, of Berri. The other papers, The Loxton News and The River News circulate in the Loxton and Waikerie areas which are also part of the circulation areas of The Murray Pioneer. The Murray Pioneer is printed twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Fridays, and The Loxton News and River News are published weekly, on Wednesdays.

The region covered by The Murray Pioneer is renowned for its quality fruit, fruit juices and wine. Fruits grown include citrus, grapes, peaches, pears and apricots and vegetables production is now extensive. The Murray River winds through the region making it a popular tourist area, ideal for fishing, boating, water sports, and cruises with over 100 houseboats available for hire on the river.

The Murray Pioneer, first known as the Renmark Pioneer, was established in 1892, and located in Thirteenth Street. It was a weekly newspaper until 1982, when it changed to a bi-weekly, printed on Tuesdays and Fridays. Its current circulation is about 7,000 copies. Just over 20 people were employed there back in 1932 and the number is still much the same today.

Although production has increased several hundred per cent, greater mechanism in the form of fast operating, automatic machines, has been the reason for practically no increase in staff being necessary. When the original Renmark Pioneer was first printed on Saturday, April 9, 1892, it was a hand written duplicated foolscap sheet. This was five years after the Renmark irrigation colony was founded. By 1895 The Murray Pioneer was appearing as an ordinary type printed paper. Consisting usually of six pages, it sold for 2d per copy.

For several years the paper was printed in a new premises in Fifteenth Street and then at a site near the Renmark Hotel, then in 1910 was relocated at the place where the present building now stands.

In 1916, electricity development of the irrigation areas followed World War 1, with corresponding expansion of the paper and led to the change of the name to The Murray Pioneer, and the formation of the present company, The Murray Pioneer Pty. Ltd., in 1921, with Mr H.S. Taylor as governing director and editor - position he held until his death in 1932.

The well equipped offices and outer walls of the present building were built in 1960. The Pioneer operates with two separate departments - newspaper and general printing. The newspaper department entails writing, setting, composing, printing and distributing.

In 1978 the Cossar press, which had printed the paper for about 18 years, was replaced by a three-unit Goss Community web-offset press, capable of printing 24 pages in one run, at a speed of 14,000 copies an hour. The paper is now fully paginated with colour and black and white pages sent direct to an Imagesetter.

In 1988 a computer sales and repair business, Riverland Computers, was started as a subsidiary business, so that a computer repair technician would be on site. This ensures that the company's extensive computer network can be repaired without waiting for technicians to arrive from Adelaide. In 1990 this business moved from within the main building to an extension to the south eastern end of the head office complex.

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