Auckland Times

The first issue of the Auckland Times was published on 29 August 1842 by owner and editor, Henry Falwasser (c.1790-1846). Falwasser, an Englishman, had been a storekeeper in Sydney before moving to New Zealand.

At that time the sole printing press in Auckland was owned by the colonial government, which allowed Falwasser to print the initial issues of the Auckland Times. However, by the ninth issue, Falwasser had fallen foul of the authorities and, as reported in the New Zealand Gazette and Wellington Spectator, ‘is now palpably in opposition to the Government’.

Barred from using the press, Falwasser cobbled together a set of mismatched type and, in the true spirit of a free press, carried on. In fact, the only way he was able to publish was through the use of a coarse quality paper put through a clothes mangle. The result was the most eccentric looking newspaper in the country with an obvious lack of capital Cs and lower case ks throughout.

Eventually Falwasser sailed to Sydney where he purchased his own press, which improved the appearance of subsequent issues. A true entrepreneur; creative, energetic and determined, Falwasser also fought one of the few duels to take place in New Zealand, against Lieutenant George Philpotts in 1844. There are conflicting stories about how it started, but it ended with Falwasser receiving a bullet through his coat tails, and Philpotts losing a button. The Auckland Times was his life’s work ‑ a week after he published the last issue of 17 January 1846, Falwasser died.