AustLit

James Reid Smith was an Irish printer and journalist who established four newspapers in Queensland and two in New South Wales between 1870 and 1884. He began his career in the mid-1860s as an apprentice at The Port Denison Times and Kennedy District Advertiser. In 1870 he started the first goldfield's journal of the decade, The Ravenswood Miner, and The Northern Miner in 1872. In 1874, with J. E. Larkin, he launched The Cooktown Courier, then The Hodgkinson Mining News in Thornborough in 1877.

Moving to New South Wales, Smith then established The Western Grazier at Wilcannia in 1880, and The Silver Age at Silverton in 1884.

Source: James Manion. Paper Power in North Queensland Townsville: The North Queensland Newspaper Company Limited, 1982.

Rod Kirkpatrick. Sworn to No Master Toowoomba: Darling Downs Institute Press, 1984.