Our dedication to serve the community never wavered

WHEN storms ripped through Sunraysia on a Friday afternoon in November, 2016, the Sunraysia Daily was unable to be printed for the first time in its storied history.

The storm not only caused tens of millions of dollars in damage across the region, but it cut power for an extended period of time.

But the Daily staff at the time felt an obligation to the community.

Without being asked, they arrived on Saturday morning to work on their day off. The journos chased stories, talking to devastated residents whose homes or businesses had been destroyed. Photographers snapped amazing pictures of the carnage. Readers submitted their own images. The Sunraysia Daily‘s website lit up the internet that day with record page views. The stories and images went global.

Staff from other departments arrived in the office to help where they could and a special edition Sunraysia Daily was produced.

The printers also rocked in on their day off. They fired up the presses.

The Saturday edition didn’t come out on Saturday, but it came out Sunday morning, complete with an eight-page storm wrap.

That is what the Sunraysia Daily means to not just this community, but to the loyal people who have worked here for the past century. It’s our 100th year.

After the Elliott Newspaper Group on Tuesday made a “gut-wrenching” decision to stand down all staff and suspend all its traditional newspaper publication operations due to the economic effect of the coronavirus pandemic, today will be the last printed edition of the Sunraysia Daily for an indefinite period.

As newspaper people, it’s devastating, particularly at a time when the community is hurting in an unprecedented way. When you work in this industry, it’s in our nature to feel a genuine sense of community purpose in tough times. It’s when we want to stand up.

This is a newspaper that has survived and printed its way through wars and other disasters, but the coronavirus is impacting on every part of society, and it hasn’t missed us.

Economically, businesses that were thriving weeks ago have been forced to close down indefinitely and stand down staff. We are not alone in this.

The place is a ghost town, which is the way it has to be for an indefinite period to protect the spread of this insidious bug. We need to all follow the rules right now, not just in Mildura, but across the planet.

But the long-term damage to society is unknown.

How businesses everywhere bounce back is anyone’s guess. And, for many, fear and anxiety levels are extreme.

That’s why we need to narrow our focus in the short-term.

The big picture is too foggy, but we have to keep faith that the skies will slowly clear.

The Sunraysia Daily is committed to reviving its printed publications when the coronavirus crisis gripping Australia subsides.

“It is our current intention that when this crisis subsides that we will be able to revive our printed publications,” Elliott Group managing director Ross Lanyon said.

“Over recent weeks the newspapers have not received anything near the usual commercial support across all advertising sectors to remain viable as a publisher (in the interim period).

“This in combination with a grimmer economic outlook facing us, and the fact clients continue to cancel their spending gave us no option.”

In the interim period, the Sunraysia Daily will continue to provide an online news service.