It is New Zealand's sixth oldest daily newspaper and was founded by James Snyder Browne as a four-page daily on 18 March 1866.
[2] An evening newspaper, its main competitors was the Grey River Argus founded in 1865 (folded in 1966[3]) and issued as a morning newspaper.
The Grey River Argus was owned by labour movement interests and published by James Kerr.
[4] In contrast, the Greymouth Evening Star took a conservative stance and there was an ongoing rivalry between the papers through their editorials.
[5] The Greymouth Evening Star celebrated 125 years in 1991 and in the same year Dunedin media company Allied Press purchased a majority shareholding.