First published on 8 October 1853 by Walter George Mason (1820 – 12 March 1866),[1] William Edward Vernon and Ludolf Theodore Mellin.

Vernon had previously collaborated with William Kennedy between 1846–1847 to produce The Citizen in Sydney.

[7] He was also the son-in-law of Francis Cunninghame who, with Edward Hawksley, established The People's Advocate and New South Wales Vindicator in 1848.

[10] In August 1888, The Illustrated Sydney News became the first Australian paper to reproduce a photograph using the new half-tone process.

[3] Most material published in the first twenty years of the New South Wales colony notified soldiers, convicts and private settlers contained "government orders" printed on a portable wooden and iron printing press and displayed or announced aloud in public places and in churches.