The 1890s was a period of intense industrial unrest in Australia: squatters and shippers, manufacturers, merchants and miners had all been doing very nicely in the 1880s with exports booming, but little seemed to the shearers, labourers and sailors to be "trickling down" to them.
Then around 1885 demand slackened off and with falling prices, the employers felt the need to reduce their labour force, and cut the wages of those who remained.
When the United Trades and Labour Council of South Australia needed money to start a workers' newspaper, the Port Adelaide Seamen's Union was quick to assist with an interest-free loan.
[1] A predecessor of The Herald was Our Commonwealth for which A. W. Rayment and Ignatius Singer wrote articles on Single Tax.
[2] The Weekly Herald was founded in October 1894, edited by Geoff Burgoyne, later leader writer for Sir Winthrop Hackett's West Australian.
[9] Wedd was forced by ill-health to retire after a year or two, but continued to contribute, as "Epsilon" and "Remus", to the Herald and other newspapers.
Julian Woods, previously with the Melbourne Telegraph and The Age, and the Perth Daily News, was a sub-editor 1913.
The perceived poorer value resulted in a decreased circulation and reduced advertising revenue, and the paper's financial position, already shaky, became dire.
[18] Between 9 March 1918 and 1 February 1919 The Herald ran a weekly feature, instalments 1–35 bylined "Laradale" (William W. Goddard), based on interviews with, and unpublished memoirs of, Seth "The Master" Ferry, a major figure of the Adelaide turf scene for some 50 years.