About Us

The Betoota Advocate, Australia’s oldest newspaper.

As a small and independent regional newspaper from far-west Queensland, we pride ourselves on reporting fair and just news with the authenticity that rivals only the salt on the sunburnt earth that surrounds us here in the Queensland Channel Country.

Having been established in the mid-1800’s, we are arguably Australia’s oldest newspaper and have always taken pride in our ability to walk in both worlds: regional and metropolitan news. In recent times, our popularity has grown immensely as result of a bold move to create an online revival for our publication.

2014 was a big year for The Betoota Advocate, with a successful transition into digital news. This move online has given many of our cadet journalists an opportunity to report on stories outside of both our town and our nation’s borders.

Some of these stories have been successful on an international scale and attracted attention not only in our hometown of Betoota, but also right across Australia. The decision to venture online was made in September 2014, in our efforts to navigate through the new world of social media.

Our small operation, overseen by both former News of the World deputy editor and first-generation Betootan, Errol Parker (Editor-at-large) and the homegrown Clancy Overell (Editor) – makes for a trusting newspaper that will never bow to any of the powers that be in the world of ‘corporate news’ – and with a readership that topples the Fin Review and The Australian, we seem to be doing alright.

With the vast experience of our editors, the Betoota Advocate is able to harness the skillsets taught to both Parker and Overell during their sabbatical in the North Queensland hub of Townsville, where they both met as cadet journalists.

We will continue to report real and apolitical news and will never allow our organisation to be hijacked by any of the family news dynasties. Packer, Fairfax or Murdoch.

We hope you take something away from the news you read, brought to you by The Betoota Advocate. Please join our readership.