Last week’s story about the installation of a press at The Post in suburban Perth, Western Australia, clearly touched a chord, becoming one of our most-read.

The independently-owned free weekly had been printed at Fairfax Media’s Mandurah print site, moving to West Australian Newspapers (Seven West) after that site was sold, first to Antony Catalano’s Australian Community Media, and then to commercial printer Ive Group which closed the site in May 2023.

With the earlier closure of News’ Perth Print, that left WAN as the only newspaper printer in town, an uneasy situation which has already led to the closure of two titles, as well as the WA edition of Nine’s Australian Financial Review.

With the support of some of the city’s businesspeople, The Post is now close to winning its independence, with the installation of its own printing plant, set to be commissioned in the next few weeks.

The six-tower Community SSC press was part of a larger line that used to print a daily newspaper in Burnaby, Canada. It has a Goss N40 half and quarter folder, seven Emerson drives, and right-angled Enkel/Megtec zero-speed splicers. Automation includes Peretta remote inking and QTI’s RGS IV colour register, while other equipment at the new site includes a semiautomatic Nela plate bender and a Gammerler STC-700 stacker.

The press has come from US used printing machinery specialist ImPressions Worldwide, whose engineers are currently in Perth for the installation.

Plans for the installation were hatched when the effective Perth monopoly became apparent, and have been shrouded in secrecy until now, with the project codenamed ‘Gumbie’ emerging as Fair Maiden Printing.

After preparation by ImPressions at their headquarters in Washington state in the US Northwest, the press has now made the 19,000 km journey to Perth and installation is well underway, with commissioning expected by next month.

We’re grateful to Tom Loesch, president of ImPressions, for these pictures and more of the back story.

As the press heads into its ‘smoke testing’ phase, there’s more than a hint of pride in his team, with the comment, “it takes a small army and a ton of coordination to make this happen”. He recalls the achievements and partnerships, even the problem with a seized pulley which was solved with the help of a local machine shop… and a transaction involving a slab of Red Dingo beer.

Apparently, some crew members will find it hard going home, with Fair Maiden’s Louis Bailey commenting that lead technician Eric Williams had made a lot of friends out here. “One of them was tearing up when he had to say goodbye to him, and quite a few locals have been dropping by the caravan park to wish him luck”.

Loesch says the project is more than a press install: “It’s a stand for independent journalism and the power of print in the community. Hats off to Bret Christian and the team at Fair Maiden Printing. The world is watching.”

The press will print 50,000 weekly copies of The Post – last week’s issue was 96 tabloid pages – in an afternoon.

The spare capacity is already being eyed by other independents seeking cost-effective, local print without compromise. Christian says they have already received strong interest from other community publishers.

One former local newspaper owner says he might be tempted to start up again, after being knocked back when approached for printing, possibly because he had “five times the circulation in the area.

“I really miss doing that paper and would love to start it up again, so I’m wondering if the Post would be interested in printing it?”

There’s also been a suggestion that Nine Entertainment might consider restoring the WA print edition of its Australian Financial Review.

To say the investment has been well received is an understatement. One Post reader wrote that they were “dead scared we were going to lose a unique and wonderful little newspaper that has never been afraid to state its views, not to mention those of its many dedicated letter writers”.

That writer’s hope is that the “obviously substantial investment” will not only result in a profit for Post, but enable the re-emergence of “the lots of local newspapers around the state that we’ve lost”.

As Tom Loesch put it, “The strategic investment signals a powerful stand for independent journalism, community news, and the long-term sustainability of ink on paper.

But a clue to the commitment behind the project comes in the choice of name for the company that will operate it. Apparently owner Bret Christian, editor Bonnie Christian and managing director Louis Bailey were mulling the level of commitment required, when Christian observed, “Faint heart never won fair lady”. And so it was, Fair Maiden Printing… a reminder that faint heart never won anything of much value.

Peter Coleman

Pictured (from top): One of the ten-tonne Community towers is bolted together by IW’s Vladimir Kaparchuk and Roland Hutchinson; Kaparchuk provides hand signals to guide the placing of the top half of the tower; Bret Matters and Jason Radburn, Post’s own Goss pressman; Vladimir Kaparchuk looks back from the drive side of the press; Louis Bailey (centre) with Armando Garcia and Vladimir Kaparchuk; technicians Andri Ramdani and Andi Sarwiji with one of the towers; true to his name, ImPressions’ electrical technician Armando (‘AirMondo’) Garcia made the journey from the US to ensure the pressroom was wired properly; Tom Loesch tells us Eric Williams really “made an ImPression with the Aussies – this kangaroo’s not sleeping, he’s just emotionally exhausted from saying goodbye to Eric… that Carolina accent hits hard, mate!” Thanks, Tom for the photos.