On 14th July 1860 a notice appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald announcing that The Alpine Pioneer and Kiandra Advertiser would soon be published by Thomas Garrett at Kiandra and Russell's. The paper had a dramatic beginning in August 1860, after its presses were hauled to Kiandra through the snow on the backs of Chinese coolies. The dray contracted to carry the machinery was stranded by heavy snow on the far side of Russell's. Chinese carriers contracted by the Celestial Transport Company (Principal William Templeton) carried the disassembled presses, weighing a total of 4,400 pounds, the fourteen miles to Kiandra over a period of only ten hours.

The Alpine Pioneer was then published twice weekly for the next 8 months. On 21 March 1861, due to falling numbers on the gold field, the paper announced it was ceasing publication in Kiandra. The presses were moved to Cooma, where it became the Monaro Mercury, the predecessor to Cooma's current local newspaper, the Cooma Monaro Express.

Only 16 issues of The Alpine Pioneer have survived. These date from the issue of 24 August until the issue 28 December 1860. Copies are held by the Mitchell Library in Sydney, and the National Library (Canberra) and the Cooma Monaro Historical Society on microfilm.

The pages displayed below (in chronological order) have been chosen to give a sample of the material that can be found in the paper.

Click on the following links to view selected Alpine Pioneer pages -

24 August 1860 Page 1
24 August 1860 Page 3
28 August 1860 Page 4
28 August 1860 Page 5
24 August 1860 Page 3
25 September 1860 Page 1
9 October 1860 Page 4
12 October 1860 Page 4
23 November 1860 Page 3
23 November 1860 Page 5
27 November 1860 Page 4
27 November 1860 Page 5
14 December 1860 Page 4
14 December 1860 Page 5
14 December 1860 Page 6
28 December 1860 Page 6

Some items of special interest include:

24 August 1860
Court Report - the failure of the Sunday Selling and Sly Grog selling cases against Luke Reilly and A C Croy, and the imprisonment of William Templeton (illegally at large - ie broke Ticket of Leave conditions)

9 October 1860
Court Report - the Moo Choo case of spurious gold

12 October 1860
Mining Matters on Kiandra - the letter from J.E.G.

27 November 1860
The editorial and latest information on the Crack-em-back Rush, and the Dawes vs Detective Lyons case in the Court Report.

14 December 1860
The Mining Report, and the subsequent pages with advertisements about Tredbo & Crack-em-back and the announcement of Boxing Day Sport.

28 December 1860
New Years' Day Sports!!! and Hurrah for the Races!! announcements.

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