Western Australian regional weekly the Esperance Weekender has ceased publication, its last edition appearing last Friday.

Its budget “always marginal”, the paper was launched into the south coast town in 2021 after the COVID-19 pandemic led to the closure of the Esperance Express in 2020.

Editor Geoff Vivian – who joined the paper at the end of 2022 – announces the closure in an email, and the front page of its final edition bears the simple message: ‘Thank you and farewell’.

National broadcaster the ABC – which has an office in the town – recalls the days when there was a choice of newspapers covering local news with a 1970s archive video. In those days, the Express was the newcomer, established by John Clark to provide an alternative to the Advertiser and printed on a single-colour offset press, which in those days was printed letterpress in Albany. That said, the two-paper competition was a far cry from gold rush days of the early 1900s, when there were reported to be more than 60 newspapers.

Somewhat ironically, the Weekender’s closure comes as Seven West Media’s Kalgoorlie Miner – published to the north across the Nullabor Plain – is celebrating its 130^th anniversary.

Seven West’s WA Newspapers division has 14 regional brands (pictured) and owns the West Australian, the Sunday Times, and national online daily The Nightly.

Seven West’s merger with radio broadcaster Southern Cross Media was approved by competition regulator the ACCC this week.

Vivian told the ABC (pictured) he was concerned bout the concentration of media in WA, with SWM also the owner of the Seven national TV network.

Geoff Vivian had not responded to GXpress’ request for further information at the time of publication. The paper’s website – on which little November news appears – says its managing director is Roslyn Buktenica, and also names journalist Nikki Bailey, office manager Greg Symes, and Clara Smaniotto (advertising).

The Weekender website reports that the paper was born when six locals, “sensing a void in the regional community… banded together to reinstate that aspect of town identity”. Its purpose to “engage the local community; support local business; and provide a clear and useful description of public officials’ activities and intentions to help voters make informed decisions”.

Vivian is “a former journalist, radio presenter, visual artist and photographer with more than two decades of experience in media”, having worked predominantly in regional WA until he “landed his dream job” as the Weekender’s editor.