It's just over 91 years since the Shakespeare family took The Canberra Times, the paper they founded, from a bi-weekly to a daily and added to the front-page masthead the motto: "To Serve the National City and Through it the Nation".
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
On that day, page one of The Canberra Times heralded the establishment of a daily paper in the fledgling capital as "a new epoch".
While we're not making any such claim this week, we're proud to say that we're embracing the future with a new publishing system and a new look for our website and our newspaper.
From Monday, canberratimes.com.au puts the quality local journalism you trust in prime position atop our homepage, and introduces some new features such as interactive puzzles.
From April 9, our print edition introduces a larger typeface size for stories and ample spacing to make the words easier to read.
The result is a Canberra Times that might look different to the one you’ve come to know, but it remains The Canberra Times you’ve always trusted.
To underline that continuing commitment, we have restored some time-honoured words to the masthead: "To Serve the National City" - an abridged version of the paper's original motto.
When the Shakespeares originally included a motto in the masthead in 1928, it was a relatively uncommon feature. The editorial of that day explained a vision for a news source emphatically for and about Canberrans, but also with a national view.
The words adorned our front page until the mid-2000s when they moved to the editorial page where the full motto remains.
In planning the changes you see this week, we have reflected on that original statement of purpose for The Canberra Times, and distilled it to its essence: to do what's right for Canberra.
That's what inspires and drives our dedicated team of editors, journalists and photographers. Whether we're holding the powerful to account or celebrating the people striving to make the ACT a better place to live, our role is to keep Canberrans informed, entertained and connected.
Our motto also recognises the status of Canberra as not just any city but the national city. It is the seat of parliament and the centre of the federal public service, and we will continue to cover closely the departments, institutions and agencies that are essential to our nation's success.
As a further nod to our proud tradition of telling the stories of Canberra, Times Past returns to page 2 of each day's paper to revisit an interesting episode from the city's history. Elsewhere today, you'll find regular favourites Private Capital on page 13 and letters, editorial and David Pope on pages 18-19.
Over the coming days, as well as a new look for all of your favourite reading, we will introduce some new columns on our opinion pages and in our weekend lift-outs.
For our online audiences, we've added interactive crosswords and puzzles - fresh brainteasers every day.
We will soon be expanding our range of newsletters - so you can get the information you want sent direct to your inbox. You can register now for daily news updates and breaking-news alerts at canberratimes.com.au.
On behalf of the editorial and advertising sales teams of The Canberra Times, thank you, our loyal audiences and advertisers, for your continuing support - both online and in print.
We hope you enjoy these changes to the newspaper and the website. We welcome your feedback. You can tell us what you think by emailing your comments, questions and suggestions to feedback@canberratimes.com.au.
