Keep the Presses Running: the Australian printing industry in the twentieth century

Abstract

The printing industry in Australia has been a significant employer and contributor to the economy. While it can be considered as a manufacturing industry, and it currently is the fifth largest manufacturing industry in Australia,its role in creating and recording culture through books, magazines and newspapers gives it a special cachet. It should however be remembered that the largest printing sector is concerned with the production of labels and packaging. This sector also arguably produces both the finest and the most rough and ready printing work: compare for instance the packaging of an expensive bottle of perfume and a bulk corrugated carton. The industry is changing. Both the technology and the products are substantially different to what they were fifty years ago. In that time technologies and the jobs associated with them have come and gone, and some products, for instance pre-printed stationery, have virtually disappeared. Part of the rationale for this book is to chart some of these changes and in doing so outline some of the technological and social history of the printing industry in Australia.