Remembering George Jones
Remembering George Jones
George Jones was a well respected man in Oamaru during his forty-four year ownership of the Oamaru Mail newspaper. After his death in 1920 a stone arch was erected in his honour at the corner of Itchen and Thames Streets.
Born to George and Eliza Jones in Lower Hutt in October 1844, Jones was the eldest child of eight. After Jones was born the family moved around a lot, spending time in a number of cities in Australia before moving to Christchurch and finally settling in Oamaru.
While in Australia Jones was educated in Geelong. He completed an apprenticeship in the printing trade and from the age of fourteen worked for various local newspapers. He then returned to New Zealand where he was based in Christchurch for a period of time, marrying Dorothy Tweedy in 1865. While based in Christchurch Jones worked for the Standard, the Lyttleton Times and The Press. Jones also headed north and founded the Waikato Times in 1870. After returning south Jones worked for a number of newspapers in Dunedin, although his pivotal moment was his purchase of Oamaru’s struggling Evening Mail in 1877.
At this juncture the Evening Mail was a newly established newspaper which had had a bumpy start due to technical issues with printing. The paper was struggling financially due to low sales in advertising and subscriptions. Not long after Jones purchased the paper he published an editorial criticising a bill that had gone before Parliament dealing with the acquisition of Māori land. In Jones’ Editorial he stated that the bill was developed to “further enrich, at the expense of the colony, the Attorney General and his Colleagues in land speculations”. The statement did not go down well with the government authorities. Jones refused to apologise for his editorial and was subsequently arrested and imprisoned under the care of the Sergeant-of-Arms. In March 1878 Jones was tried and acquitted by special jury in the Dunedin Supreme Court.
The publicity around Jones’ arrest and trial increased the popularity of the Evening Mail; subscriptions grew, as did advertising. In 1879 Jones made the decision to change the name of the paper to the Oamaru Mail.
Along with the growth of the paper, the business also expanded. In 1884 architects Forrester and Lemon were commissioned to design a new building for the Oamaru Mail, which was later built on Tyne Street. However, Jones’ business and publication continued to grow, and in 1906 the Oamaru Mail moved to even larger building, the refurbished Smiths Grain Store. The business has moved several times since.
In 1880 Jones successfully stood for Parliament, in 1895 he was appointed to the Legislative Council. He was a follower of the woman’s suffrage movement and was also a strong advocate for the prohibition of alcohol. He contributed to the latter in Oamaru through support of the prohibition movement in the pages of the Oamaru Mail.
A keen musician, Jones was an accomplished violinist. He was the conductor of the Oamaru Garrison Band for over a decade, contributing to the band’s many successes.
The Hon. George Jones passed away on 16 December 1920 and was buried in the Oamaru Cemetery. In November 1922 a stone arch was unveiled in his memory and a park was dedicated in his name. The ceremony for the unveiling was a momentous occasion with a large gathering of locals and distinguished visitors. The arch and George Jones Park are situated at the south end of Thames Street.
All information in this article comes from Waitaki Museum and Archive.
Sources for this article:
- Jones, George (1998) ‘Jones, George (1844-1920)’, in Southern People, a dictionary of Otago Southland Biography, Thompson, Jane (ed) p. 259
- Muirhead, Syd (1990) ‘Oamaru Newspapers’, in Historic North Otago, p. 20
Written by Shannan Carr, Curator of Archives, 2010.