Community
27 August, 2025
Press room opens for visitors
MEMBERS of the Corangamite University of the Third Age (U3A) branch paid a visit to Western District Newspapers this week to learn more about their local newspapers.
Around a dozen members of Corangamite U3A visited the Western District Newspapers office on Manifold Street on Monday for a tour of the offices and printing facilities where the Cobden Timboon Coast Times, Terang Express, Mortlake Dispatch, Camperdown Chronicle, Warrnambool Weekly and Western District Farmer are published.
Corangamite U3A tour organiser Marilyn Kimber said the tour was “fascinating”.
“I’ve done this tour before and I thought it was so informative and interesting that I wanted to organise a second tour,” she said.
“It’s well and truly appreciated again.
“Corangamite U3A is open to anyone over 55 who is interested in learning about new things, seeing new things or coming along to social events.
“We have a myriad of activities like this which we offer to people in Corangamite Shire.”
Western District Newspapers owner/director Stewart Esh thanked Corangamite U3A for the visit.
“We welcome community groups to tour our printing facilities as we are now the last news publishers in western Victoria to print our mastheads locally rather than outsourcing employment opportunities to Melbourne,” he said.
“Western District Newspapers has been proudly delivering local news to the south west for more than 155 years.
“While the technology may have changed, our commitment to our community has remained unwavering.
“The significant investments we have made into upgrading our facilities in recent years is a continuation of ensuring our publications remain locally owned, operated and produced.”