Hanson and Bennett’s Empire Office

Hanson and Bennett acquired The Empire, after its founder, Henry Parkes, was declared bankrupt in 1858. They purchased the Empire, plant and equipment in May 1859 for £7,500, and The Empire recommenced publication with Hanson and Bennett as proprietors on 23 May 1859.

They did not take over Parkes’ leases, but instead set up shop in Deans Auction Rooms. Dean had been the auctioneer for the sale of the paper and presumably the plant and equipment had been re-located to his premises prior to the sale.

Showing the eastern side of “New” Pitt Street between Spring and Hunter Streets, circa 1859, with Dean’s Auction Rooms sandwiched between the Oriental Bank on the left and the Sydney Morning Herald Building on the right.

The northern end of Pitt Street, the so called “New Pitt Street”, underwent a major transformation in the 1850’s. The Herald which had been Samuel Bennett’s employer since his arrival in the Colony in 1841 had moved into its new building 1856. The Oriental Bank with its imposing façade was only completed in May 1858, the year before Hanson and Bennett started publishing the Empire from Dean’s Auction Rooms next door.

The corner of Pitt and O’Connell Streets as it was on the completion of the Herald Building in 1856, only three years earlier. Samuel Bennett, as head of the Herald’s Printing Department, would have been intimately involved in the planning of the building and the overnight removal of the business from George Street to its new location. Note the sculpture of Caxton’s head above the main entrance.

“The Rush” on the New Empire

A satirical article on page 9 of the first edition by Mr. Punch, commenting on the rush of subscribers and advertisers to sign up with the revived Empire featured the cartoon below. Reflecting this, its first edition ran to 12 pages, before settling back to a steady 8 pages, in line with its powerful rival the Fairfax’s Sydney Morning Herald.