Welcome to the 200th edition of Docklands News

A double-century of editions and more than 20 years of service to Melbourne’s beautiful and ever-evolving waterfront community – an achievement well worth celebrating we think!

This newspaper has certainly come a long way since its first official edition of Docklands Community News, as it was then known, back in 2003. But the roots of this wonderful community asset go much deeper than that.

While the planning and governance challenges here have been well-documented (none more so than by us!), those at the helm of driving urban renewal in the early days must be commended for keeping placemaking at the heart of the Docklands project.

The Docklands Authority, which has today morphed into Development Victoria, started this newspaper and all previous forms of community news that preceded it, including INFORMation in 1997 and The Harbour View in 1999.

In an early edition of the Docklands Community News, this newspaper’s founder – the late Peter Crowley – outlined a clear mission statement, carefully crafted by a committee of community volunteers, which in essence still rings true today: “The Docklands Community News seeks to strengthen the Docklands community through the provision of relevant community-based information in a regular newsletter.”

In the words of a key figure who was around since the newspaper’s inception, the late Shane “Scoop” Scanlan, who sadly passed away in 2021 shortly after retiring in 2019, “that sentiment continues to drive our editorial decision-making.”

From originally helping piece the early editions together, to eventually claiming the rights to it and laying the critical foundations for its evolution into the Docklands News we know today, we have Shane to thank for so much.

I know how proud he would be to see this publication reach its 200th edition – one that wouldn’t be complete without the image of him cargo-cycling newspapers around Docklands in his trademark Akubra immortalised in its special illustrated front cover. For this, we thank a dear friend of the newspaper Michael Lindell, with help from our designer Amy Frost.

There are too many people to credit, so I’ll just say a general but heartfelt “thank you” to everyone who has supported Docklands News from then to now, from our community, the advertisers who make it possible and my wonderful team, both past and present.

As Shane said following our 10th birthday in 2013, “Our ambition is to continue to serve the Docklands community”, and that, we will keep doing. •