By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
Precede: Kevin Weeks has collected newspapers for most of his life. He has almost 30,000 of them including editions that date back to the 1600s. He spoke to Lachlan Moorhead about his colourful history as a collector and the future of newspapers.
Breakout: “Was I born in the right century? No, I feel like I should’ve been born 100 years ago.”
KEVIN Weeks didn’t expect a shotgun barrel to be pressed up against his head but it was there all the same.
The man holding the gun told Kevin to stop trespassing on his farm or he’d pull the trigger.
“We just jumped (from) the car, jumped the fence and said ‘look at that farm,’” Kevin laughed.
“But he came out, gun at my head!”
No, Kevin is not a career criminal. The 61-year-old Berwick resident was actually looking for more old relics to add to his collection of 30,000 newspapers that spans from 1696 to the present day.
In bygone eras, newspapers were used in the construction of houses and farms to line the foundation of the buildings.
Kevin is aware of this and was constantly on the lookout for old buildings in the process of being dismantled.
“I’d rip up the lino and grab newspapers just like that. They were in the lino or in the ceilings used for insulation,” Kevin said.
“They used to tie them in bundles and put them in roofs, of course the rats would have a field day.”
The story of Kevin’s newspaper collection originated long before his brush with death in the middle of a farm paddock.
When Kevin was a child, his father used to purchase the Sun News Pictorial (now The Herald Sun) and instead of offering Kevin a small block of chocolate for being well behaved like his siblings, he instead offered him the newspaper.
In Kevin’s youth his father also pointed out an international news story that unfolded right in front of their eyes.
“My father grabbed me by the scruff of the neck, dragged me through the house at night and said ‘look up to the sky’,” Kevin smiled.
“And I looked up in the sky and there was that only satellite ever launched called the Sputnik.
“And when it crossed the sky, he said ‘that’s the future, think of the future’. So I said I think I’ll start collecting newspapers.”
Kevin’s hobby began to gather momentum in 1979 when an article in The Age caught his eye. Nancy Noble, widow of a former sport editor at The Age, was sitting on a pile of old newspapers which her husband used to collect. Kevin seized the opportunity and drove out to the Noble household to introduce himself.
“Nancy Noble had to make a decision, was she going to send them for pulping – she was a bit of an initial greenie – or, if someone came along and had the same passion as Fred, her late husband, she would give them the papers,” Kevin said.
“I basically ended up with a 50-year run of the Melbourne Age.”
Kevin’s newspaper adventures have also seen him uncover some truly remarkable artefacts.
In the mid-1980s, having placed advertisements in the Trading Post imploring people to contact him, Kevin received a call.
A man from Clayton informed him of an old farm that was being demolished on Heatherton Road and how he’d seen bits of newspapers in the rubble.
Kevin promptly made his way out to Clayton and discovered an old brown envelope. What he found inside staggers Kevin to this day.
“I opened up the sealed envelope and I found a 1926 Melbourne Herald, it was of a train smash at Caulfield and who’s on the front page – references to my uncle, my father and my aunty,” he said, still astonished.
“My uncle was in the train smash, severely injured.
“The only thing I can pin it to is that someone in the area may have just kept that aside because of some alignment to my family.”
It is not out of the realms of possibility that Kevin would find something like this – he has already found everything else.
Instead of collecting the newspaper daily, Kevin restricts himself to getting those particular editions that cover major events.
He has so many that he needs to keep them in two off-site garages, all categorised and weighing close to four tonnes.
Kevin has collected some of the most notable headlines in history, including the capture of Ned Kelly, the Eureka rebellion, entire runs of World War I and World War II, the sinking of the Titanic, the Cuban missile crisis, the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy and the September 11 attacks.
“I have been and still prevail to be a real collector,” Kevin said.
“It’s not like I’ve got a (small) bundle of those hoardings of the Herald and Weekly Times.
“You’ll see stuff here that’ll freak you out.”
Kevin’s collection of history will certainly shock and amaze but it is a path that he has walked for many decades and he now feels that he is nearing its end.
Having appeared on everything from television to radio to discuss his collection, Kevin is now preparing for a new chapter in his life where he can pursue his other hobby – painting.
This means passing on his newspaper collection to anyone who is willing to take it.
“It’s time someone comes forward and takes over this entire collection,” Kevin said.
“It’ll come at a premium, heck, it’s cost me, I haven’t found them all under lino – I’ve had to buy and sell.”
Changing the subject from his own future to the future of newspapers in general, resignation lined Kevin’s face. He recognised that it is similarly the end of an era.
“It’s (the news) loaded up and away it goes,” Kevin said.
“The news used to take weeks to get to Australia, this is the difference, we’re in this (new) era.
“Do I deem the newspaper industry as a little sick, despite the Murdoch dominance? Yes I do, newspaper circulation’s falling.”
Once upon a time Kevin sneaked into a farm in order to salvage long forgotten newspapers. If that time has not completely gone yet, he knows that it has almost passed.
“Was I born in the right century?” he asked.
“No, I feel like I should’ve been born 100 years ago.”
As Kevin finished his tale, he leaned forward in his chair to put a careful hand over the newspapers in front of him.
He kept it there a long time.
(BOLD PLEASE)
Anyone who is interested in purchasing Kevin’s collection can contact him on 0439 703 637 or email ykweeks@gmail.com.
