Despite a preference for conciliation and arbitration, and a commitment to the public service role of information provision, the Australian news media have a long history of strikes disrupting news production. In detailing this history, from 1829 to the present day, this article draws from archival and newspaper research to supplement previously published accounts of major strikes to create a chronology of strikes that halted news production for a day or longer. The sector's strike history can be categorised into three distinct eras: nineteenth-century printers' strikes; major-impact journalists' and printers' strikes of the mid-twentieth century; and low-impact strikes of the 2000s.
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