The Ivess Family History

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Born in Ireland, the son of John Pope Ivess and Anne (nee Southwell) Grandson of Patrick & Jane. Joe's family emigrated to Australia around 1852. leaving behind his elder brother William. (still to be traced)
The family settled in Melbourne, Victoria, later moving to Castlemaine. Having learned the printing trade he set out at the age of 24 to carve his destiny in 1868 at the gold fields on the West Coast of New Zealand with his wife Sarah (nee Reddin) and all his sisters, except Lucy who remained in Australia married (Horan)

According to G. H. Scholefield, Joseph Ivess established forty-five newspapers in New Zealand and Australia.  Even though Scholefield later modified his estimate to twenty-six New Zealand and five Australian titles, this still high number calls for explanation. For one man to 'plant' over thirty newspapers during his working life is nothing short of extraordinary. Scholefield's statements raise two major questions: which newspapers did Ivess establish and why did he establish them?

            The first question is the easier to answer, although to do so is impeded by the lack of an adequate bibliography of newspapers published in New Zealand. The disappearance of many of this country's newspapers is a further impediment. Some evidence can be gleaned from the few Ivess newspapers which can still be located. But this combined with the evidence in secondary sources is insufficient to confirm the precise number of titles in which Ivess had an interest. In addition, the nature and extent of that interest is sometimes by no means clear. I have in the Appendix identified forty-four newspapers published in New Zealand which have some connection with Ivess, (twenty-nine definitely established by him) but have identified only two Australian newspapers as being Ivess titles.

            Having refined Scholefield's figures, the second question can be addressed: why did Ivess establish this large number of newspapers? What were his motivations? Several of his titles proved themselves capable of providing at the least a comfortable living, so the explanation cannot be made solely on the grounds of economic necessity. Scholefield, himself a former newspaper editor who had met Ivess, suggests a reason: Ivess was the most picturesque of that gay band of pioneers who, with a handpress and a hatful of type, rushed from point to point . . . to hoist the banner of free journalism wherever men needed such an organ of expression. This may present part of the truth, but probably only a small part. Ivess stressed many times in his editorials that he was a businessman, with the motivations of earning a living and of making a profit which that entails. He may also have had a more detached interest in principles of free speech and democracy, and may well have considered his newspapers as a vehicle through which the common man could  express himself, but this was probably a secondary concern. Scholefield  notes an element of restlessness in Ivess's makeup: 'The grass over the fence always looked greener than that in his own paddock'. Ivess must also have enjoyed the social status attached to being a newspaper editor or proprietor in a small town. But I consider that Ivess's primary motivation was a wish to be in the centre of the political world and to wield political power, and he used the newspapers he established or leased to further these political ambitions. The study which follows of his newspapers, taking special note of certain years of the Inangahua Herald the Patea Mail and the Paraekaretu Express, will establish this more clearly.

Ivess was by no means alone among newspapermen in succumbing to the lure of political power. It may even have assumed the status for New Zealand newspapermen of an occupational hazard: there was a higher than usual extent of combining the journalistic and political roles in this country, according to Patrick Day. 

One characteristic of nineteenth century South Australian newspaper editors was that they often entered politics at the local or national level, just as Ivess in New Zealand held posts in local, provincial and national governments. A similar point has been made about English newspaper proprietors:

 The access papers have afforded to public life has been a major factor. That access has, on a few occasions, been converted into real political power. But for the most part it has been an illusion. Ownership has been a ticket to the front stalls of public affairs, but not to the stage itself.  Apart from some early successes, political power was to elude Joseph Ivess.

 Biographical information about Joseph Ivess is readily available. He was born in Askeaton, Co. Limerick, Ireland, on 8 February 1844, and in 1852 accompanied his parents to Melbourne, where he was educated at Barnett's Grammar School, Emerald Hill. His father, John Pope Ivess, was a police sergeant. In 1866, after his marriage to Sarah Ann Reddin, he worked on the staff of the Bendigo Independent. On his arrival in New Zealand in 1868 he began work as the manager, and perhaps printer, of the New Zealand Celt at Hokitika. He remained in and about the West Coast for the next eight years, but after 1875 his base became the Canterbury region, and particularly Ashburton.   A photograph of Ivess with his family shows nine children. 

 He represented the electorate of Wakanui, South Canterbury, in the House  of Representatives on two occasions, 1882-1884 and 1885-1887, after that concentrating his activities in the North Island, especially in the Taranaki and Rangitikei areas. He returned for some years to Ashburton around the turn of the century, and from 1903 based himself in the central North Island. He died on 5 September 1919 in Christchurch. A description of Ivess in late 1875 portrayed him as a fine plump man with a well-groomed appearance. He wore a moustache and a little bunch of hair on his under lip, as was customary in some professional men of those days. . . . Always an optimist, it was hard for others to compete with him, and he was certainly a tireless worker, obtaining considerable influence where he worked. 

The New Zealand people recently honoured the memory of Joseph Ivess by naming the tallest peak in the Victoria Range near Inangahua in the South Island " IVESS  PEAK"