White Pages® News

130 years of the White Pages® across Australia

July 1, 2010

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1880, the first White Pages®

There are not many companies in Australia that can claim a 130 year legacy, so you might be surprised to know that the White Pages® phone directory has been in print since 1880.  

That means, the White Pages® Book first went to print about the same time as Ned Kelly and his gang were under siege in Glenrowan, Victoria, when the first cash register came onto the market, and when Australia had its first Prime Minister, Sir Edmund Barton.

Interestingly, there were three companies listed in the very first edition that are still found in the Melbourne White Pages®; The Age, John Danks & Son Pty Ltd and the Victorian Racing Club.

The publication was an alphabetical listing of phone numbers until 1924, when advertising was introduced in directories. Two years later, it became Pink Pages, the first classified business directory in Australia.

Pink Pages changed its name to Yellow Pages® in 1975 as a result of paper shortages and to align with international naming trends. Later in some markets, Yellow Pages® and White Pages® were split into separate books due to size.

White Pages® “maturity” has not stopped it recently launching a highly successful iPhone app putting this hundred-plus year old product into the hands of today’s early technology adopters.

Different White Pages® books across Australia

You may be interested to know that not every household across Australia receives the same type of White Pages® book.

For those living in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, you’d know that your White Pages® Book gets delivered every year in two volumes – a directory of residential contact information and another with Business and Government listings.

In Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra, Newcastle and Gold Coast, you receive a single volume White Pages®.

In Hobart and across most regional areas, you receive Yellow Pages® and White Pages® as a single volume co-bound directory.

Delivering all year round

Delivery of White Pages® across 59 regions is a year-long project that starts in February in regional New South Wales and Tasmania, and ends in October or November in Hobart,.  

If you want to order a book, just call us 1800 810 211 or go to White Pages Online.