The Evening Post (8 February 1865 – 6 July 2002) was an afternoon metropolitan daily newspaper based in Wellington, New Zealand. It was founded in 1865 by Dublin-born printer, newspaper manager and leader-writer Henry Blundell, who brought his large family to New Zealand in 1863.
With his partner from what proved to be a false-start at Havelock, David Curle, who left the partnership that July, Henry and his three sons printed with a hand-operated press and distributed Wellington's first daily newspaper, The Evening Post, on 8 February 1865. Operating from 1894 as Blundell Bros Limited, his sons and their descendants continued the very successful business which dominated its circulation area.[1]
While The Evening Post was remarkable in not suffering the rapid circulation decline of evening newspapers elsewhere, it was decided in 1972 to merge[2] ownership with that of the never-as-successful politically conservative morning paper, The Dominion, which belonged to listed Wellington Publishing Company Limited, within a new holding company — Independent Newspapers Limited.[1]
Wellington Publishing Company Limited was, in 1964, one of the first parts of Rupert Murdoch's international empire, later News Corporation.[citation needed]
The Evening Post's last publication was on the afternoon of 6 July 2002 and the next day the morning-published sister-publication, The Dominion, displayed its new name—The Dominion Post.[1]
At the end of June 2003, Murdoch's publishing business was sold to Australia-based Fairfax and the proceeds invested in New Zealand's Sky Network Television Limited.[citation needed]