The editors, Genevieve Swart and Marcus Craft, share the story behind the magazine’s rebrand.

It was time for a change. Our family business had been producing community news for the northern suburbs for almost a decade. Both magazines had outgrown their postcodes. 2508 was heading north to Waterfall (aka 2233) and 2515 was going south to 6000 people in Bulli (aka 2516).

Then came the Black Summer, when what our young boy called the Blood Sun rose daily and smoke shrouded the coast. We went into crisis mode, covering the massive loss of wildlife on the South Coast and introducing Free Ads for Firies, a small contribution to Rural Fire Service volunteers.

Crisis mode never let up.

Then came Covid. Back in March 2020, hundreds of regional papers instantly folded around the country. Responsible local journalism had never been needed more, but faced its biggest crisis since the advent of the internet.

It was something of a small independent miracle that we survived this time, continuing to publish 2508 and 2515 each and every month throughout the pandemic, come rain, hail or home schooling. Like many local businesses, however, we took a big hit during 2021’s long lockdown.

Then came the paper price crisis. The news broke in November, with costs increasing by up to 40%, driven by a perfect storm of Covid drama, including supply chain problems, shipping and taxes.

After consulting readers, our solution has been to retain the editorial quality and – unavoidably, as print becomes a premium product – raise the advertising rates. We’ve chosen not to diminish the news, lower paper quality or quit letterboxing. Because we know – after 30 years of working at titles in London, Cape Town and Sydney – that those decisions spell the end of local papers.

So, welcome to the first Illawarra Flame, a merger of 2508 District News and 2515 Coast News. The new name is a tribute to the region’s famous flame trees, and also to its natural beauty, indigenous heritage and community spirit.

We’re not the first to find inspiration in the iconic tree. The name already has a strong appeal at a community level in the Illawarra. It’s been adopted by sports teams, cheerleaders, a beekeeper, a winemaker, a business coach, UOW’s sustainable house and, of course, those environmental thought leaders who founded Thirroul’s Flame Tree Co-op more than a decade ago.

Now the new Flame has launched, we will be introducing a series of digital innovations to support it, from QR codes, linking to ‘Long Reads’ and videos online, to a newsletter delivering a weekly mix of updates and events to email inboxes.

A huge thank you to the many people who have talked to us about the region, and helped shape the rebrand. A few of those include Thirroul Village Committee’s Annette Jones and Murray Jones; Neighbourhood Forum 1 convenor Warwick Erwin; Illawarra Local Aboriginal Land Council CEO Paul Knight; Green Connect general manager Kylie Flament; Clifton School of Arts president David Roach; Destination Wollongong general manager Mark Sleigh; South Coast Writers Centre director Sarah Nicholson; Banksia Bush Care’s Kieran Tapsell, Jim Powell and Jenny Donohoe at Helensburgh Historical Society; former NICC president Greg Watts; Symbio’s Matt Radnidge; Glenbernie’s Jo Fahey; and the journalists who came to our first media networking lunch last year.

For a long time, local newspapers have survived on the basis of going where Facebook and Google cannot (into letterboxes); producing grassroots news grounded in fact; sharing stories elevated by the status of being ‘fit to print’. No one’s grandmother, let’s face it, is impressed to learn that your story has appeared on Instagram.

Local news stories are cut out, treasured and posted to friends and family around the world. Shortly before going to print in December, we received a handwritten request from a Helensburgh reader in rehab, asking if we could send her some copies of 2508 to read in hospital. We packed up a parcel of local news and posted it the same day.

Our readers are why we carry on.