Traf News’ committee is asking the community to decide the future direction of this newspaper.
To do so, please open the camera App on your smart phone or tablet, and place it over the below QR code which will take you to the survey. Or click this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScw9wUwUwLyPzKJz9BXUUn3ciP1RQwzrZeKlbu4t-LIxckamg/viewform
You will be asked to answer ‘Yes’ to one of two questions:
Do you want our community newspaper to:
- focus on the local community in the style of Traf News with articles mainly from Trafalgar and neighbouring towns such as Yarragon, Thorpdale and Willow Grove plus their local surrounding communities; or
- be more regionally focused, in the style of Traf District News, receiving contributions from various parts of Gippsland, with contributions from Trafalgar and surrounds being secondary
Background
Traf News
Traf News, came into existence in late 1999 as the result of community disquiet that many of Trafalgar’s stories were not being reported in local regional newspapers.
This was not a criticism of those papers as the community recognised that they had limited space to cover all relevant matters in every community they covered.
As a result, Trafalgar’s first community newspaper was born, consisting entirely of volunteers.
Its purpose was to collect articles that were Trafalgar-centric, that is, articles were exclusively from within Trafalgar.
Progressively this expanded to include local towns that were in the previous Narracan shire such as Yarragon, Willow Grove/ Hill End and Thorpdale plus other local districts.
Surveys undertaken by its committee of the Trafalgar community in 2003, 2007, 2013, and 2017 confirmed that the Trafalgar community wanted local news.
Traf News went into recess in early 2023 due to a number of issues mainly concerning lack of revenue from advertisements and lack of volunteers.
Traf District News
Our community newspaper resurrected in late 2023 under the new masthead, Traf District News.
The name was deliberate; to be a newspaper that was not to focus on Trafalgar, but to be more of a regional newspaper, getting articles from various parts of Gippsland including outside Baw Baw shire.
The purpose of this was to encourage advertising from a greater area.
Other than government or politician advertisements, no current advertisers come from outside Baw Baw shire, with more than half being from Trafalgar alone.
Future direction
A new committee was formed in early 2026, and seeks community involvement in deciding the future direction of this paper.
It asks Traf District News’ readers two questions through a survey, which is accessed via the QR code.
The survey will finish on 15 August after which no further responses can be received.
Each reader can only enter the survey once, although family and group members may each individually complete the survey.
Therefore, you will be asked to log into your, or create a, Google account.
Link to survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScw9wUwUwLyPzKJz9BXUUn3ciP1RQwzrZeKlbu4t-LIxckamg/viewform
