Today The Southland Times is 150 years old.

On November 12, 1862, the first edition of what was then The Invercargill Times was laboriously printed off on a hand press in a crude shed on the corner of Tay and Kelvin streets in Invercargill, and we have been reporting on the events of the region ever since.

Well, almost ever since - the Times soon moved to more-substantial offices on a site between a saloon and a kerosene and lamp store, and within months had been burnt down, in the process destroying the only existing copies of that first edition.

So today, as part of a special souvenir section in the print edition of Times, we have reproduced the second edition; it is a little tattered but it does convey the flavour of what most interested the settlers of what was then little more than a crude village on the edge of the bush.

We have grown a lot since then, constantly evolving along with our community, and we will continue to do so to meet the changing needs of our readers, whether in our print edition or here on our website.

We have been celebrating our longevity during the past few days and because the south is such a close-knit community, today's souvenir section includes a photographic record of some of the past and present Times staffers at those events that we hope readers will find of interest.

After all, the first 150 years of The Southland Times is as much about our readers and our communities as it is about us.

We have also launched online a special project highlighting just a small selection of the stories we have covered over the years: 150 stories in 150 days.

We've been your voice for 150 years and during the next 150 days, we will share with you some of stories that you've woken up to.  The joy, the tears, the celebrations - we've been there.

Some events may bring back memories. If so, email news@stl.co.nz.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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