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"FILLING A LONG FELT NEED" was Mountain Scene’s first-ever headline on November 1, 1972.

Queenstowners had been starved of a local paper since the demise of the Lake Wakatip Mail in 1947.

The new free paper announced it intended to serve both visitors and locals, adding: "No longer will it be necessary to clutter up shop windows or rely on word of mouth to get your message across.

"So what was the news in Volume 1, Number 1?

The St John Ambulance Association »»

1973 - 1985

29 Feb 2008

Mountain Scene takes the plunge and changes from fortnightly to weekly publication. 1974 Mountain Scene Ltd’s first annual general meeting is held on March 1 at the now-defunct Treetops Restaurant in Sunshine Bay. Maiden accounts for the year ended October 31, 1973 show the public but unlisted company made a loss of $3199 from advertising revenue of $22,496 against costs of $25,670. There was no dividend. Founder chairman Barry »»

1986-1990

A senior board member of what is now Destination Queenstown, unhappy at a story, storms into the Mountain Scene office and threatens to punch a cub reporter. He leaves after a warning that police will be called if he doesn’t. Hostile takeover bid The board of the public but unlisted Mountain Scene Ltd is taken by surprise in October 1986 at a hostile takeover bid by Southern Equities Ltd. The Invercargill development and »»

1991-1992

Auckland’s Metro magazine publishes Queenstown – Amusement Arcade in Heaven, written by a former Mountain Scene editor. Several Queenstowners write to the magazine to complain and the article also sparks a war of (unpublished) words between Mountain Scene’s publisher, who was slagged in the magazine article, and Metro editor Warwick Roger. The Scene publisher tells Roger his magazine is a "drooping organ" and »»

1993-1995

Mountain Scene marks its coming of age with 12 months of 12 different community promotions costing $50,000 in cash and advertising. About $30,000 was raised for various good causes, over $12,000 of which went to a local nurse badly injured in a car accident – trustees bought her a $5000 motorised wheelchair and other funds went on special-needs therapy. »»

1996-2004

Mountain Scene invests in its first computerised publishing system. Until then, all news and advertising content was typeset and pages put together at a remote printery from typewritten or hand-written copy and layouts. (A new state-of-the-art publishing system was installed in 2004.) A courier pack containing a giant dead rat is delivered to Mountain Scene’s publisher. There is no clue about the sender, nor on the story which »»

2005

03 Mar 2008

In December, a long-running court case comes to an end with the publication of the following statement: Cooper Case Withdrawn A four-year-old defamation case brought by former Queenstown mayor Warren Cooper against Mountain Scene has been settled prior to its scheduled February 27 trial. »»

2006 At last - the big one...

03 Mar 2008

Team Scene: 'Mountain Scene' editor Garry Ferris (from left), his wife Kiri, Philip 'Scoop' Chandler and Ingrid and Richard Thomas, the general manager, shortly after receiving the 2006 Best NZ Community Newspaper of the Year honour at the Qantas

B est lil’ paper in the land ALWAYS the bridesmaid, now the bride. After being runner-up for the past four years, Mountain Scene is now officially New Zealand’s Best Community Newspaper. The title was bestowed on the Queenstown newsweekly at the 2006 Qantas Media Awards in Auckland in May. »»

2007 Branching out

03 Mar 2008

After years of success, the Mountain Scene team are spreading their winning formula across the South Island. A recently announced joint venture between Mountain Scene and Ashburton Guardian will see Scene Media launched in Dunedin. The glossy, weekly tabloid to be launched soon will be distributed to 45,000 homes, and will be 'more hard edged and editorially driven' than Allied Press's community Star newspaper or the daily ODT. A »»