Printing Press Technology
The first printing press brought to Australia came aboard the very first convict ships sent to establish a colony there in 1787, however it was essentially untouched until George Hughes began operating it in 1794. It was a wooden hand press, which at the time was the only option and the design of which had remain unchanged for almost 400 years since the Gutenberg press. The innovation of the Gutenberg press is the movable type, which can be ajdusted to many conformations and allow the printer to easily prepare a new page. This model revolutionized the world of literature of the centuries of its dominance, but nonetheless it was still an inefficient model. Many levers had to be pulled and elements reset to achieve one press, and they could in fact only print half a sheet at a time because the force of the press was limited by the operators strength (Moran).
In the late 18th century, a new type of press called an iron press became popular. With their sturdier frame they were much less prone to damage or malfunction, and they also used added weights to increase the power of the press. In about the year 1800, Lord Charles Stanhope designed the first ever fully-metal printing press, with a sufficiently sturdy frame for extreme pressure and a system of compounded levers used to multiply the power generated (Moran). In 1810, George Howe was able to purchase a Stanhope press to replace the wooden press, and continued to use this press for the duration of his life and the life of the Sydney Gazette (Morrison).