became chairman until his death on 14 February 1972. This was not the last family connection with the company, however, Edwin Hollingworth, husband of Mary Irwin, daughter of W.J.B. Irwin, became the company's business manager on 1 January 1946 and the managing director in 1962. Hollingworth was appointed to the PNQ board in 1962 acting on behalf of the Irwins. His son, Robert Paul, assumed managerial control in 1979. Robert Paul was the third and final chief executive of PNQ and was the fourth generation of Irwins to be involved. The Manning family The Manning family was active in Gympie, Gladstone, and Mackay. William Joseph "W.J." Manning (1864–1943) was born in Eden, Twofold Bay, New South Wales. His parents relocated to Brisbane when he was three but soon moved to Gympie following the gold rush. Manning left school two months before his 14th birthday. At the behest of his parents, he reluctantly started a printing apprenticeship at the Gympie Times on 1 April 1878. By the age of 21, Manning had completed his apprenticeship and moved to Brisbane to start work on Figaro, a ‘bright glossy weekly.’ Manning married Charlotte Emma Black in 1888 and in 1889, they were expecting their first child. In the same year, Manning successfully applied for the role of manager for The Observer (Gladstone). After only one year as manager, William Manning purchased the remaining interests from William Peel Mellefont's widow and brother to become proprietor and editor of The Observer (Gladstone). He held this role for over 20 years. W.J.'s son, Henry John ("Jack") Manning, was born in Gladstone on 6 August 1889. Jack's eventual involvement in the newspaper trade was to span 70 years. W.J. Manning was an influential member of the Gladstone community. He was Mayor in 1897, 1898 and 1901. In 1910, Manning visited Mackay to purchase equipment for the Port Curtis Dairy Factory, just one of the many organisations in which he held the chairman's position. During his time in Mackay, he noticed the office of the Daily Mercury and enquired whether the newspaper was for sale. Manning purchased 2200 shares from A.F. Williams, with Williams resigning on 24 April 1910. Manning took over as managing editor selling the profitable The Observer (Gladstone) to John Henry Kessell. He moved his family to Mackay to run the struggling Daily Mercury. Less than one year after his appointment as managing editor of