Table Tops

{{Short description|Former newspaper in Australia}}

{{other uses|Tabletop (disambiguation)}}

{{Use Australian English|date=June 2020}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}

{{italic title}}File:Table Tops.jpg

Table Tops was a free daily newspaper produced for Australian Army personnel, published in the Atherton Tableland Training Area in Queensland, Australia,{{cite web| title= Provincial publishing proliferated in Australia's colonial era| publisher= PANPA| url= https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/eserv/UQ:9460/rk_panpa_0705.pdf| accessdate= 2008-12-04| archive-date= 30 September 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110930074157/https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/eserv/UQ:9460/rk_panpa_0705.pdf| url-status= live}} with regional editions produced abroad for serving personnel.

Table Tops was produced by the staff of the AIF News, who were part of the First Australian Army Printing and Press Unit.Caption on Australian War Memorial photograph 052478 The newspaper was produced seven days a week: weekday and Saturday editions were four pages long while Sunday editions were eight pages. The pages were demy quarto size. Occasional special editions were produced in addition to the daily editions.Caption on Australian War Memorial photograph 052471 It contained news on the progress of the war, as well as home news such as current events in Australia and sport results.

It was published in Atherton during the Second World War, where it was typeset on Linotype machinesCaption on Australian War Memorial photograph 052475 and then printed on an old Wharfedale printing press on overnight print runs so that the paper was ready to be sent to units for breakfast.Caption on Australian War Memorial photograph 052476 During the Second World War, the editor of Table Tops was Major C. H. Cheong.Caption on Australian War Memorial photograph 052481

Regional editions were produced abroad for serving personnel. These were produced in camps, with mobile generators and truck-mounted printing equipment.Caption on Australian War Memorial photograph 119998 News was collected by listening to short-wave radio broadcasts from India, Hawaii, the BBC and Australia.Caption on Australian War Memorial photograph 124152 These regional editions were produced at places such as Morotai in the Maluku Islands, and in Balikpapan and Brunei in Borneo.