When Mr Barilaro first moved to Queanbeyan in 1968 with his wife Anna-Maria to start a new life in Australia, he turned to the town's local paper to help improve his English.

"To be honest with you, I was no more than three weeks in Australia and I started buying The Queanbeyan Age, because my English was not well, and The Queanbeyan Age helped me to learn the English language," he said.

"And within six months I was involved with the inter Monaro soccer club, and I started putting stuff in the newspaper myself."

Mr Barilaro had come to Queanbeyan from his native Italy via a 13-year stopover in Germany. As a qualified carpenter/joiner, he found his skills in high-demand in the developing town and soon had his own business, Little Joinery, which grew to employ 75 people at its factory on Gilmore Road. He also became heavily involved with the local community through a range of community groups, including the Queanbeyan Hospital Auxiliary and the Inter Monaro Football Club, and was a major driving force in the annual La Campana picnic day, which has become the Queanbeyan Italian Festival.

That connection with the town's people kept him glued to The Queanbeyan Age each week to read the latest community news. And he said he still misses the days when The Age would be delivered three times a week.

"When we were getting The Queanbeyan Age three times a week, I was a very happy man because I never got The Canberra Times. Now I have to get The Canberra Times. I was really upset when they changed it to one time a week, because The Queanbeyan Age helped a lot of new Australians when they were advertising to sell their house and a lot of things like that."

Mr Barilaro's son, John Barilaro, is the local member for the town, representing Queanbeyan and the Monaro in the NSW Government. Now the state's small business minister, John Barilaro said his first exposure to the world of small business came from delivering The Queanbeyan Age when he was 13. And in those days, it was a good small business training ground, with paper boys having to carry short-term debts to pay The Queanbeyan Age for the copies of the papers they'd sold while awaiting the payment of their invoices from customers.

"Me and my brother [Tony] had a round delivering The Queanbeyan Age. It was my first taste of small business," he said. And John Barilaro said many of his elderly constituents in the Monaro were just like his father in that they always wanted more news, and they wanted it to be local.

"I think you find with the older generation, they really like the local stories- not the Canberra stories, not the national stories. I know for Dad, it's all about the local stuff," he said.

Meanwhile, Domenic, 74, still looks forward to getting the paper delivered each week. He said he'd keep reading local news in The Queanbeyan Age for as long as he could get it, although he's keen for more local news.

"I've always liked The Queanbeyan Age, but to be honest, today it's changed a lot. Before when the Woods' family had the paper, there was a lot of things about the [surrounding] Queanbeyan area. Now there's almost nothing about the surrounding area, like Braidwood, the Snowy Mountains, things like that.

"I've been involved with these [community] groups for many years, and so that's why I read The Queanbeyan Age, to see something about Queanbeyan. When the Woods family were running it, I was in there nearly every second week!

"That's what I'd like to see more. Like when Mr [former Queanbeyan Age owner Jim] Woods was in hospital because he was sick. I was not aware that Mr Woods was in hospital, and he was one of the top men in Queanbeyan. All the Woods family- like [former Queanbeyan Age editor] Trudy [Taylor], the one who is in Council now, for me she had very big respect all the time.

"And every time I'd go there to The Queanbeyan Age she'd say 'come in Domenic, sit down.' Like family, you know?"