The Argus was a morning daily newspaper in Melbourne established in 1846 and closed in 1957. Widely known as a conservatism newspaper for most of its history, it adopted a leftism leaning approach from 1949 when it was acquired by the London based Daily Mirror newspaper group. The main competitor over the life of the newspaper was the David Syme s more liberal minded The Age newspaper.

During the Depression in 1933 it launched the Melbourne Evening Star in competition with the Sun newspaper of The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd, but was forced to close the venture in 1936.

In 1949 the paper was acquired by the Daily Mirror . The paper had interests in radio and in 1956, the new medium of television broadcasting, being part of the consortium General Telecasters Victoria (GTV), and the GTV-9 television station. In 1957 the paper was sold to the Herald and Weekly Times group, under the management of Chief Executive Keith Murdoch, who utilised the printing presses, but closed the Argus and sold off the broadcasting interests. GTV-9 was acquired by Sir Arthur Warner s Electronic Industries, then by UK manufacturer Pye in 1960, and in 1961 by Frank Packer s Australian Consolidated Press to form the Nine Network.

The Argus building, constructed in 1926 on the corner of La Trobe Street, Melbourne and Elizabeth Street, Melbournes, is classified by the National Trust and is on the Victorian Heritage Register of Heritage Victoria. In 2004 La Trobe University bought the site with the intention to redevelop and house legal and business schools in the building, as well as a ground floor shopping precinct.

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