HE’S the bibliophile with a complete collection of the Moreton Border News including the one in your hands right now.

Dave Pahlke said he kept the first few issues because he’d advertised inside them.

When the first edition was published, the former Moreton Shire councillor had been elected to the Ipswich City Council after the two local authorities were amalgamated.

The newspaper’s local reach was his target audience and advertising in it made sense.

“At first I kept the newspapers because I wanted a record of the advertisements I was running inside them,” he said.

“In the old days people referred to the paper as the Pahlke news because I was in it every edition.

“It was the only way to get a message out to my division because everyone read the Moreton Border News.

“The first issue is dated March 21, 1997.”

The collection takes up space at his Rosewood home.

He’s looked after his copies and they’re stored neatly and in chronological order.

Dave had long retired when a serious car accident curbed activities like meeting at coffee shops with friends and attending events.

Home bound while recuperating gave him time to go through his collection.

“I’ve just spent many hours going through my base copies of the MB news from the very first edition to now, making sure I have the number of editions correct,” he said last week.

“My collection includes souvenir editions from the 100th to the 1,000th edition on July 3, 2020.

“The 1,250th edition will come out on July 11, this year.”

While love for his favourite masthead has much to do with his pride in the community, he’s been an important link between journalists and news happening in the community.

There are a few editions to go before the 1,250th, but luckily there’s plenty of space on his shelves for more.