In the 1890s meat was said to cost four shillings each week, an average suit would set you back two pounds and rates and taxes were usually more than 28 pounds a year.
Most importantly, on June 15 of 1892, the North Queensland Register officially hit news stands - 130 years ago.
Before it was the North Queensland Register, the Charters Towers-based paper was known as the Northern Mining Register, which began in March 4, 1891.
It was published on a Wednesday back then with "well-known mining scientists" engaged to supply columns while steps had been taken to appoint "reliable correspondents in all centres of population in the north" to report on mining and pastoral topics.
"No effort or expense will be spared to make the Register a thoroughly reliable source of information and, we trust that the public will recognise the efforts made to place such a paper within their reach by subscribing to it," a letter to readers said.
"In politics the Register will take an independent course, and it will always advocate what it deems best for the community."
While it later went on to incorporate the North Queensland Herald too, that message to readers still rings true today.
We may not have correspondents in every northern town, but our team of journalists have a passion for this masthead that stretches to the corners of the state.
Places and faces are the things that drive our paper today.
From the bush poetry gathering in Mt Coolon, to the Longreach Show, the Mareeba cattle sale, bull sales in The Towers, the Croydon Poddy Dodgers event, Julia Creek's Dirt and Dust Festival, the Mount Isa Rodeo and every other dog fight or school sports day in between - if it happened north of Rockhampton it was fit to print.
Add to this the character pieces, often stumbled upon while in a location for another purpose, and the Register really is a must-read.
The media landscape has changed dramatically over the last 130 years.
Nowadays the newsroom is a lot more remote; a laptop and a camera is all you need to produce the scoop of the week that can be online in a matter of seconds and travel to a global readership minutes later.
Editors no longer delegate production of the newspaper to typesetters, stereotypes and engravers.
Instead, together with our journos, we all work as a team to transform these pages from a blank canvas into what will one day be a historical record of years gone by.
Things cost a little bit more now too but the Register is proof that a newspaper dedicated to the challenges, triumphs and milestones of North Queensland is just as valuable now as it was in the 1890s.
Enjoy a special 12-page birthday feature out this Thursday and take the time to look back at some of the big moments of the north, as reported in the Register.
We can't wait to see what stories we'll share in the years to come.