James Pearce founded the original Herald in February 1867, publishing weekly. It was pitched at a more working-class audience than its counterparts in Perth at the time, and featured verse, short stories and serials. Pearce was joined by two co-proprietors, William Beresford and James Elphinstone Roe, both of whom, like Pearce, were ex-convicts. The Herald supported social reform and opposed the convict system. Beresford wrote a weekly column, "Chips by a Sandalwood Cutter", which used a fictional character to challenge the morality of the social elite.
