1969 saw the birth of the publication under editor Martin Fabinyi. Together with Rod Boswell they invested in their own printing press, establishing their own Faboz Print and allowing the magazine to be free from censorship and separate from any machinations of the SRC of the time.

These early editions carry with them the theme of going against the establishment with rousing articles like those attacking conscription to the Vietnam War (at one point some early writers were actually arrested at an anti-war protest). Over the years, there were also plenty of opportunities in Empire Times to publish nude photos and comics, angry political rants, and copious amounts of sarcasm. There was a constant obsession with the legalisation of marijuana – a "smoke-in" was advertised by ET, in which students Editors, 2019 sat around smoking weed to combat the establishment.

Due to the Howard governments change to compulsory student unionism, Empire Times was briefly out of business between 2007 and 2012, and replaced with a publication called The Libertine. But once ET returned, this second little magazine vanished into the nothingness from whence it came.