Richard Boyer (broadcaster)

Sir Richard Boyer
Sir Richard Boyer
Born	24 August 1891; chairman
Spouse	Eleanor Muriel (née Underwood)

Sir Richard James Fildes (Dick) Boyer,

chief.^[1] From 1945 until his death he served as chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Commission and the annual Boyer Lectures on Radio National

are named in his honour.

Early life, student career and military service

Boyer was born at

Wesleyan minister. He attended Wolaroi College, Orange, and Newington College (1901–1909).^[2] At the University of Sydney he graduated BA in 1913 and MA Hons in 1915. Boyer joined the Methodist ministry and in 1914 and 1915 was a probationer in the Canberra

circuit.

Boyer enlisted in the Australian Army Australian Imperial Force on 2 September 1915 having previously served in the Sydney University Regiment. He was a member of the 24th reinforcements for the 1st Battalion serving on the Gallipoli Peninsula from 16 September 1915. He was commissioned holding the rank of Lieutenant, and gassed on 17 September 1917. Boyer passed through a number of hospitals and convalescent units before returning to Australia on 31 August 1918.

Grazing career

Instead of returning to the ministry, Boyer became a

Rotary Club's international service committee and to the Good Neighbour Council.^[3]

Broadcasting career

In 1940 Boyer was appointed a member of the

Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire and declined the post of high commissioner to Canada. The following year he initiated the annual lectures that were later to bear his name. He died at Wahroonga

and was survived by his wife, daughter and son.

Legacy

Boyer stood at the center of Australia's media world, and took the lead in the subtle cultural war underway. He fought the pull of American popular culture, with its widespread popularity and the risk, he felt, of degrading the public taste. He favoured the supposedly superior traditional culture of the mother country, which appealed to upscale audiences that were representative of the nation's elite. As chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Commission, Boyer fought against commercialism because he feared it would lead to American dominance. He held up the BBC model of a publicly owned and operated broadcasting commission as being able to maintain Australia's British heritage.[4]

References

^ Sir Richard James Fildes (1891–1961) Australian Dictionary of Biography Retrieved 14 September 2023.
^ Newington College Register of Past Students 1863–1998 (Syd, 1999) pp19
^ ADB Richard James Fildes Boyer Retrieved 14 September 2023.
^ Simon J. Potter, "‘INVASION BY THE MONSTER’ Transnational influences on the establishment of ABC Television, 1945–1956." Media History (2011) 17#3 pp: 253–271.

Media offices
Preceded by William James Cleary	Chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Commission 1945–1961	Succeeded by Sir James Darling

[1] Sir Richard James Fildes (1891–1961) Australian Dictionary of Biography Retrieved 14 September 2023.

[2] Newington College Register of Past Students 1863–1998 (Syd, 1999) pp19

[3] ADB Richard James Fildes Boyer Retrieved 14 September 2023.

[4] Simon J. Potter, "‘INVASION BY THE MONSTER’ Transnational influences on the establishment of ABC Television, 1945–1956." Media History (2011) 17#3 pp: 253–271.

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