Keith Murdoch
Colony of Victoria, Australia | |
---|---|
Died | 4 October 1952 Langwarrin, Victoria, Australia | (aged 67)
Nationality | Australian |
Education | London School of Economics |
Occupation | Journalist |
Spouse | |
Children | 4, including Rupert |
Parent(s) | Patrick John Murdoch Annie Brown |
Relatives | Prudence Murdoch (granddaughter) Elisabeth Murdoch (granddaughter) Lachlan Murdoch (grandson) James Murdoch (grandson) Ivon Murdoch (brother) Walter Murdoch (uncle) Catherine King (cousin) |
Sir Keith Arthur Murdoch (12 August 1885 – 4 October 1952) was an Australian journalist and newspaper proprietor who was the founder of the Murdoch media empire. He amassed significant media holdings in Australia which after his death were expanded globally by his son Rupert.
Murdoch was born in
In 1921, Murdoch returned to Melbourne as chief editor of
Outside of his business activities Murdoch was an art collector, serving as chairman of the
Early life
Murdoch was born in
The family moved from West Melbourne to the affluent suburb of Camberwell in 1887.[2] Keith was educated at his uncle Walter's short-lived school, then at Camberwell Grammar School, where he became dux in 1903, despite extreme shyness and stammering. He decided not to go straight to university but to try a career in journalism, so family friend David Syme of The Age agreed to employ him as district correspondent for nearby Malvern. Over the next four years, he managed to create a significant increase in The Age's local circulation, to earn promotion, and to save enough money for a ticket to England, where he hoped to gain further experience and find ways to manage his stammer.[citation needed]
Education and career
From 1908 to 1909, in London, he took speech therapy with
First World War
In 1912, he became Melbourne political correspondent for
Murdoch visited
The conceit and self complacency of the red feather men are equaled only by their incapacity. Along the line of communications, especially at Moudros, are countless high officers and conceited young cubs who are plainly only playing at war. ...appointments to the general staff are made from motives of friendship and social influence.
— Murdoch
After sending the letter to Australia, he supplied two copies to the British Munitions Minister
In 1917, while visiting the Western Front as an unofficial war correspondent, Murdoch attempted to conduct negotiations with Field Marshal Douglas Haig in support of the Australian government's policy of the Australian Imperial Force (A.I.F.) divisions to be brought together into a united Australian Corps.[7] Although Murdoch pushed for the appointment of Major General Brudenell White as the new corps commander while denigrating Major General John Monash (who was of Jewish German ancestry), the latter was given command when the Australian Corps was formed in 1918.[8] Along with official war correspondent Charles Bean, Murdoch continued to lobby for Monash's demotion by appealing directly to Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes and misleading him into the belief that the A.I.F.'s senior officers were strongly opposed to Monash.[7] When Hughes visited the front just before the Battle of Hamel intending to replace Monash, he first consulted the same senior officers and discovered that their support for their commander was strongly positive and that Monash's powers of planning and execution were excellent.[9] The subsequent outcome of the Hamel assault closed the question of Monash's suitability but later in the same year Murdoch attempted again to convince Hughes that Monash should not control the repatriation of Australian troops.[7]
Melbourne Herald
Murdoch remained in London, expanding the cable service, writing influential journalism—and helping his friend Billy Hughes on visits to England—until he was offered the post of chief editor at the Melbourne Herald, which he took in January 1921. Arranging for the paper's general manager to be demoted, he began applying Lord Northcliffe's principles, with frequent advice from Northcliffe himself. As he had in London, he focused on political controversy, but he also made the Herald influential in other ways, through such devices as improved arts coverage, and celebrity contributions. When Hugh Denison, proprietor of the Sydney Sun, tried to break into the Melbourne market with the Sun News-Pictorial in 1922, Murdoch fought a long campaign which eventually resulted in the Herald, its own circulation up by 50%, taking over the new tabloid in 1925. He acquired the nickname "Lord Southcliffe" and in 1928 became managing director of the company, by which time the Sun was on its way to becoming Australia's highest-selling newspaper.
In 1927 he saw a photograph of an attractive 18-year-old
From 1926 onward, he had led a campaign to take over newspapers elsewhere in Australia, with varying success. In Adelaide, for example, the Herald publisher took over the feeble
1930s and after
In the
Returning to the newspapers (from which he had agreed to distance himself while serving the Government) he spent the rest of the war encouraging a patriotic spirit, and attacking the Labor Prime Minister, John Curtin (who led a minority government in 1941, and was re-elected with a dramatic majority in 1943). In 1942 he became chairman of the Herald group, and in 1944, maintaining his connection with the art world, he established the Herald Chair of Fine Arts at the University of Melbourne. The following year he became chairman of the trustees of the National Gallery of Victoria. Becoming increasingly ill with cancer, he retired from most of his work except the Herald in 1949, and made a deal with the Herald board to buy control of the Adelaide newspapers, in return for first option in any future sale of his Brisbane newspaper shares.
Death and legacy
Murdoch died at the family property, Cruden Farm,
In popular culture
- In the 1985 mini series ANZACS, Murdoch was portrayed by Australian actor David Bradshaw.
- In 2015 mini series Gallipoli, Murdoch was portrayed by Australian actor Damon Gameau.
- In the 2015 television docudrama Australia: The Story of Us, he was portrayed by Australian actor Matt Boesenberg.
- In the 2015 television mini series Deadline Gallipoli, made for the Foxtel network, he was portrayed by Australian actor Ewen Leslie.
- In the 2015 television docudrama Gallipoli: When Murdoch Went to War, Murdoch was portrayed by actor Simon Harrison.
See also
- The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd
- The Herald (Melbourne)
- The Sun News-Pictorial
Principal sources
General
- Australian Dictionary of Biography Murdoch, Sir Keith Arthur (1885–1952) published by Australian National University, ISSN 1833-7538
- Tom D C Roberts Before Rupert: Keith Murdoch and the Birth of a Dynasty University of Queensland Press, 2015, ISBN 9780702253782
Early life and First World War
- Patriots Three ABC Australia documentary script
- ISBN 1-74051-364-9.
Additional references
- ^ "Ancestry of Rupert Murdoch". Wargs.com. Retrieved 15 July 2011.
- ISSN 1833-7538
- ^ The Saturday Paper, 28 Nov-4 Dec 2015, review of Tom D.C. Roberts, Before Rupert. Retrieved 9 September 2019
- Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. pp. 100–103. Archived from the originalon 12 March 2011.
- ^ "War, journalism and the shaping of the twentieth century: the life and times of Henry W. Nevinson", par Angela V. John, page
- ^ Catalogue record Lloyd George papers National Archives, Kew
- ^ a b c Australian Dictionary of Biography Murdoch, Sir Keith Arthur (1885–1952) Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University
- ^ Perry (2004), p. xiii
- ^ Perry 2004, p. 349.
- ^ Teresa Murphy "Happy day for a Dame" Archived 6 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine Frankston Standard Leader 13 February 2008
- ^ The Independent, "Keith Murdoch: A new book examines Rupert Murdoch's father, Gallipoli, and the birth of the media dynasty", 20 October 2015. Retrieved 7 October 2017
- ^ London Gazette, 14 July 1933
- ^ Time "Censorship Down Under" 30 December 1940
- ^ Edward Louis Vickery Telling Australia's story to the world: The Department of Information 1939–1950 PhD thesis, Australian National University (Aug 2003)
- ^ The Argus Probate report Melbourne, 12 December 1952
- ^ "Advertiser, AdelaideNow win awards". adelaidenow. 29 October 2010. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
- ^ Krusche, Derrick (8 November 2022). "Top honours for Telegraph journalists". dailytelegraph. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
- ^ "News Corp Australia's best of the best for 2018 announced at the News Awards". NewsCorp Australia. 16 August 2018. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
External links
- Family tree[usurped]
- National Library of Australia
- Keith Murdoch Collection on Research Data Australia
- File 40: Herald & Weekly Times Limited, 1934-1953, these manuscript documents originated in the offices of Associated Newspapers. It contains memos and correspondence between Associated and the HWT -Sir John Butters-Sir Hugh Denison - Sir Keith Murdoch on a wide range of matters relevant to both companies, State Library of New South Wales MLMSS 9894/Box 1230.
- File 214: Herald and Weekly Times. Murdoch, Fink etc, 1931-1936, correspondence between Keith Murdoch, and Thorold Fink with Chairman of Directors of Associated Newspapers on different issues, State Library of New South Wales MLMSS 9894/Box 933.