A globetrotter and internationalist, Sir Keith Murdoch passed through Darwin on several occasions over the decades. In this London photograph taken in July 1921 he is the one with golf clubs, about
to return to Australia to take over
editorial control of the Melbourne
Herald. He is in august and powerful company. On his left is media magnate Lord Northcliffe
and the Australian PM, Billy
Hughes . On his right ,Tom Marlowe, editor Daily Mail , and Wickham Steed , editor The Times (which Rupert now owns). Standing behind Murdoch are Sir Ross
and Sir Keith Smith, pioneer Australian
airmen knighted in 1919 for the first
historic England-Australia flight which landed in Darwin .
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Impressed by the design of
the Hotel Darwin , above , officially
opened by Mrs Hilda Abbott, wife of the Administrator, in May 1940, it
becoming known as the Raffles of Darwin and the Grand Old Duchess, until pulled down in 1999, Sir Keith engaged its Sydney architects, Stephenson and Turner, to design a house for the Melbourne Herald
on the Esplanade in Darwin .
Built on the ground , the L- shaped
building had a six inch thick concrete floor , was constructed of
concrete blocks, with
649 louvres , making it a cool
house in which to live. Reporter Douglas Lockwood and wife Ruth took up residence there in 1941 . Mrs Lockwood was evacuated south before the bombing and her husband was resident the day of the first attack. They resumed residence in Darwin after the war , the photo below , supplied by journalist Kim Lockwood , is an interior view in the 1950s. A typewriter is visible on the far left desk .
By Peter Simon
Mrs Lockwood knew
young Rupert Murdoch when he wore knickerbockers. Rupert, she said, more or
less “lived ” in the house
when in town and stayed there when
he passed through in his
Oxford days .
Sir Keith is shown , right , with Rupert in London in 1936 before he set off for Germany and on his return warned about the massive military build up there . While in New York in March 194l he spoke to the Press about Japan’s expansionist policy and urged America to make some strong display of power in the Pacific ; this was before the attack on Pearl Harbour . Flying back from London ,where he had pressed forDominion representation on the Supreme British Council, he was also reported in the Brisbane Courier Mail of January 16, 1942 , as saying he did not expect large scale Japanese invasion of Australia , but it was likely Darwin could be bombed, and we must be prepared . Soon after, in the Melbourne Argus, he commented that Australia's war preparedness contrasted with conditions in other parts of the world . In Britain life was austere and hard , shopping was discouraged and he had not seen any drunkenness. In view of a likely attack by Japan, he believed Darwin should be blacked out and other cities be made ready for black-outs, to be enforced at short notice. Darwin , not prepared, was attacked on February 19 , resulting in a high death toll and massive destruction of ships and aircraft . Wearing a thick coat and carrying an umbrella , Sir Keith was photographed back in Australia after a "28,000 miles tour " in 1944. During the war , the Murdoch mansion , Heathfield , was handed over to a top American military man , Lieutenant General George H. Brett, US Air Force . [ After the war it was used by the Salvation Army, then provided accommodation for night nurses of the Royal Children’s Hospital. In 1958 it was sold and the mansion demolished.]
Sir Keith arrived in Darwin by air in May 1946 and had breakfast and a bath at the Residency, official home of Administrator Abbott and wife, a regal couple.
FIRST MEETING WITH RUPERT MURDOCH
Bowditch was not sure
how he first met Rupert Murdoch, named Keith Rupert, but called by the second name to differentiate the two.
The initial encounter could have been when he
(Bowditch ) was running the Centralian Advocate
in Alice Springs . He seemed to recall meeting Murdoch who was
then in his early twenties .. when he would not have been long in charge of the Adelaide News, his father dying in his sleep in 1952 at the age of 66. Journalist Alan Wauchope said he thought Rupert
Murdoch came to Alice with the prominent English
journalist and Punch editor , Malcolm
Muggeridge . Bowditch remembered going to Adelaide and being invited home by Murdoch for meals.
Whenever the first meeting took place , he became very aware of
Murdoch when he came to Darwin
and looked over the
NT News in the old Tin Bank building , some clerical staff receiving dirt money because of the poor conditions. Murdoch, he recalled ,
had laughed at the antiquated set up and asked him why he put up
with such conditions. In those
early days Murdoch
had spoken about wanting to
acquire a chain of country newspapers . Knowing the paper was really secretly owned by Swan Brewery , Murdoch eventually told Bowditch
he wanted to buy the
paper.
Bowditch informed Eric White , the early Sydney PR guru who had a major say in the running of the News . White's response was to
tell Murdoch it was not for sale. Bowditch suspected that White wanted to maintain
close contact with the brewery
for other business reasons.
It could also have been a ploy to force up the price of the paper .
When informed the paper was not for sale , Murdoch took
quick and decisive action . He
went to the NT Administrator
“Cautious” Clarrie Archer
and , according to Bowditch , “conned ” him into
announcing Murdoch and the
Adelaide News would be starting a new newspaper in Darwin .
The NT News ran a small
report about Murdoch’s proposal which quoted him as saying
he planned to print three editions a week . At the time the NT News was still a bi-weekly . It was pointed out in the paper that
Murdoch did not
have a building in Darwin in which to launch the venture .
The tactical move by Murdoch
had the desired response. Within
48 hours , Swan Brewery, not wanting to be left holding a paper which would
fold when faced with strong competition, “ panicked ” and agreed to sell the NT News
to Murdoch for 20,000 pounds ($40,000) , the
same amount the brewery had paid
for the publication. The deal also gave Murdoch
control of the
struggling Mount Isa
Mail in Queensland . At the time
the Darwin negotiations were underway
it was announced that Murdoch had bought
the Sydney daily , The
Mirror . Within a short time
Murdoch’s various publications
were being produced at the rate of
four million copies a week.
Once Murdoch had possession
of
the NT paper
he arranged for better
equipment to be installed. A
Cossar flatbed rotary
printing press capable of
printing and folding
a 24 page tabloid at the
rate of 3200 copies an hour
was shipped up from Sydney. An electronic
engraving machine for making
plastic blocks enhanced the pictorial
content of the paper . A Ludlow
type-setting machine for headings was
also provided . NEXT : Speedy Murdoch arrives in town.
