Unpapering the cracks: sugar, slavery and the Sydney Morning Herald
Retrieved on:
Monday, April 17, 2023
Colonial Sugar Refining Company, The Sydney Morning Herald, BHP, University of New South Wales Press, Man, Utah-Idaho Sugar Company, Industry, Comment, White Australia policy, Crook, UNSW, Friends, Racism, Politics, Policy, Ted Baillieu, Australian Financial Review, Woman, Tropical climate, Age, Jenna Price, Scott Trust Limited, CSR, Government, Ship, Australian Human Rights Commission, The, Fairfax Media, Thug, The Guardian, Island, Mining, Asbestos, Mortality, Federation, Growth, Symes, Family, Sea Islands, Television, Textile, Department store, Shipbuilding, Whaling, Airline, Guardian, List of islands in the Pacific Ocean, New South
In 1841, John Fairfax (1804-1877) became the first of five generations of Fairfax family owners of the Sydney Morning Herald, which had been founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald.
Key Points:
- In 1841, John Fairfax (1804-1877) became the first of five generations of Fairfax family owners of the Sydney Morning Herald, which had been founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald.
- CSR was founded in Sydney in 1855 by Edward Knox, but it descended from the Australasian Sugar Company, established in 1842.
- Although the Sydney Morning Herald was normally a strong supporter of the White Australia Policy, the paper wanted it suspended in the case of the cane fields.
- The Fairfaxes controlled the Sydney Morning Herald for 149 years, until 1990 when a misguided takeover action mounted by young Warwick Fairfax ended in financial disaster.
- In 1935, the Sydney Morning Herald conceded that “blackbirding” – a practice it had implicitly supported in the 1890s and early 1900s – was actually a “type of slavery”.
- Comment was sought from the editor of the Sydney Morning Herald for this article but no reply was provided at the time of writing.