Abstract

The early years of the Australian Financial Review

On 16 August 1951 , 120 years after the launch of its flagship publication the Sydney Morning Herald, John Fairfax Limited launched the Australian Financial Review . From its modest beginning as a specialist weekly publication for stock market investors, the newspaper quickly grew into Australia¹s first national daily newspaper with a broad agenda and rapidly expanding circulation.

This paper traces the first twenty years of the AFR . The conference theme of reaching new audiences is explored by discussing both the efforts of the newspaper to establish itself and the personalities who helped build its reputation for quality journalism. It also considers the newspaper's place within the Fairfax organisation and the wider economic and political forces that shaped its early years.

The paper argues that the AFR was both an agent and beneficiary of the economic prosperity of the 1950s and 60s. Through a combination of commercial and editorial acumen it not only established itself as a viable enterprise alongside its better-known stable mate, the Sydney Morning Herald , but also became a powerful voice in post-war Australia .

Jennifer Kitchener
University of Canberra