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'The Melbourne Age newspaper dominated the newspaper stage in Australia from the 1870s to the end of the colonial period. In the 1880s its circulation was far in excess of any other daily throughout all British colonial possessions and its proprietor, the driven, talented Scotsman David Syme, was acknowledged as the leader of the Australian press. For the influence that he and his newspapers exercised, he became a legend in his lifetime and for several generations after his death in 1908.
'Drawing on family and business records as well as newly digitised nineteenth-century newspaper archives, this biography of a powerful man of many parts seeks to go behind the legend and round out the story of the life – primarily as press ‘baron’ but also as author and philosopher, financier, farmer, property developer and, not least, family man.' (Publication summary)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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[Review Essay] David Syme : Man of the Age
2016
single work
essay
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Colonial History , no. 18 2016; (p. 198-199.)'Elizabeth Morrison's biography of David Syme makes excellent use of limited historical sources to show us the man behind the Age in the nineteenth century. Never extrapolating too far, Morrison has written an engaging history that explores Syme's life before the Age, and how those experiences impacted the way he ran the newspaper. Syme's strict editorial control over the Age for over thirty years is his public legacy. His contribution to Victorian politics through the editorial stance of the paper, and his own direct intervention in promoting particular candidates, was extensive. He also made a significant contribution to the newspaper industry, undermining monopolies on telegraph news from overseas, challenging the dominance of the Argus, and experimenting with different publications to meet the needs and interests of the reading public. What Morrison has uncovered in this biography is the influence.' (Introduction)
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Review : David Syme : Man of The Age
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Historical Studies , vol. 46 no. 2 2015; (p. 331-332)
— Review of David Syme : Man of the Age 2014 single work biography -
Review : David Syme : Man of the Age
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Journal of Politics and History , vol. 61 no. 3 2015; (p. 458-459)
— Review of David Syme : Man of the Age 2014 single work biography -
Review : David Syme
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society , June vol. 101 no. 1 2015; (p. 101-102)
— Review of David Syme : Man of the Age 2014 single work biography -
[Review Essay] David Syme : Man of the Age
2015
single work
review
essay
— Appears in: Victorian Historical Journal , December vol. 86 no. 2 2015; (p. 395-397) 'As the plunging circulation of printed newspapers forces their publishers online in search of profits, the old-style newspaper baron looks increasingly like a figure from a distant past. The Age, once the money-factory on which David Syme’s newspaper fortune depended, now sells something over 100,000 print copies each weekday, around the same number as it did in 1900. If the Age was bought today by the same proportion of Melbourne’s population as in 1900, sales would approach a million copies a day. Things have changed. (Introduction)
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Influential Voice of Victoria's Golden Age
2014
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 6-7 September 2014; (p. 22)
— Review of David Syme : Man of the Age 2014 single work biography -
The Estimable Symes of Melbourne
2014
single work
review
— Appears in: Quadrant , September vol. 58 no. 9 2014; (p. 111-112)
— Review of David Syme : Man of the Age 2014 single work biography -
Indelible Ink : The Age of David Syme
2014
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , October no. 365 2014; (p. 15, 17)
— Review of David Syme : Man of the Age 2014 single work biography -
Elizabeth Morrison's Book is an Insight into David Syme, the Man Who Made the Age
2014
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 8 November 2014; The Age , 8 November 2014; The Canberra Times , 8 November 2014;
— Review of David Syme : Man of the Age 2014 single work biography -
Review : David Syme
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society , June vol. 101 no. 1 2015; (p. 101-102)
— Review of David Syme : Man of the Age 2014 single work biography -
[Review Essay] David Syme : Man of the Age
2015
single work
review
essay
— Appears in: Victorian Historical Journal , December vol. 86 no. 2 2015; (p. 395-397) 'As the plunging circulation of printed newspapers forces their publishers online in search of profits, the old-style newspaper baron looks increasingly like a figure from a distant past. The Age, once the money-factory on which David Syme’s newspaper fortune depended, now sells something over 100,000 print copies each weekday, around the same number as it did in 1900. If the Age was bought today by the same proportion of Melbourne’s population as in 1900, sales would approach a million copies a day. Things have changed. (Introduction) -
[Review Essay] David Syme : Man of the Age
2016
single work
essay
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Colonial History , no. 18 2016; (p. 198-199.)'Elizabeth Morrison's biography of David Syme makes excellent use of limited historical sources to show us the man behind the Age in the nineteenth century. Never extrapolating too far, Morrison has written an engaging history that explores Syme's life before the Age, and how those experiences impacted the way he ran the newspaper. Syme's strict editorial control over the Age for over thirty years is his public legacy. His contribution to Victorian politics through the editorial stance of the paper, and his own direct intervention in promoting particular candidates, was extensive. He also made a significant contribution to the newspaper industry, undermining monopolies on telegraph news from overseas, challenging the dominance of the Argus, and experimenting with different publications to meet the needs and interests of the reading public. What Morrison has uncovered in this biography is the influence.' (Introduction)
