Arthur Thomas Shakespeare (27 September 1897 – 11 October 1975) was an Australian journalist and newspaper editor, best known for founding the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...

's most widely circulated commercial newspaper, ''

The Canberra Times ''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times. History ''The Canberra Times'' was launched in ...

''. He was son of Thomas Shakespeare, founder of the Federal Capital Press of Australia.

Early life

Shakespeare was born in

Condobolin Condobolin is a town in the west of the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia, on the Lachlan River. At the , Condobolin had a population of 3,486. History Prior to European settlement, the area was inhabited by the Wiradjuri pe ...

and educated at Grafton and Fort Street Boys' High School, Sydney. In 1916 he commenced work at the ''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

'' and eventually obtained the position of sub-editor.

''The Canberra Times''

In 1926 Shakespeare founded ''

'', the Australian Capital Territory's second newspaper. it remains Canberra's widest-circulated commercial newspaper. Shakespeare continued to own the paper until 1964, when, facing pressure from

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...

's new paper ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

'', he chose to sell the paper to the Fairfax group.

Marriage

On 15 October 1927, Shakespeare married Marjorie Agnew Patten. Marjorie died in 1961. On 12 January 1963, Shakespeare married Heather Gladys Cameron (subsequently Heather Shakespeare), who at that time was secretary to the managing director of Federal Capital Press (Arthur's father, Thomas Shakespeare). The marriage occurred at St Ninian's Presbyterian Church. Heather Shakespeare died on 28 September 2008 at the age of 99.Graham Downie
''Canberra Gold Award winner dies aged 99''
''The Canberra Times'', 29 September 2008

Community work

Shakespeare served on the executive of more than 40 organisations.Jon Stanhope, MLA - Media Releases
''New ACT Honour Walk''
12 April 2005 As chairman of ''The Canberra Times'', he served as president of the Country Press Association, secretary and president of the Australian Provincial Press Association, and director of the Australian United Press Ltd. He also was a member of the Provincial Press Accreditation Bureau and the Commonwealth Press Union. He was a member of the

Australian Capital Territory Advisory Council The Australian Capital Territory Advisory Council was an elected body that operated from 1930 until 1974, when it was replaced by the Australian Capital Territory House of Assembly. The Council originally consisted of three elected members, being ...

from 1945 - 1955 (serving as chairman in 1953). Other community associations included the council of the Australian National University, the Canberra Chamber of Commerce, Rotary,

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

, the Eisteddfod Association and the Committee on Cultural Development.

Canberra Television Ltd

In 1957, Federal Capital Press Ltd founded Canberra Television Ltd, of which Arthur Shakespeare was chairman. The primary business of Canberra Television Ltd was to broadcast the television station CTC 7. The station was licensed to operate in 1960. It made its first test transmission on 23 May 1962 and commenced public transmission on 2 June 1962. It broadcast on VHF7 from a transmitter atop Black Mountain. , CTC 7 still broadcasts in the Canberra area under the branding of

Southern Cross Ten 10 Regional is an Australian television network owned by Southern Cross Austereo that is broadcast in Queensland, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Victoria and South Australia. The network is the primary affiliate of Network 10 ...

Death

Arthur Shakespeare died on 11 October 1975 and was buried in Canberra Cemetery.

Honours and commemoration

In April 2005, Shakespeare was named by ACT Chief Minister

Jon Stanhope Jonathan Donald Stanhope (born 29 April 1951) is a former Australian politician who was Labor Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory from 2001 to 2011. Stanhope represented the Ginninderra electorate in the ACT Legislative Assembl ...

as one of the 17 inaugural inductees in the ACT Honour Walk. This commemoration took the form of a plaque set into the pedestrian space in Ainslie Avenue,

Canberra City Civic is the city centre or central business district of Canberra. "Civic" is a common name for the district, but it is also called Civic Centre, City Centre, Canberra City and Canberra, and its official division name is ''City''. Canberra's Ci ...

, which bears the text: "Arthur Shakespeare. Founding editor of The Canberra Times, who helped develop a distinct vision for Canberra in its early years. Served on the executive of more than 40 organisations and the ACT Advisory Council."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shakespeare, Arthur 1897 births 1975 deaths People from Canberra The Canberra Times people Australian newspaper editors 20th-century Australian journalists The Sydney Morning Herald people