Sir Keith Murdoch died at Cruden Farm in the night of 4-5 October 1952. Much of his estate, valued at £410,004,[8] was disposed of to pay off mortgages, death duties etc. (the Herald exercised its option to buy the Brisbane newspaper shares), but his family was still left with full control of News Limited, proprietors of the Adelaide News
..and from Australian biography dictionary:
Keith grew up in semi-rural Camberwell in the stringent economy of a clergyman's large family. He was afflicted with a humiliating stammer which made school a torture; his speech would collapse under stress, he sometimes could not even buy a railway ticket without scribbling a note. Extreme shyness, difficulty in making friends and possibly unusually determined ambition were the consequences. He attended in turn Camberwell State School, a small local one and his uncle (Sir) Walter Murdoch's school and, in 1901-03, Camberwell Grammar of which he was dux. He taught Bible class and Sunday school at his father's church. Golf, a family recreation, was his only sporting skill.
His parents were ambitious for him and when Keith determined to take up journalism his father was disappointed that he had no interest in going to university. However, he introduced him to his friend David Syme who, impressed by the boy's shorthand skill, employed him at 1½d a line as district correspondent for Malvern, a middle-class suburb unsympathetic to the Age. For four years, working very long hours, Murdoch was highly successful in working up local news and increasing circulation in the area, and graduated to staff reporting assignments. He had saved £500 when in April 1908 he sailed steerage for London, primarily to seek advice for his ailment.
London for eighteen months was a miserably lonely experience. His sheaf of introductions from Alfred Deakin and others led to little journalistic work. He attended lectures at the London School of Economics, read widely and was interested by the radical sociological theories of L. T. Hobhouse. He was wondering whether he might feel a call to the ministry, but became worried by his lack of faith. Treatment for his stammer improved it a little. 'The survival of the fittest principle is good because the fittest become very fit indeed', he wrote home. 'I'll be able to learn much here … and with health I should become a power in Australia'. In mid-1909 he almost won a post on the Pall Mall Gazette, but at the final interview 'my speaking collapsed'.
Re/ his coverage of the First World War:
However, before his ship reached England he had composed an 8000-word letter to Fisher which he sent on 23 September. It was a remarkable document which lavishly and sentimentally praised the Australians and attacked the performance of the British army at all levels, including many errors and exaggerations.
In the next few days Murdoch made contact with Geoffrey Dawson and Lord Northcliffe, editor and proprietor of The Times, who arranged for him to meet Lloyd George, Bonar Law, Carson and other cabinet ministers; his letter was printed as a secret state paper. It provided ammunition for the 'anti-Dardanelles' faction and contributed to Hamilton's recall and the eventual evacuation. Australian and British senior officers held Murdoch in contempt over this episode. He later defended himself vigorously before the Dardanelles royal commission. Many years later Bean concluded that Murdoch was 'glowing with patriotism' and 'dearly loved the exercise of power', but that he was wrong to break his pledge and could have made his case without such 'gross overstatements'. Writing to Bean in 1933, Murdoch admitted he had made mistakes, which he greatly regretted.
In England he made the most of his notoriety and began to hob-nob with the men of great power—at the age of 30.
