Fairfax family
| Ethnicity | Anglo-Celtic Australian; British |
|---|---|
| Current region | Australia |
| Place of origin | Barford, Warwickshire, England |
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Members of the Fairfax family were prominent as Australian media proprietors, especially in the area of newspaper publishing through the company, John Fairfax and Sons, now known as Fairfax Media; although the Fairfax family no longer control the eponymous company. Some members have also been prominent in the arts and philanthropy in Australia.
Six generations of the family are descended from an Anglo-Celtic emigrant to Australia: John Fairfax (1804–1877), English-born journalist and his wife Sarah, née Reading (1826–1905). Both were from the Barford area of Warwickshire and emigrated to the Colony of New South Wales in 1838.
John Fairfax was born in Barford, Warwickshire, the second son of William Fairfax and his wife, Elizabeth née Jesson. In 1817 John Fairfax was apprenticed to William Perry, a bookseller and printer in Warwick, and in 1825 went to London where he worked as a compositor in a general printing office and on the Morning Chronicle. A year or two later he established himself at Leamington Hastings as a printer, bookseller and stationer. There, on 31 July 1827, he married Sarah Reading, daughter of James and Sarah Reading. He became the printer of the Leamington Spa Courier, and in 1835 he purchased an interest in another paper The Leamington Chronicle and Warwickshire Reporter. He had a book binding business in Leamington. In 1836 Fairfax published a letter criticizing the conduct of a local solicitor, who brought an action against him. Though judgment was given for the defendant, the solicitor appealed. Judgment was again given for Fairfax but the costs of the actions were so heavy that he had to apply to the Insolvency Court. There was sympathy for him, his friends offered assistance but he decided to make a fresh start in a new land, and in May 1838 sailed for the Colony of New South Wales in the Lady Fitzherbert with his wife and three children, his mother and a brother-in-law. After a voyage of about 130 days, they reached Sydney on 26 September 1838; Fairfax had just £5 in his pocket.
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