Frank Packer

Sir Frank Packer KBE
Packer family tomb, South Head Cemetery, Vaucluse, New South Wales
Born	Douglas Frank Hewson Packer (1906-12-03)3 December 1906 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Died	Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Cause of death	cancer pneumonia & heart failure
Resting place	South Head Cemetery
Nationality	Australian
Education	Sydney Church of England Grammar School
Occupation	Media proprietor
Title	Sir
Spouse(s)	Gretel Bullmore (m. 1934–60) Florence Vincent, nee Porges (m. 1964–74)
Children	Clyde Packer (eldest son) Kerry Packer (youngest son)
Parent(s)	R.C. Packer (father) Ethel Maude, née Hewson (mother)
Relatives	James Packer (grandson)

Sir Douglas Frank Hewson Packer, KBE (3 December 1906 – 1 May 1974), was an Australian media proprietor who controlled Australian Consolidated Press and the Nine Network. He was the patriarch of the Packer family.

Biography

Frank Packer was born in Kings Cross, in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, to Ethel Maude Packer (née Hewson) (1878–1947) and Robert Clyde Packer (1879–1934), who started the family's association with the media as a journalist in New South Wales. His father, R. C. Packer, became editor of The Sunday Times and was a founder of Smith's Weekly and The Daily Guardian, which was published by Smith's Newspaper Ltd.

He attended Wahroonga Grammar School and Sydney Church of England Grammar School; however he did not sit for the Intermediate Certificate.

Career

In 1923, Packer became a cadet journalist on his father's paper, The Daily Guardian. Four years later, he was a director of the company. In 1933, Packer started The Australian Women's Weekly and then transformed The Daily Telegraph into one of Australia's leading newspapers.

Packer inherited his media interests on his father's death in 1934. In 1936, he joined with Ted Theodore's Sydney Newspapers and Associated Newspapers to form Australian Consolidated Press. He was chairman of ACP from 1936 until 1974.

When television was introduced to Australia in 1956, Packer, along with the other major newspaper publishers (Fairfax, HWT and David Syme), became a significant television network shareholder under the federal government's "dual formula", which allowed each capital city to have two commercial networks and one ABC. He launched the first Australian station to broadcast a regular schedule, TCN in Sydney, which became the nucleus of the Nine Network.

The Packer media empire was known for its conservative leanings, and was a strong backer of long-serving Prime Minister Robert Menzies.

Packer was a keen yachtsman, boxer, golfer and polo player. He was on the Australian Jockey Club's committee for 12 years and won the Caulfield Cup with his horse, Columnist. He was also chairman of a syndicate that built the yachts Gretel and Gretel II to challenge for the America's Cup in 1962 and 1970.

In 1972, Sir Frank Packer sold his newspaper flagship, The Daily Telegraph, to Rupert Murdoch.

In 1992, journalist Max Walsh told the House of Representatives Select Committee on the Print Media that Frank Packer had exerted undue newsroom influence. "Sir Frank was knee-deep in [the] editorial policy of the Telegraph", Walsh said.

Family life

Frank Packer was married to Gretel Joyce Bullmore (1907–1960) on 24 July 1934 at All Saints Anglican Church, Woollahra. He had two sons, Clyde and Kerry, with his first wife, Gretel. Gretel Packer died in 1960.

Packer married for the second time in June 1964 to Florence Adeline Vincent (née Porges) in London. She died in 2012.

Death

On 1 May 1974, Sir Frank Packer died of heart failure, leaving an estate valued at $100 million. On his death he passed his empire to Kerry, as he had fallen out with his eldest son Clyde Packer in 1972. He was interred at the Packer family mausoleum at South Head Cemetery.

Honours

Frank Packer was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1951.

He was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours of 1959, for services to journalism and the newspaper industry.

In the New Year's Honours of 1971 Sir Frank Packer was promoted within the Order of the British Empire to Knight Commander (KBE), for services to Australian and international yachting.

He was inducted into the America's Cup Hall of Fame in 1999.

Portrayal in media

In the 2007 television bio-pic The King about comedian Graham Kennedy, Frank Packer was portrayed by Australian actor Leo Taylor.

In the 2011 television miniseries Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo, Frank Packer was portrayed by Australian actor Tony Barry.

In the 2013 television miniseries Power Games: The Packer-Murdoch War, Frank Packer was played by Australian actor Lachy Hulme, who had previously portrayed Kerry Packer in Howzat! Kerry Packer's War the previous year.

Further reading

• R. S. Whitington. Sir Frank – The Frank Packer Story. Published by Cassell Australia, 1971. (ISBN 0304939978)
• Bridget Griffen-Foley. Sir Frank Packer: The Young Master, Published by Harper Collins, 2000. (ISBN 0732264227)