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William Kerr William Kerr i(A128392 works by)
Born: Established: 1812
c
Scotland,
c
c
United Kingdom (UK),
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Western Europe, Europe,
; Died: Ceased: 25 May 1859 Sunbury, Sunbury area, Sunbury - Kyneton area, Melbourne, Victoria,
Gender: Male
Arrived in Australia: ca. 1837
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BiographyHistory

William Kerr was a journalist with the Colonist and then with the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser in the colony of New South Wales. Kerr also seems to have had one share in Nathanial Lipscomb Kentish's Sydney Times newspaper.

Kerr reported on Sydney theatre for the Gazette under the editorship of George Cavenagh and was possibly the Gazette’s theatre critic. In 1839 he moved to Melbourne and worked briefly with Cavenagh on the Port Phillip Herald before becoming the editor, in January 1841, of the Port Phillip Herald’s rival the Port Phillip Patriot and Melbourne Advertiser owned by John Pascoe Fawkner. According to Lyndsay Gardiner, in his biography of Kerr published in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, ‘... after 1844, when Kerr and Fawkner quarrelled, Kerr changed [the Patriot’s] policy ... Kerr even used his editorials to vilify its proprietor, Fawkner, who was driven to reply in the columns of the hated Herald.’ Kerr started the Argus in 1846.

Lyndsay Gardiner describes Kerr as a man of strong views and ‘... given to stinging and sarcastic personal abuse of his opponents. Contemporary opinions of him range from “thoughtless and thriftless” to “generous and charitable”.’ This can be seen in his writings on Sydney theatre for the Sydney Gazette.

Sources: Lyndsay Gardiner, 'Kerr, William (1812–1859)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/kerr-william-2304/text2981, accessed 3 September 2013; Eric Irvin, Theatre Comes to Australia (1971)

Most Referenced Works

Notes

  • See also the full Australian Dictionary of Biography Online entry for William Kerr, (1812-1859).
  • A William H. Kerr published an advertisement in the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser over the period July to August 1838 setting out his 'reasons for becoming a candidate for the office of Chairman of Quarter Sessions...'. See also correspondence 'To the Magistrates of the Territory' published in the Sydney Gazette (25 September 1838): 3 and a short column 'The Chairmanship' in the same issue on page 2. Some of these pieces are repeated in subsequent issues of the Gazette.

Last amended 14 Jul 2014 11:33:35
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