The Australian Financial Review is celebrating its 70th anniversary on Monday, August 16 with a 12-page wrap-around commemorating the seven most defining leaders to have shaped the growth of our country’s business over the past seven decades.
The list of powerbrokers confirms Australia’s influence on the global stage, featuring iron ore pioneer Lang Hancock, financier Ian Potter, Westfield founder Frank Lowy, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, BHP’s Ian McLennan, Macquarie’s David Clarke and CSL’s Brian McNamee.
Discussing Murchoch’s role in shaping Australia, Tony Boyd wrote, “Murdoch is the Julius Caesar of global media who came, saw and conquered every facet of “old media” while building an empire that, at its peak, was unsurpassed in its consumer reach and political influence.”
Since its first edition as a weekly Thursday newspaper on August 16, 1951 – with a circulation of just 13,000 and a price of one shilling – the Financial Review has had a unique role in reporting, analysing and shaping the nation’s business, economic, political and financial news.
“Our coverage of the 70th anniversary of The Australian Financial Review is more than just a retrospective,” said Michael Stutchbury, editor-in-chief.
“In their own different ways, these seven figures have helped build and shape the outwardlooking industries and home-grown global firms that have fuelled Australia’s modern prosperity.”
“The stories of where we’ve come from over the past seven decades help frame the challenges and opportunities for the decades ahead. In 1951, Australia rode on the sheep’s back and relied on the UK. Over the following seven decades the economy was transformed as it supplied iron ore, coal and gas to Asia. The challenge now is how to transform again in a low-carbon world.”
“As well as looking back over how we’ve covered the growth of Australian business, the Financial Review will use the Platinum 70 Year to focus on this next resource transformation, the future of digital banking and finance and the tech revolution sweeping just about every company.”
The wrap-around will also feature highlights of the Financial Review’s reporting, including a look back at the Canberra Observed column that began in 1957 and the debut of the daily Chanticleer business column in 1974.
Throughout the week there will be special stories in the paper and online, with the birthday week rounding out with a commemorative 76-page Platinum 70 Magazine featuring an exclusive cover story with Apple chief executive Tim Cook.
The cover of the 76-page special edition Platinum 70 Magazine The special edition will also include interviews with former Prime Ministers Paul Keating and John Howard, two political leaders who defined their decades in power and whose policies have had a lasting legacy in shaping modern Australia.
A visually stunning interactive timeline detailing the history of Australian business and politics has also launched on afr.com.
The timeline is a scroll through 70 years of booms, busts, empire-building, fraudsters, disrupters and political landmarks from the masthead’s inception in 1951 to 2021.
An invaluable resource for educators, students and readers wanting to visualise Australia’s rise to riches, the timeline chronicles the aspirational journey of our country’s business and politics, and is filled with archival photographs, bite-sized summaries of pivotal historical moments and links to stories.
