Arthur Lovekin
Encyclopedia
Arthur Lovekin was a West Australian
journalist
, newspaper
editor
and owner and politician
.
), in Slough
, Buckinghamshire
. He was partly educated at St Edmund's School
, Canterbury
, from 1871-75.
in 1879 and worked in Victoria
for 12 months as a surveyor
. The next year he joined The Age
in Melbourne
as a journalist; he married Elizabeth Jane Letcher on 26 June 1882. In 1883 he joined the South Australian Register
, and with T. Harry formed a partnership as public shorthand
writers in 1885.
: "the colony's first radical newspaper", according to the Australian Dictionary of Biography. The Herald was absorbed by the owners of a rival newspaper, Daily News
, and in 1890, Lovekin became company secretary
and director. In 1893, in England, he bought machinery which enabled Daily News to install the first rotary printing press and Linotype
typesetting machines in Western Australia. By 1894, he was managing director and editor of Daily News. In 1896, Lovekin launched the Morning Herald in competition with John Winthrop Hackett's The West Australian
. He provoked Australia's first newspaper strike
in 1912, when he rejected a claim from Daily News journalists for equal pay with West Australian journalists. The strike lasted a week before Lovekin granted the claim. In 1916, he became sole owner of the Daily News. By the end of World War I
, he was very wealthy thanks to stockpiles of newsprint
he sold to newspapers affected by wartime shortages. Lovekin sold the Daily News to News Ltd for £86,000 in 1926.
and David Forrest
, were regular attendees at Sunday morning discussions at the home of Sir John Forrest. According to the Australian Dictionary of Biography
,
"…much government policy resulted—with, not surprisingly, support from the Perth press. Lovekin was a patriotic Western Australian and crusader for development, based on an expanding rural economy and the fashioning of a beautiful city: like Hackett, he was a substantial benefactor to Perth."
During World War I Lovekin helped organise the conscription
campaign in 1916, and "matched the 'King's Shilling'
with his own, according to the Australian Dictionary of Biography.
From 1919 to 1931 Lovekin was a member of the Legislative Council
for the Metropolitan Province
.
honorary committee, which became the King's Park Board in 1896 (and now known as Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority
). In 1918 he became president for 13 years until his death.
It was Lovekin's idea to honour WA's war dead by planting rows of commemorative eucalypt trees in the Park. His initiative was based on the Avenue of Honour
in Ballarat, Victoria. In 1920 Lovekin and Board member Sir William Loton
, each donated £500 to clear and plant Forrest Avenue with sugar gums. Forrest Avenue was re-named Lovekin Drive after his death.
, amateur acting, cricket
and cycling
. He established the Arthur Lovekin Prize in Journalism
in 1929.
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
editor
Editor in chief
An editor-in-chief is a publication's primary editor, having final responsibility for the operations and policies. Additionally, the editor-in-chief is held accountable for delegating tasks to staff members as well as keeping up with the time it takes them to complete their task...
and owner and politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
.
Early life
Lovekin was born ("probably", according to the Australian Dictionary of BiographyAustralian Dictionary of Biography
The Australian Dictionary of Biography is a national, co-operative enterprise, founded and maintained by the Australian National University to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's history....
), in Slough
Slough
Slough is a borough and unitary authority within the ceremonial county of Royal Berkshire, England. The town straddles the A4 Bath Road and the Great Western Main Line, west of central London...
, Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
. He was partly educated at St Edmund's School
St Edmund's School
St Edmund’s School is an independent school in Canterbury, Kent, England, U.K. with over 500 pupils, including both day pupils and boarders.-History:...
, Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
, from 1871-75.
Victoria and South Australia
He came to AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in 1879 and worked in Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
for 12 months as a surveyor
Surveying
See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...
. The next year he joined The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
as a journalist; he married Elizabeth Jane Letcher on 26 June 1882. In 1883 he joined the South Australian Register
South Australian Register
The Register, originally the South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register, was the first South Australian newspaper. It was first published in London in June 1836 and folded almost a century later in February 1931....
, and with T. Harry formed a partnership as public shorthand
Shorthand
Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed or brevity of writing as compared to a normal method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek stenos and graphē or graphie...
writers in 1885.
Western Australia
In 1886, Lovekin was a senior reporter on the Fremantle HeraldFremantle Herald
Fremantle Herald and similar names have been used for three different newspapers serving Fremantle, Western Australia: The Herald , Fremantle Herald and a current publication, founded in 1989....
: "the colony's first radical newspaper", according to the Australian Dictionary of Biography. The Herald was absorbed by the owners of a rival newspaper, Daily News
Daily News (Perth)
The Daily News was an afternoon daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia from 1882 until 1990, though its origin is traceable from 1840.-Origins:...
, and in 1890, Lovekin became company secretary
Company secretary
A company secretary is a senior position in a private company or public organisation, normally in the form of a managerial position or above. In the United States it is known as a corporate secretary....
and director. In 1893, in England, he bought machinery which enabled Daily News to install the first rotary printing press and Linotype
Linotype machine
The Linotype typesetting machine is a "line casting" machine used in printing. The name of the machine comes from the fact that it produces an entire line of metal type at once, hence a line-o'-type, a significant improvement over manual typesetting....
typesetting machines in Western Australia. By 1894, he was managing director and editor of Daily News. In 1896, Lovekin launched the Morning Herald in competition with John Winthrop Hackett's The West Australian
The West Australian
The West Australian is the only locally-edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia, and is owned by ASX-listed Seven West Media . The West is published in tabloid format, as is the state's other major newspaper, The Sunday Times, a News Limited publication...
. He provoked Australia's first newspaper strike
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
in 1912, when he rejected a claim from Daily News journalists for equal pay with West Australian journalists. The strike lasted a week before Lovekin granted the claim. In 1916, he became sole owner of the Daily News. By the end of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, he was very wealthy thanks to stockpiles of newsprint
Newsprint
Newsprint is a low-cost, non-archival paper most commonly used to print newspapers, and other publications and advertising material. It usually has an off-white cast and distinctive feel. It is designed for use in printing presses that employ a long web of paper rather than individual sheets of...
he sold to newspapers affected by wartime shortages. Lovekin sold the Daily News to News Ltd for £86,000 in 1926.
Politics
In the 1890s Lovekin and Hackett, and AlexanderAlexander Forrest
Alexander Forrest CMG, was an explorer and surveyor of Western Australia, as well as a politician.-Early life:Forrest was born at Picton, near Bunbury in Western Australia, the son of William and Margaret Forrest...
and David Forrest
David Forrest (Australian politician)
David Forrest was an Australian politician, a member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1900 to 1901, holding the seat of Ashburton. He was the younger brother of Sir John Forrest and Alexander Forrest, and the great-grandfather of Andrew Forrest.Forrest was the sixth child of...
, were regular attendees at Sunday morning discussions at the home of Sir John Forrest. According to the Australian Dictionary of Biography
Australian Dictionary of Biography
The Australian Dictionary of Biography is a national, co-operative enterprise, founded and maintained by the Australian National University to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's history....
,
"…much government policy resulted—with, not surprisingly, support from the Perth press. Lovekin was a patriotic Western Australian and crusader for development, based on an expanding rural economy and the fashioning of a beautiful city: like Hackett, he was a substantial benefactor to Perth."
During World War I Lovekin helped organise the conscription
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
campaign in 1916, and "matched the 'King's Shilling'
King's shilling
For many years a soldier's daily pay, before stoppages, was the shilling given as an earnest payment to recruits of the British Army and the Royal Navy of the 18th and 19th centuries...
with his own, according to the Australian Dictionary of Biography.
From 1919 to 1931 Lovekin was a member of the Legislative Council
Legislative Council
A Legislative Council is the name given to the legislatures, or one of the chambers of the legislature of many nations and colonies.A Member of the Legislative Council is commonly referred to as an MLC.- Unicameral legislatures :...
for the Metropolitan Province
Metropolitan Province
The Metropolitan Province was a multi-member electoral province of the Western Australian Legislative Council, located in the metropolitan region of Perth. It was created by the Constitution Acts Amendment Act 1893, and became effective on 22 May 1894 following the first council elections following...
.
Kings Park
In 1893 Lovekin was a foundation member of the Kings ParkKings Park, Western Australia
Kings Park is a park located on the western edge of Perth, Western Australia central business district. The park is a mixture of grassed parkland, botanical gardens and natural bushland on Mount Eliza with two thirds of the grounds conserved as native bushland. With panoramic views of the Swan...
honorary committee, which became the King's Park Board in 1896 (and now known as Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority
Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority
The Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority is a Western Australian Government authority charged with the administration of Kings Park and Bold Park....
). In 1918 he became president for 13 years until his death.
It was Lovekin's idea to honour WA's war dead by planting rows of commemorative eucalypt trees in the Park. His initiative was based on the Avenue of Honour
Avenue of honour
Avenue of Honour is the term given to a memorial avenue of trees, with each tree symbolising a person.The tradition, which originated in the Goldfields region of Victoria, Australia is an important part of Australian culture....
in Ballarat, Victoria. In 1920 Lovekin and Board member Sir William Loton
William Loton
Sir William Thorley Loton , was an Australian politician.-Early life:Born at Dilhorne in Staffordshire, England on 11 June 1839, William Loton was the son of publican and farmer Joseph Loton. He was educated by private tutor, but abandoned his schooling at the age of 14 to join the London firm of...
, each donated £500 to clear and plant Forrest Avenue with sugar gums. Forrest Avenue was re-named Lovekin Drive after his death.
Other interests
Lovekin was a chairman of the Children's Hospital board of management; helped set up the Children's Court (and served on its bench for nearly 20 years); and was interested in economicsEconomics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, amateur acting, cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
and cycling
Cycling
Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...
. He established the Arthur Lovekin Prize in Journalism
Arthur Lovekin Prize in Journalism
The Arthur Lovekin Prize in Journalism is an annual journalism award in Western Australia. Named after journalist and politician Arthur Lovekin, it has been awarded since 1929. It is administered by the University of Western Australia...
in 1929.