Australian Military Units

Keith Arthur Murdoch

Date of birth  1885-08-12  West Melbourne, VIC. 
Other  1908  Travelled to England to receive treatment for his stutter. 
Other  1910  Was a founding member of the Australian Journalists Association. 
Other  1911  Employed as a journalist with the Age. 
Other  1912  Became political correspondent of the Sydney Evening Sun. 
Other  1914-08  Murdoch had applied to become Australia's official war historian upon the outbreak of the First World War, but had lost the position to Charles Bean. 
Other  1915  He was transferred to London to take up the position of managing editor of the United Cable Service. 
Other  1915-08  Murdoch gained permission to visit Anzac Cove, ostensibly to investigate alleged mismanagement of mail sent to Australian soldiers serving in the Gallipoli campaign. Later Murdoch agreed to hand deliver a letter detailing the mismanagement of the campaign from the British reporter Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett to the British Prime Minister Hebert Asquith. On route to London, Murdoch was arrested by French Military Police in Marseilles and the letter was confiscated from him.  
Other  1915-09-23  Murdoch, finally in London in the office of the Australian High Commissioner, dictated everything he could remember of Ashmead-Bartlett's dispatch and conversations. Murdoch's account was in the form of a letter addressed to the Australian Prime Minister, Andrew Fisher. The letter was later sent to British Prime Minister Asquith, who distributed it to the Dardanelles Comittee. The letter was credited with the recall of the campaign's commander and for the eventual evacuation from Gallipoli. 
Other  1915-10-14  The Dardanelles Comittee met and ended Sir Ian Hamilton's active career, dismissing him as commander of the Gallipoli campaign. 
Other  1915-12-12  The evacuation of troops from Gallipoli began. 
Other  1916-08  A Royal Comission began, at which both Murdoch and Ashmead-Bartlett gave evidence. The comission found that the Gallipoli campaign had been a mistake. 
Other  1918  Influential with politians Murdoch and Charles Bean sought to influence the appointment of the commander of the Australian Corps. 
Other  1919  Only Australian journalist at the peace conference at Versailles. 
Other  1921  Became chief editor of the Melbourne Evening Herald. 
Other  1933  Murdoch was appointed Trustee of the National Gallery in Victoria. 
Other  1933-06-03  Created a Knight Bachelor. 
Other  1935  With financial support from Clive Baillieu and others he had acquired newspapers in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, and 11 commercial radio stations. 
Other  1940-06 - 1940-12  Appointed Director General of Information. 
Other  1941 - 1946  President of the Victorian Section of the Australian American Association. 
Other  1942  Chairman of Directors Herald and Weekly Times. 
Other  1949  Retired. 
Date of death  1952-10-04  Langwarrin, VIC.