INTERVIEW Nothinglike DAME At 94, ADame Elisabeth Murdoch is the modest matriarch of one of the world’s most powerful families. Strong and compassionate, spirited and independent, she talks candidly to DAVID LESER about her son, controversial media mogul, Rupert, her grandchildren and her own remarkable life.

Dame Elisabeth Murdoch dislikes the term matriarch. She Well, yes, they could have, except that there isn’t anyone says the word “belongs to the past” and is suggestive of a sense else quite like Dame Elisabeth Murdoch in . Not of self-importance she doesn’t feel. At 94, she is incapable of for generosity and not for the exalted position she holds at the seeing herself as a venerable old woman; in fact she “feels crest of an illustrious and powerful family. sorry for those poor old things, the ones in their 80s”, who get Her husband, the late Sir , was the about in wheelchairs and walking frames. famous – and controversial – wartime reporter who chronicled Nor does she see herself as the dominant female figure in the folly of the campaign and later went on to set up a family or tribal line. “I sometimes have to pinch myself the first national media chain and newsprint industry in and remind myself that perhaps I am at the head of a large this country. Knighted in 1933 for services to journalism, family,” she says. “I don’t operate assuming that I am the Sir Keith was a confidant to Australian and British prime matriarch or that I can influence.” ministers, an interlocutor to American presidents, a friend to Perhaps not. Dame Elisabeth has always been an exponent press barons like Lord Northcliffe and singers such as the of the gentle art of modesty, a quality for which she has won great Dame Nellie Melba. universal admiration. Name a recital hall after her, a His contact book was a who’s who of pre-eminent people – university building, an art college building, an art gallery the Queen, the Pope, presidents Roosevelt and Truman, courtyard, a sculpture foundation, a cultural leadership General Eisenhower, General MacArthur, Lord Mountbatten, Daward, a research institute, a star (in the constellation of Winston Churchill ... Taurus!), even a rose, and you will get the same response. “He [Keith] was such a humane, caring person,” says Dame Am I worthy of it? Why me? Couldn’t they have thought Elisabeth. “I grew up in my marriage to him. I always of someone else? remember when we were crossing the Atlantic and Winston Consider her for governor-general, which they did in the Churchill was on board, and I knew he was up half the night. mid-’70s, and she still – to this day – pours scorn on the idea. Keith used to meet him in the sauna. I was shocked the way “I must say I thought it was ridiculous,” she says now. “It he [Churchill] was drinking and I was saying, ‘How could he rather undermined my respect and opinion of those who were behave like that?’ And Keith said, ‘Look dear, I’ve lived a long in power at the time.” Name her as Australia’s most generous time and I’ve met a lot of very great men, and the greatest of woman, philanthropist of the year – which they did in April them often have the greatest faults.’ And it’s true isn’t it?” “ONE’S CHIEF OBLIGATION ... again – and she will offer the same bashful smile and flurry And from this now legendary union between Keith and of self-effacing words. Am I worthy of it? Couldn’t they have Elisabeth has come 61 descendants – four children, 19 ▲ is to think about other people and how one can help them.”

thought of someone else ... etc, etc? grandchildren and 38 great-grandchildren. Her son, Rupert, TELIGA. DE JANE BY STYLED MONTY COLES. BY PHOTOGRAPHY

34 THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN’S WEEKLY – JUNE 2003 THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN’S WEEKLY – JUNE 2003 35 now the most powerful media mogul the world has ever seen, is only the most visible of these descendants – the “modern edition” of her beloved husband, Dame Elisabeth says. From one newspaper in Australia at of 23 to an empire now spanning six continents, Rupert had, the day before our interview, just spent $10.2billion acquiring the largest satellite service in America, DirectTV. He was now on the threshold of achieving his grand vision – the first and only truly global media network in the world, positioning him to be, as one observer put it breathlessly, “the most influential man since Jesus Christ”. His son, Lachlan, 32 – Dame Elisabeth’s grandson – is today chief operating officer of the $41billion , the number three man in the company after his father and long-time Murdoch associate Peter Chernin. Brother James, 30, sits atop Star TV, ’s Asian pay Opposite: Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, 94, television company, with its 30 broadcast relaxing by the fi re at Cruden Farm. Above: In services in seven languages and 300 million 1928, on her marriage to Keith Murdoch, seen viewers across 53 countries. right with their son Rupert, in 1936. And then there is older sister Elisabeth, formerly head of the pay-TV satellite company, British Sky Broadcasting (BskyB), charge against the Turks in Gaza during garden with its profusion of exotics and now dividing her time between running ; and, of course, her father, natives in all their multitude of blooms. her own media company in London and Rupert Greene, lovable rogue and gambler And they speak of its owner, the mothering three of Dame Elisabeth’s great- that he was, a woolbroker who started diminutive grande dame with the CBE next grandchildren, two of whom happen to be every Cup race from 1914-1944. to her name, as if she were the archetypal half-Ghanaian. So given all this and more, why wouldn’t Australian mother herself – full of If half-Ghanaian great-grandchildren are one seek out the thoughts of such an both boundless energy and inexhaustible not enough to shake up your Anglo Irish extraordinary woman, nay matriarch, compassion; a woman who’ll refuse to view of the world, then there’s the arrival especially if one thought that after 94 spend money heating her own home, but (two years ago) of Dame Elisabeth’s half- years of close observation of the human will donate millions of dollars to an endless Asian grand-daughter, Grace, courtesy of her condition, she might even decide to speak array of charities and causes. then 70-year-old son, Rupert, and his 34- her mind! And here she is, standing at the doorway, year-old third wife, the Chinese-born Wendi ◆ ◆ ◆ her face a road map of smile lines, Deng. Plus, there’s another child on the way. It has often been said that Cruden Farm, welcoming me inside as the rain tumbles This, of course, is the dominant refrain 50km south of Melbourne on the and the fire crackles from the little drawing in an international soap opera and one Mornington Peninsula, is the seat of the room off the hallway. branch of a complex and enthralling family ’s history. Named after a Our conversation begins on a rather tree. Some branches have led conspicuously seaside parish near Aberdeen in , spiritual note when I ask her about the towards wealth and/or fame – the Murdochs, Cruden Farm is the cottage that the most valuable things she has learnt in of course, but also daughter Janet Calvert- 42-year-old Sir Keith gave to his 19-year-old life. “One’s chief obligation,” she replies Jones, chairman of & Weekly bride for their wedding in 1928, and immediately, “is to think about other Times, grandson Matt Handbury, head of the renovated two-storey Southern-style people and how one can help them.” Murdoch Magazines, and, to a lesser extent, mansion in which he died peacefully 24 To this end, Dame Elisabeth served on his brother, Paddy, owner of vast property years later. It is the place where their the board of the Royal Children’s Hospital, holdings in South Australia and . children, Helen, Rupert, Anne and Janet, Melbourne (for 33 years), during which Others branches have reached towards spent their most treasured childhood time she was also the driving force behind more creative but anonymous endeavours years, and the Arcadia to which they and the establishment of the Murdoch Institute – theatre, music, the arts, Aboriginal and their progeny still return. of Research, specialising in child health and children’s health ... The list is endless. Once a working farm with stone stables research into genetically inherited diseases. And then there is Dame Elisabeth’s own and a dairy, it is now, thanks to Dame She has supported hospice services for distinguished lineage to consider, one which Elisabeth’s own hands, one of the most the dying, support care for homelessness, merged with the great Murdoch clan the prestigious gardens in the country. People deafness, drug addiction, computer training day she became Keith’s bride. who have visited the farm – and they centres for women. She was the first Her maternal great-great-grandfather number in their thousands – speak of the woman appointed trustee of the National “MY LIFE HAS BEEN GREATLY ENRICHED was court chamberlain to King George III sentry watch of lemon-scented ghost Gallery of Victoria. She has given decades by what I have been fortunate enough to be able to do in the way and ambassador to Versailles; her great- gums that line the path to the house, the of support to the Victorian Tapestry grandfather was aide-de-camp to Sir George magnificent elms and oak trees that enfold Workshop, the McClelland Art Gallery, of helping other organisations and people.” Arthur, Lt Governor of Hobart; her uncle the front porch, the lake with its weeping the Victoria State Opera, piano awards, ▲

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MONTY COLES. FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF DAME ELISABETH MURDOCH. ELISABETH OF DAME COURTESY PHOTOGRAPHS FAMILY MONTY COLES. BY PHOTOGRAPHY was commissioned to lead the camel willows and ducklings, and the sprawling chamber music ...

36 THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN’S WEEKLY – JUNE 2003 THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN’S WEEKLY – JUNE 2003 37 From left: Elisabeth with Keith Murdoch outside their home near Melbourne, in the ‘40s; with Helen, seven, Left: By now a If she appears to be uncharacteristically baby Anne, and Rupert, five, in the ‘30s; with Prime Minister Ben Chifley and a teenage Rupert, in the ‘40s. media mogul, Rupert candid, it is perhaps because Dame Murdoch with his Elisabeth recognises the inconsistency of a second wife, Anna, family trying to protect its own privacy “My life has been greatly enriched by after him and he’s happy, and Anna’s married Elisabeth grew up in Toorak during a daughter Elisabeth while at the same time making hundreds what I have been fortunate enough to be a most delightful man [William Mann]. I time when the salubrious Melbourne and younger son, of millions of dollars from often breaching able to do in the way of helping other keep in touch with her. She’s still my suburb still rattled to the sound of cable James. Above: that of others. organisations and people. I honestly feel daughter-in-law.” trams and horse-drawn carriages. There Relaxing in the She describes her son as a “devoted that it has been my great good fortune to From New York, Anna Murdoch Mann was no television, radio, refrigeration, taxis beautiful garden at family man”, very caring and exceedingly help rather than theirs to be helped.” is full of warm praise for her former or telephones ... nor was there any certainty Cruden Farm, after generous in ways that the public is often Dame Elisabeth adjusts the cushion mother-in-law. “We have really kept a that her errant father would return home her 90th birthday unaware of, the antithesis of the “Dirty behind her. It is embroidered with the very loving relationship,” she says. “We from his frequent excursions to the lunch with son Digger”, “The Beast of Wapping”, “The following words: God grant me the serenity never discuss Rupert and his new life Melbourne or Bohemian clubs. Rupert and eldest Devil Incarnate”, or “Darth Vader”. to accept the things I cannot change, the because it wouldn’t be right to do that. But In John Monks’ official biography – grandson, Lachlan. She is always unhappy when these courage to change the things I can and the I do feel we can talk to each other. Elisabeth Murdoch: Two Lives – Dame “inaccurate images” of Rupert get bandied wisdom to know the difference. “She is a remarkable woman ... an Elisabeth recounts one of the more searing about, but she also acknowledges that he is “I think it’s a very good philosophy,” extraordinary person. Her upbringing could episodes of her childhood: “I remember the chief exponent of a type of invasive she declares. “People sometimes say to me, have made her extremely narrow, whereas Dad, when he was raging, saying ‘I’m going journalism which she dislikes. ‘Don’t you worry about Rupert? He’s she has actually widened. She has become to cut your mother up and put her in a little long before the two were engaged, and this English publicist , great- “I’m sorry about that, but that doesn’t working so terribly hard and flying here and much more open to different ideas. The black box in the garden under the gardenia.’ ” despite deep reservations from Elisabeth’s grandson of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. in any way change my great affection for there.’ I say, ‘Look, it wouldn’t help Rupert children always felt they could speak to He would never have done it, but the family. “It was a big, big, big thing for my Although it is no secret that Rupert and him and my support for him,” she says. one bit for me to worry and if he dies Granny more than they could to me when threat hung balefully in the air. As Monks family to accept,” she says now. “I think they Anna were dismayed by their daughter’s Did she wish he wasn’t a purveyor of recounts: “Elisabeth can still remember the were sensible. I think they thought if they relationship with Freud, they seem to have this type of journalism? “Well, I think the tension as she lay in her bed sobbing while didn’t allow it I would be troublesome.” accepted it. Matthew was invited to Rupert invasion of people’s privacy is the worst “Look, it wouldn’t help Rupert [her sister] Sylvia sat up reading a book and Would you have married him anyway? and Wendi’s wedding in June 1999 aboard thing because from that comes so much one bit for me to worry and if he dies tomorrow enjoying tea and Thin Captain biscuits. “I don’t know. I was strong-minded.” his 50-metre yacht, Morning Glory, and more. I think privacy is anybody’s right.” “Sylvia would say: ‘Stop snivelling you Did she think women today should then four months later to Anna’s wedding Presumably you tell Rupert you don’t he would be doing something he loves.” miserable little brute, stop snivelling and marry at such a young age? to William Mann. like it? “No, we don’t often get onto that. feeling sorry for yourself.’ And I’d feel so “I don’t think you can generalise. I think Dame Elisabeth obviously still has some (Laughing) We’ve had it all out before.” tomorrow he would be doing something he they were in their late teens because she ashamed because I was feeling so dreadfully things have changed a great deal. Women distance to travel before she comes to terms It is suggested to Dame Elisabeth that loves.’ “ And yet it becomes clear during kept a curious mind. And combined with anxious about Dad not coming back.” have become far more ambitious about with the “extraordinary” break-up of her one of the major differences between her the course of our nearly five hours together her incredible physical energy ... they are But Dad did come back – eventually – their careers. Whether that’s good or not I grand-daughter’s first marriage. “I’m not so husband and her son is that her husband that there are things Dame Elisabeth does incredible gifts to have been given by the and, despite the emotional pain he inflicted, wouldn’t make any judgement on that ... but close to Elisabeth,” she declares matter-of- might have been less hard-hearted. Often, worry about, despite her best efforts at fairies in her crib.” he was the one most responsible for I am rather old-fashioned, I think. Too many factly, and without prompting. “I don’t for example, when he had to dismiss an achieving a serenity of acceptance. One of ◆ ◆ ◆ reinforcing Elisabeth’s natural zest for life. women are ambitious about careers and know Elisabeth as well [as James and employee from The Herald & Weekly them seems to be the breakdown of Rupert Elisabeth Greene entered the world on As a child, Elisabeth was an acrobat. She they very often sacrifice their happiness.” Lachlan]. I think she’s now happy. I actually Times, he would take ill for 24 hours. and Anna’s 31-year marriage. It upsets her February 8, 1909, the youngest of three could do double somersaults in the air, walk One of those women is perhaps her own had a letter from her. She’s never thanked Dame Elisabeth agrees. “Sometimes his still, five years later. daughters born to Rupert Greene and Marie on her hands, dive from great heights, grand-daughter, Elisabeth Murdoch, who me for anything I’ve ever sent her. heart would fibulate he was so anxious. “Rupert, of course, had a wonderful (Bairnie) de Lancey Forth. Rupert Greene, dance ... Who knows, she might have joined married Elkin Pianim, the son of a Everybody else does, but Elisabeth hasn’t. [Instead of going to bed] he would play a marriage with Anna. That was a beautiful by all accounts, was an intelligent, the circus had she not met the dashing figure Ghanaian political prisoner in 1993 (the “The other day she did for the first time. game of patience and he’d still be playing at period and it was ... there you see ... he fell by charming show-off, prone to fits of rage and of Keith Murdoch, at that time probably wedding was a five-star event attended I sent her something for the wedding ... and 1am or 2am. I knew exactly what was going his own determination not to slow down. fun-loving self-indulgence, while Marie Melbourne’s most eligible bachelor. by, amongt others, former US President I was amazed. Somebody in the family said on. It happened on several occasions. He And she [Anna] just couldn’t take it any Forth was an elegant, dignified and Murdoch had seen a photo of Elisabeth Ronald Reagan). Elisabeth and Elkin had the same thing. They find she is reacting felt deeply concerned about having to longer. We [Rupert and I] talked about it a lot. somewhat restrained woman unimpressed in a copy of Table Talk magazine and asked two children together before their more. She is very ambitious. Very ambitious. disrupt people’s lives. He was always so However, in the end ... by her husband’s imperfections. “A Forth a friend to arrange a meeting. Although relationship ended four years later. She She’s running her own company now. interested in their families. ▲

“But never mind, she [Wendi] is looking never yields,” was her family’s motto. Elisabeth was barely out of school, it wasn’t MURDOCH. ELISABETH OF DAME COURTESY PHOTOGRAPHS FAMILY went on to marry and have a child with top Apparently she is much happier ... “ “And even Rupert, who you may

38 THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN’S WEEKLY – JUNE 2003 THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN’S WEEKLY – JUNE 2003 39 think is ruthless, cares also for the families. It worries him but he’s got more ... well, I think perhaps maybe where Keith might have not been ruthless Rupert would be.” Keith was a real softie? “He was a real softie.” Is Rupert a softie? “No I don’t think so, not when it comes to business.” On that score I ask her whether she understands what keeps driving her son to keep pushing, acquiring and conquering: newspapers, books, sporting teams, film studios, TV networks, satellite digital TV ... “People say ambition,” she replies, “but it is an ambition to put things together and make them work. Keith was often doing that. It’s ambition to succeed in putting these things together.” How should we square then the two images of her son – the loving, kindly family man who feels no shame in telling his children publicly that he loves them; as opposed to the implacable, marauding media tycoon who inspires envy and fear around the world. with his third wife, Wendi Deng, and their baby, Grace, born in 2001. “Women have become far more ambitious about their careers ... but I am rather old-fashioned, I think. Too many women are ambitious about careers and they very often sacrifice their happiness.”

“I don’t know,” she says, laughing. trip on a stick, I move too fast,” she replied. When she dies, she says she has no idea “I find it hard to analyse ... I really do. I In the five hours we spent together, what will happen to her 10 per cent stake in think going back to the privacy [issue]. I during which time she happily answered Cruden Investments, the family company think we value our privacy and we expect questions, posed for photographs, served that controls News Corporation, the biggest it to be respected, so we ought to respect lunch (at the same table she once hosted media group in the world. “I ought to know,” other people’s privacy. It’s a question that Prime Ministers Lyons, Menzies and she says, “but I keep forgetting.” comes up often. For instance, I was rather Fraser), poured wine and then took us on a “The shareholders would be vitally squeamish about accepting your invitation tour of her house, the only time I saw her interested,” I begin to say … “Would they?” to be included in this [interview]. And I even slightly falter was when we were in she shoots back. “Sorry (laughing), I can’t thought, ‘Well look, we ask other people her bedroom and she pointed to the place help them.” to do it, so I must do it.” where Sir Keith had died. She also says she cares not one bit for One senses almost a relief in Dame Do you feel his presence very strongly, I the interactive digital television revolution Elisabeth that she feels able to free herself, asked her. “Yes I do,” she says, grabbing being spearheaded across the globe by people even momentarily, from these shackles. hold of my arm. “Every day of my life.” like, well, her son. “I can’t stand it. I think it When I ask her, for example, whether she In most respects this life has been rarefied takes the humanity out of everything.” ever feels constrained by being the mother and privileged beyond most people’s dreams. And, as the rain continues to fall over of Rupert Murdoch, she says, “Yes, I think Despite two world wars, a Great Depression Cruden Farm, the two of us stand together occasionally I do. I would sometimes like and a fire which nearly destroyed the farm in her office, with its pile of books and to write to the paper. But I’m very in 1944, Dame Elisabeth has enjoyed the papers spread everywhere, looking at the vulnerable because I’m Rupert’s mother.” comforts of wealth and the company of famous words of Desiderata stuck on her What sort of things would you write some of the world’s most famous and wall. I read the words aloud and as I do so, about? “Ah well ... I might be wanting distinguished people. She has not wanted Dame Elisabeth offers a small commentary to support something or a person which for much, except, of course, the man who on each phrase. did not agree with Rupert’s point of view ... was taken from her half a century ago. Take kindly the counsel of the years, and therefore I’d be very vulnerable.” But this is not what draws us to her. (“that’s right, that’s very important”) ◆ ◆ ◆ Rather it is her strength, both physical and gracefully surrendering the things of youth Dame Elisabeth sleeps rarely more mental, as well as her compassion. She ... (“that’s right”) Keep peace with your soul than three hours a night and maintains a measures her wealth in terms of family ... (“that’s very important”) Avoid loud and tempo that would exhaust a person half and friends. She worries about Australia’s aggressive persons; they are vexations to her age. Having had a hip replacement a treatment of refugees and the state of the the spirit... (“It’s all lovely, isn’t it?”) And few years ago and a nasty leg injury more modern family. She is concerned about remember what peace there may be in recently, it could be argued that she’s in the lack of “loving discipline” in young silence ... be on good terms with all persons need of some assistance. people’s lives – the kind she gave her own (“that’s awfully important”). “Why aren’t you walking on a stick?” children – and the materialistic, technical That almost sums you up, I suggest

her surgeon asked her on her last visit. “I’d nature of the world. finally. “I hope so,” she replies. W SNAPPER MEDIA.

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