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For the American pianist of the same name, see David Syme (pianist). David Syme (born 1949 is an American pianist Syme has played classical concerts throughout the United States as well as numerous International venues

David Syme (October 2, 1827 – February 14, 1908) was an Scottish-Australian newspaper proprietor of The Age and regarded as "the father of protection in Australia" who had immense influence in the Government of Victoria. Events 1187 - Siege of Jerusalem: Saladin captures Jerusalem after 88 years of Crusader rule Year 1827 ( MDCCCXXVII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common Events 842 - Charles the Bald and Louis the German swear the Oaths of Strasbourg in the French and German Year 1908 ( MCMVIII) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. The Age is a Broadsheet daily Newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854 For the protectionist Australian political party from the 1880s to 1909 see Protectionist Party For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. The Government of Victoria, under the Constitution of Australia, ceded certain legislative and judicial powers to

Contents

Early life

Syme was born at North Berwick in Scotland, the youngest of the seven children of George Alexander Syme, a parish schoolmaster, and his wife, Jean Mitchell. The Royal Burgh of North Berwick is a seaside town in East Lothian, Scotland. His father was a radical, his income was small but he managed to provide for his large family and send three of his sons to universities. His son, David, he educated himself, and the boy's childhood was one of study with little companionship with other boys of his own age. David was 16 years old when his father died and he continued his classical studies with some doubt as to what his future was to be. He had thoughts of qualifying for the ministry but revolted from the Calvinistic teaching of the day, and after attending some classes at Heidelberg he returned to Scotland and obtained a position about 1850 as a reader on a Glasgow newspaper. Calvinism (sometimes called the Reformed tradition, the Reformed faith, or Reformed theology) is a theological system and an approach to the Heidelberg is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. As of 2006 over 140000 people live within the city's area Glasgow (ˈglæzgoʊ is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom His pay was small and there was little prospect of advancement, so towards the end of 1851 he sailed for San Francisco by way of Cape Horn and arrived after a voyage of five months. The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city Cabo de Hornos redirects here for the Chilean commune see Cabo de Hornos Chile.

Australia

Syme immediately went to the California goldfields but had little success, and early in 1852 took ship for Australia in a badly provisioned vessel, and arrived at Sydney in a half-starved condition. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. Sydney (ˈsɪdniː is the most populous city in Australia, with a Metropolitan area population of approximately 4 Syme took the first steamer for Melbourne and walked to Castlemaine. Melbourne ( is the second most populous city in Australia, with a Metropolitan area population of approximately 3 There he had small success and Bendigo, Wangaratta, Ballarat and Beechworth. Bendigo is a regional city in central Victoria Australia, located in the City of Greater Bendigo. Wangaratta is a cathedral city of about 15685 people in the northeast of Victoria Australia, about 230 km (150 mi from Melbourne along the Ballarat (formerly spelt "Ballaarat" is a city in Victoria, Australia, and one of the country's largest inland cities Beechworth is a well-preserved historical town located in the north-east of Victoria Australia, famous for its major growth during the gold rush days of the mid-1850s Once, at Mount Egerton, he and his partner nearly obtained a fortune, but their claim, which afterwards became very valuable, was jumped by other men and they were unable to obtain redress. Mount Egerton is a town in Victoria, Australia. The town is located in the Shire of Moorabool Local Government Area, north west of the state

The Age

Towards the end of 1855 Syme returned to Melbourne and joined his brother, Ebenezer Syme, who was editing the The Age newspaper. Ebenezer Syme ( 1826 - March 13 1860) was a Scottish-Australian journalist The paper was then threatened with failure, and Syme who had saved some money while on the diggings joined his brother in buying it for the sum of £2000. The paper struggled on for 18 months, when finding it could not support the two proprietors David obtained other employment. He became a contractor and in spite of strong competition was successful. In March 1860 his brother Ebenezer died, and finding it was difficult to sell The Age Syme decided to abandon his contracting and carry on the paper.

The task undertaken was one of great difficulty, and only the fact that the proprietor was willing to work 15 hours a day made success possible. The original policy of The Age included manhood suffrage, the opening of the lands for selection by the people, no compensation for the squatters, and compulsory, free and secular education. When protection was added to the program great opposition was raised. It was felt by his opponents that these policies would greatly harm the colony. The opposition to The Age was carried even to the extent of boycotting its advertisement columns. Various abortive amending land acts became law between 1860 and 1869, but in the latter year an act was passed which embodied most of the principles for which Syme had fought. A tremendous flow of population came into Victoria between 1850 and 1860 and towards the end of the decade there was some unemployment.

Protectionism

Syme felt that manufacturing industries should be established and that this could only be done by bringing in trade protection. He won over to his side able men like Sir James McCulloch and Sir Graham Berry, protection became the settled economic policy of the colony, and consequently many factories were established. James McCulloch is also the name of the cashier of the Baltimore branch of the Second National Bank of the United States Sir Graham Berry, KCMG ( 28 August 1822 - 25 January 1904) Australian colonial politician was the 11th

Syme was undoubtedly a driving force for the introduction of such policies, which accompanied a great increase in economic activity. Equally, the neighbouring colony of New South Wales retained a policy which was practically free trade for most of the period before federation, and appears to have been as steadily prosperous as Victoria. Protectionism in Victoria was bitterly opposed and dispute led to great contests between the legislative assembly and the legislative council. The struggle went on for years, but Syme's contention that the people as a whole should rule and not any section of them was finally established, and for a long period The Age became the predominant factor in Victorian politics. In its early days there was difficulty in getting competent journalists, the best of them was G. Paton Smith who was editor for some years. After he left Syme took the editorial chair until Arthur Lloyd Windsor became editor about 1870 and held the position until 1900. Arthur Lloyd Windsor (c 1833 - January 20 1913) was an Australian journalist noted for his work on the The Argus and the Possibly his ablest assistant was Charles Henry Pearson who began writing leaders about the year 1875. Charles Henry Pearson ( 7 September 1830 &ndash 29 May 1894) was a British -born Australian historian educationist

The first protectionist tariff had been a very moderate one and McCulloch was not willing to go further. Though Syme thought highly of McCulloch's ability he opposed him and transferred his support to Graham Berry. Parliament became tired of the turmoil and more than once ministries were formed consisting partly of freetraders and partly of protectionists. This did not satisfy Syme and in 1877 his advocacy brought in Berry with a large majority. The legislative council, however, rejected his tariff and fresh constitutional difficulties arose. The governor, Sir George Bowen, was placed in a difficult position, and took the unprecedented step of asking Syme's advice. The Right Hon Sir George Ferguson Bowen GCMG (2 November 1821 &ndash 21 February 1899 was a British colonial administrator whose appointments His reply was that the governor should act in conformity with the opinions of the law officers of the crown. This he did but Syme thought the advice was bad and told the premier so. Berry then asked Syme for his advice and took it. It is evident that Syme at this time had very great influence within the colony. Constitutional difficulties continued for some time, but at last the legislative council was reformed, by increasing the number of eligible voters and by other changes in its constitution to make it more democratic.

Syme had supported Berry in the fight for protection and during the constitutional struggle, but was not satisfied with him as an administrator, and though opposed to James Service he recognized that Service had the very qualities Berry lacked. James Service ( 27 November 1823 – 13 April 1899) Australian colonial Politician, was the 12th Premier of Victoria He therefore supported the coalition ministry formed in 1883 which did good work for three years. There was a feeling of general confidence, a tendency to over-borrow and to spend huge sums on railways and other public works. This led to the mining and land booms which really burst in 1889, though the full effects were not realized until the bank crisis of 1893. The 1893 banking crisis occurred in Australia when several of the commercial banks of the colonies within Australia collapsed In 1891 The Age began a series of articles alleging bad management and incompetence on the part of the railway commissioners, which led at last to an action for libel being brought against The Age by the chief commissioner, Richard Speight. Other articles attacked the civil service generally. At the first trial of the railway libel case begun on 1 June 1893 the jury disagreed, and the second trial which began on 17 April 1894 and lasted for 105 days resulted in a verdict for the defendant on nine out of the ten counts, and on the tenth count the damages were assessed at one farthing. Events 193 - Roman Emperor Didius Julianus is Assassinated 987 - Hugh Capet is elected Year 1893 ( MDCCCXCIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 69 - After the First Battle of Bedriacum, Vitellius becomes Roman Emperor. Year 1894 ( MDCCCXCIV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Speight, however, was ruined and Syme had to pay his own costs which amounted to about £50,000. As an illustration of the great power some felt was exercised by Syme at this time, the leading counsel for the plaintiff, when addressing the jury, stated that "no government could stand against The Age without being shaken to its centre".

Syme had early realized that agriculture would need development in Victoria and twice sent J. L. Dew to America to study irrigation and agricultural methods. He also sent Alfred Deakin to India to report on irrigation in that country. Alfred Deakin (3 August 1856 – 7 October 1919 Australian politician was a leader of the movement for Australian federation and later second Prime Minister As a result the development of irrigation began which after some early failures was to be successfully extended in later years. He also supported the measures which brought in early closing, anti-sweatshop legislation, and old-age pensions. When the question of federation became really important towards the end of the century it was Deakin, a protégé of Syme's, who became the leader of the movement in Victoria. The federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South At the election for the convention to frame the constitution Syme selected 10 men from the 24 candidates for his support, and they were duly elected. During the first federal parliament he fought for comparatively high protective duties, but his influence did not extend to any great extent beyond Victoria and he was for the time unsuccessful. In later years, however, considerable increases in duties were made. In the last years of his life Syme was exercised about the faults of party government. Some of these he had drawn attention to in chapter VII of his Representative Government in England. His suggested remedies have failed, however, to obtain much support. He died at Kew near Melbourne on 14 February 1908. Kew is a Suburb of Melbourne, Australia, in the state of Victoria. Events 842 - Charles the Bald and Louis the German swear the Oaths of Strasbourg in the French and German Year 1908 ( MCMVIII) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year He married in 1859 Annabella Johnson who survived him with five sons and two daughters. He is buried at Kew Cemetery. Boroondara General Cemetery, often referred to as Kew cemetery, is one of the oldest cemeteries in Victoria, Australia.

Legacy

During his 50 years of ownership of The Age Syme wrote several books. The first Outlines of an Industrial Science, published in London in 1876 is largely a vindication of protection and is also a plea for the extension of the activities of the state. In 1881 appeared Representative Government in England, a study of the history of parliament in England. His next book On the Modification of Organisms, published in 1890, is a criticism of Darwin's theory of natural selection. Charles Robert Darwin (February 12 1809 &ndash April 19 1882 was an English naturalist, who realised and demonstrated that all Species of life Natural selection is the process by which favorable Heritable traits become more common in successive Generations of a Population of His last volume, The Soul: A Study and an Argument (1903), discusses the nature of life, instinct, memory, mind, and survival after death. As for philanthropic activities, he paid the expenses of a rifle team to Bisley, Surrey and financed expeditions to New Guinea and Central Australia. The village of Bisley, in Surrey, England which is notable for Rifle shooting New Guinea, located just north of Australia, is the world's second largest island, having become separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known Central Australia/Alice Springs Region is one of the five regions in the Northern Territory. In 1904 he gave £3000 to the University of Melbourne to endow the Syme Prize for research in biology, chemistry, geology and natural philosophy. The University of Melbourne is a Public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. The David Syme Research Prize is an annual award administered by the University of Melbourne for the best original research work in biology physics chemistry or geology produced When the introduction of linotype machines threw many of his compositers out of work, he was thoroughly conscientious in seeing that they were provided for. The Linotype machine (pronounced "Line-O-Type") is a "line casting" machine used in Printing. The elder men were pensioned and others were set up in business or placed on the land.

References

External links

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