Sarah Reading (1808-1875) came to Sydney from England in 1838 with her husband, John Fairfax (1805-1877), who had left school at the age of twelve and been apprenticed to a printer and bookseller. Three years after they arrived, Fairfax and a partner, Charles Kemp, purchased the seven-year-old Sydney Herald, which they renamed the Sydney Morning Herald in 1842. This purchase marked the beginning of a family association with the paper that would last for over five generations and nearly 150 years. No other newspaper in the world has been so long under one family's control and no other family in Australia has subsequently formed such a successful entrepreneurial dynasty. In 1853 John Fairfax bought Kemp out, and his and Sarah's eldest son Charles John (1829-1863) joined the business. Another son, James, soon joined the paper as well.
