His paternal grandfather, a prominent Presbyterian minister, had immigrated to Australia from Scotland. Rupert's father, Sir Keith Murdoch, was a famous World War I correspondent and publisher. Sir Keith met Murdoch's mother, Elisabeth Greene, at a party in Melbourne in 1927, and they were married the following year.
Murdoch spent his childhood days at Cruden Farm, the family estate south of Melbourne. At age nine he was enrolled in Australia's prestigious Geelong boarding school, where he spent the next nine years. His interest in politics began at Geelong, where he earned a reputation as a left-wing ideologue. He was graduated from Geelong in 1949 and matriculated at Worcester College, Oxford University, England, in 1950. He studied politics, economics, and history and was graduated in 1953.
Murdoch's entry into the newspaper business began through his father. The elder Murdoch was made managing editor of the Melbourne Herald in 1928, and he set out to acquire more influence and papers for the Herald. By the end of the 1930s he had gained both; he pioneered the use of radio and radio photography and launched the first domestic wire service in Australia, the Australian Associated Press. He purchased two small newspapers in the provincial cities of Brisbane and Adelaide, but he was unable to revitalize the sagging circulations of either because of his responsibilities with the Herald.
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