Lloyd Dumas

Sir Frederick Lloyd Dumas (15 July 1891 – 24 June 1973), generally known as "Lloyd Dumas" or "F. Lloyd Dumas", was a journalist and politically influential newspaperman in Victoria and South Australia.

Early history Dumas was born in Mount Barker, South Australia, the fourth child and youngest of three sons of Amelia Dumas, née Paltridge, (died 1 November 1938) and Charles Dumas (1851–1935), who founded the Mount Barker Courier. A grandmother was a sister of Mount Barker pioneer John Dunn and his grandfather, Victor Dumas, ran a highly praised private school in Mount Barker. There is no confirmed connection with the French literary family.

He was educated at Mount Barker and Victor Harbor and in 1904 won a scholarship to the Teachers' College. He quit his studies in late 1906 or early 1907 to work for the Adelaide Advertiser and in mid-1910 helped out as interim Murray Bridge correspondent for his father's newspaper. In 1911 he was one of the founders of the South Australian branch of the Australian Journalists' Association. In 1914 he left for Victoria.

Melbourne and London

Around 1915 he accepted a position on the literary staff of The Argus, and worked as a Federal roundsman. He publicly supported the pro-conscription stance of Prime Minister Billy Hughes and was chosen by Hughes to manage the "pro" campaign for the second conscription referendum.

He returned to the Argus after the war. Around 1922 the Melbourne Sun and Sun News-Pictorial had been founded by the publishers of the Sydney Sunto break into the Melbourne market. The daily newspaper failed, with a loss of between £120,000 and £150,000 in the first few years, but the Sun News-Pictorial was quite successful, and was purchased by the Herald & Weekly Times in 1925. Dumas was hired to oversee the transition and has been credited with the paper's subsequent success.

In 1927 he was sent to London to manage the Australian Newspapers Cable Service. which a consortium led by Keith Murdoch had just taken over. He was appointed to the board in 1931, became managing director from 1938 to 1961 and chairman from 1942 to 1967. resulting in a vibrant manufacturing sector, later decried as a "rust-bucket economy" and now largely dismantled.

Other interests Dumas was fond of good food and wine, to the detriment of his waistline, and was a gracious host. In 1930 Dumas was admitted as a member to the Adelaide Club.

A portrait by Sir Ivor Hele was donated by his descendants to the National Portrait Gallery in 1999.

The Sir Lloyd Dumas Gallery of the Art Gallery of South Australia was named for him.

Dumas is included in the Jubilee 150 Walkway on North Terrace, Adelaide.

Family Dumas married Daisy Hall on 23 November 1915. They had three daughters:

Josephine "Jo" Dumas, born 19 October 1916 in Hawthorn, Victoria; married Howard De Pledge Sykes in 1939. Rosslyn Dumas, born 14 October 1920 at Canterbury, Victoria Vivienne Lloyd Dumas, born 22 January 1927 at Camberwell, Victoria. Vivienne married Thomson Hilton Leys, in 1948. She moved to New Zealand and had 5 children. Four sons - Stephen, Mark, Simon and Andrew, and a daughter Phillipa.