the newspaper, due importance was given to music and the theatre, literature and art. To Fairfax, the conduct of the press was a sacred trust and he never betrayed this. Final years On 26 December 1863, Charles Fairfax, the eldest son and Fairfax's right-hand man on the paper, was thrown from his horse and killed. John Fairfax never fully recovered from his son's death, but the work of the newspaper went on. In 1865, Fairfax and his wife again visited England where they studied the latest newspaper methods. Fairfax was appointed a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council in 1874, but never took an active part in politics. His wife, Sarah, died on 12 August 1875 and soon afterwards his own health began to fail. He died at his home, Ginahgulla, Bellevue Hill, on 16 June 1877. He was buried at the Rookwood Cemetery, Independent Section, on 19 June 1877. Legacy Of his children, his second son, Sir James Reading Fairfax (1834–1919), entered his father's office in 1852 and was admitted as a partner in 1856. When his father died, James Fairfax was in control of the paper which continued to thrive. James Fairfax was intimately associated with it for 67 years. Like his father, Fairfax was a religious man, and for a long period was president of the YMCA as well as dedicated to helping other social services of the community. He died on 28 March 1919 and was buried in the Congregational section of Rookwood cemetery. Two of James Fairfax's sons carried on the traditions of the paper, Geoffrey Evan Fairfax (1861–1930) and Sir James Oswald Fairfax (1863–1928). They entered the office on the same day in 1889 and each had a large share in the conduct of the paper. A third son, Charles Burton Fairfax, retired in 1904 and went to live in England. His son Captain J. Griffyth Fairfax, born in 1886, was a member of the House of Commons for some years, and has published several volumes of verse of which a list will be found in E. Morris Miller's Australian Literature. Warwick Oswald Fairfax, son of Sir James Oswald Fairfax, born in 1901, became managing director in 1930. John Fairfax's name lives on in the form of Fairfax Media, formerly John Fairfax Holdings and before that, John Fairfax and Sons; although the Fairfax family no longer control the eponymous company. References 1804