In a few years’ time the only clue that the name Fairfax was ever synonymous with wealth and influence in Australia will be a road in one of Sydney’s most affluent suburbs.

Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the road in question runs close to one side of what locals refer to as the Packer compound, and when I lived on it I used to wonder if it irked Kerry Packer to have to use a street named after an older and more respected media dynasty when he nipped down to the Double Bay Woolworths for his durries – especially when his attempts to add...