Robert Kyffin Thomas

Sir Robert Kyffin Thomas (19 August 1851 – 13 June 1910) was a South Australian newspaper proprietor. Sir Robert was born at Nailsworth, South Australia, the son of William Kyffin Thomas, proprietor of the South Australian Register. Thomas's grandfather Robert Thomas printed South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register in London in 1829, and The South Australian Register, the first South Australian newspaper, in 1839. He also printed the first Government Gazette, but lost that business when he ran foul of Governor Gawler. Thomas was educated at Mr. J. L. Young's' Adelaide Educational Institution, a contemporary of the Right Hon. C. C. Kingston. He took up journalism at the age of 18 and was soon chief reporter. He was admitted as a partner in the firm in 1877, and at the time of his death he was the senior proprietor of The Register.