Wool Dynasty

By DAVID PHILLIPS

Shortz!Series - This is a novella in the Settlement of Australia Series.

When the ships arrived at Sydney in the early days of the settlement of Australia, they brought convicts, the military and free settlers. A combination of these groups were to form the beginning of a huge pastoral industry.

These groups would become involved in thefts, illegal use of land, plotting and planning but, above all, would found the wool industry on the back of the merino, covertly and cleverly acquired despite the efforts of Spain to protect their breed.

With powerful identities promoting the industry and scrupulous breeding practices the industry grew with strength.

There were disputes and strikes and wrongful acts but the survivors would live to benefit from the great fore-thought in the early days.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: DavidRPhillips
• Release date: Sep 5, 2016
• ISBN: 9781536594324

DAVID PHILLIPS

David Phillips, FCPA (ret.) is in his mid-seventies and lives just out of Melbourne, Australia. He began writing in his early seventies and found an enjoyment in putting ideas together with research to come up with stories, often linked to historical events of interest. He finds writing a labour of love and spends time at the keyboard every day.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

ARRIVAL

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Sean Hastings left England on the Neptune, a ship of the Second Fleet to Australia. He was ambivalent as to the voyage to a far distant and, as yet, little-known destination and had joined the New South Wales Corps as part of the military establishment required to ensure an orderly settlement. He was a friend of a fellow officer on the ship. It was at the urging of John Macarthur that he had undertaken what, to Sean, was a rather daunting and unattractive mission but one that came with the chance to gain advantage in a new land of, perhaps, new opportunity.

The first part of the voyage was lively as Macarthur was constantly in argument with the captain of the ship. There was no doubt that he was an arrogant and commanding presence and, once challenging authority, was a constant thorn in the side. Ironically, as a military man, he should have had a better understanding of the rights of those in command.

Eventually, the captain found no option other than to transfer Macarthur to another ship, the Scarborough. The shame of it was that his wife, Elizabeth, was such delightful company and was lost to Sean as a result of the transfer.

He wondered how John Macarthur would handle being in a distant outpost of the empire, a place he supposed would render him of little influence.

Sean passed time chatting with other officers and writing a few letters to home, some of which he was able to despatch from Cape Town and others which could be sent home on the return voyage of one of the ships of the fleet.

Arrival at the site of the struggling colony in June, 1790, revealed that there was really nothing over which one might enthuse. The Corps set about establishing their presence and so all hands were required to be on duty and on the job as tents were erected and a command centre established.

John Macarthur was soon at it again, this time involved in continual arguments with Governor Phillip. Sean spent time with him, suggesting that there was little to be gained in crossing swords with the governor but he did not feel that his words had any effect.

Major Francis Grose arrived, in early 1792, as Commanding Officer of the Corps in time to provide support to Macarthur's desperate need to make an impact. His arrival also signalled a turn of events for Sean Hastings. Grose was left in charge of the settlement when Governor Phillip returned to England in December, 1972. Grose abandoned many of the plans of Phillip for the colony, established military rule and proceeded to set up the members of the Corps through the outlandish, dishonest and over-generous granting of positions and property. He also provided members with convict labour, fed and clothed by the government.

As a further breach of faith with the absent governor, he facilitated the trading of rum as currency of the settlement and ensured that members of the New South Wales Corps were the main benefactors of this policy.

John Macarthur was appointed paymaster of the colony and sent to Parramatta. He took Sean with him as his assistant. When Macarthur was also given Inspector of Public Works, Sean was well entrenched within the public service structure. The two men were now in positions of great advantage with property, free labour and the first option on the imports of rum and this provided the ability to transact at optimal cost.

Sean was part of the military hierarchy that dominated the colony although he was far from happy with many of the attitudes brought in to play by the Corps. It was a law unto itself and controlled virtually all trade and the sale of alcohol, a degree of power it refused to surrender. Nevertheless, Sean was not averse to reaping the benefits of membership of the Corps.

He received a first grant of 100 acres of land in the Parramatta region and, following the lead of Macarthur, applied for and was granted three convicts to carry out his directions and improve the property. He wanted to prove that he could manage property because, as his boss and mentor was fond of saying, there were vast tracts of land in the country and land was wealth.

It was not long before he received a further grant of 100 acres and the convict workers to develop its potential. He knew little of farming and crops but was fortunate that several of the convicts assigned to him had some knowledge. Seed was available and the planting of wheat, aided by the loan of two draught horses and a ploughshare, along with seed potato and some other vegetable crops ensured that his efforts were looked upon with favour.

Unfortunately, most of the ventures in to the growing of food crops as a result of the favour given to Corps members were failures. The land, climate and water supplies were vastly different to the conditions in England and previous experience was of little value. The poor crops resulted in the rations to convicts being cut but Grose did not cut rations to members of the Corps, again in a direct reversal of Governor Phillip's policy of equal rations.

The Rum Corps, as it became known, flourished for many years, taking huge advantage over others in the colony and despite Grose returning to England in 1794. Various governors and administrators were unable to control the rampant arrogance of the military until the arrival of Lachlan Macquarie, who achieved a degree of control over the rum trade before replacing it with the first stable currency of the country.

At Macarthur's urging, in 1796 Sean purchased a small number of merino sheep and several rams from Cape Town as part of the shipment brought in by his friend and advisor. Macarthur also recommended that merino not be cross-bred with the lower quality animals as they were a special breed originating in Spain and highly valued for the quality of the wool. The climate in Spain was similar to the climate in the colony and there were good reasons to keep the breed separate from the cross-bred animals and those of lower quality.

John Macarthur continued to find trouble with his arrogant approach and poorly controlled temper and he spent considerable time, on the seas and over the seas, in England, fighting cases and engaged in business dealings.