Against the Wind

By Mike Mangan

Never before or since has there been such an outlandish proposition—sail 10,500 miles and start a colony from scratch with just convicts. By 1835, about 90 per cent of Sydney’s white population was either convicts, ex-convicts, the children of convicts, or those married to a convict. About 1,000 convicts (2.5 per cent of the population) fled inland and became bushrangers, and 4 per cent of the population was jailers. How does that place end up as the land of the ‘fair go’? How does it become Australia?

This is the story of how the Australian character developed through the prism of one family—the Lloyds. Across many generations, they slowly cast off the emotional and iron chains that bound them when they first stepped ashore at Circular Quay. It is the story of Australia.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Dec 6, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524520175

Mike Mangan

For a decade, Mike’s right thumbnail was faintly cracked from top to bottom. No matter what he did, he couldn’t get rid of it. Then one day, he discovered his great-great-granddaddy’s ‘certificate’ of freedom. Inscribed in the remarks section were the words: ‘Nail of right thumb split’. That stunning find led to an insight. The old convict was still with us—well, not 100 per cent. But clearly, enough of his genes had been passed on to leave an annoying split in his right thumb, just like the old convict himself. Mike has spent the last thirty years at the cutting edge of finance. For almost half that period, he intensively analysed Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and was rated amongst the top three analysts in Australia. He famously crossed swords with Murdoch, who failed to appreciate a ‘sell’ recommendation. Before joining finance, he was a military intelligence analyst and officer at the Second Cavalry Regiment. He also spent eighteen months as a platoon commander in one of Australia’s most decorated fighting units—Delta Company, the Sixth Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment. Mike’s varied working career also includes time spent in property development and funds management. In his youth, he started up and developed a small but successful manufacturing and wholesale business. He has also been a journalist and media commentator and has been a regular guest on a number of business TV programs. Mike has three twenty-something children and lives in Sydney, Australia.

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Copyright © 2016 by Mike Mangan.

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Rev. date: 09/26/2023

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CONTENTS

Prologue

LONDON

the Circle of Life

the Trial

the Orphan

the Scar

the Crying

the Hulk

the Sting

the Cat

the Farewell

AT SEA

the Intimidation

the Atlantic

the Burial

the Game

the Code

OLD SYDNEY TOWN

the Tall Poppies

the New Dawn

the Walk of Life

the Assignment

the Advice

a Wonderful World

the License

the ‘Burra’

the Bushrangers

the Flogging

the Squattocracy

HAPPY TIMES

the Ticket

the End of Convictary

the Shotgun Wedding

the Children

the Secret

the Auction

the Great Australian Dream

the Road to Gundagai

the Buried Treasure

the Dance

SOME KIND OF TROUBLE

the Venom

the Cry for Help

the Fever

the Flood

the Robbery

the Fight

the Bashing

the Bootleggers

the Cops

‘Ned’ Kelly

the Cattle Thieves

Father v Son

the Holiday

the Bloody Creek

the Dream

the Final Muster

the Legacy

TO BUNDARBO; AND BEYOND

the Inheritance

the Race

the Inside Job

the Fire

the Road to Bundarbo

the Hard Headed Woman

GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS

the Fatal Selection

the Barings Collapse

the Tear in Heaven

the Depression

the Drought

the Rabbit Proof Fence

the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

the Matriarch

the Drowning

the Teacher

the ‘Hail Mary’

the Last Ride

the Angel of Death

the Deception

the Separation

the Eviction

REDEMPTION

the Eternal Footnote

the Gambler

the Last Lloyd

the Land of the Second Chance

the Music

Acknowledgements

[For Becky, Tom and Rachel.

May they better understand]

PROLOGUE

To understand where you’re going, you have to understand where you’ve been Adam Goodes

Australia is an Anglo-Saxon society steeped in British culture and law. But it has also developed its own peculiar interpretation of that culture, quite distinct from Britain and very different to what developed in the United States.

When early colonialists went to America, most of them were looking for the two ‘Gs’ – God and Gold. Modern American society continues to be permeated by those original ‘G’s’. By contrast most Brits who first came to Australia did so reluctantly. They were looking forward to nothing more sophisticated than a swig of rum, to wash away the sorrow of their incarceration. Of all Great Britain’s former colonies, perhaps only Canada and of course New Zealand developed cultural norms and mores close to our own.

Today Australia is the land of the ‘fair go’, full of ‘mates’ and ‘larrikins’. A strong sprinkling of egalitarianism is thrown in for good measure. We have a healthy disdain for ‘dobbers’, ‘tall poppies’ and of course authority itself. Australians also distrust militarism and the military. The latter may not be obvious, so let me highlight some personal experience. Many decades ago when I left the army to join the funds management industry, I felt a chilly contempt for my former profession. As a result I never promoted my military background or even talked about it. I played it down so much, many of my former Finance colleagues were completely unaware of it. Unless they’ve bought this book they’d remain ignorant to this day.

By contrast whenever I travelled to London or New York I was struck by the positive attitude the military generates. Military service is lauded and praised in both the UK and US. It’s often seen as a career path to the world of finance and politics. Almost every American President has had some prior military service. You’d be hard pressed to name a living Australian Prime Minister with a similar background on their CV. In London, sons follow fathers into the same Regiment. Just as often they then gravitate into daddy’s stock broking firm.

Partly our distrust for the military arose from our conscription experience during the Vietnam War. But 50 years earlier conscription was similarly opposed during arguably the far more popular Great War (popular at least initially). The opposition to conscription in 1916-18, drew heavily on Irish Australian suspicions towards British authority. It also drew on memories of British military jailers during the ‘convictary’ period barely half a century earlier. In 1916, many then living Australians could either remember those days themselves, or had heard their parents and grandparents talk about it. So our distrust of the military has a long pedigree stretching back thru Vietnam, the Great War, and all the way back to our original military jailers. Similar blood lines can be traced for many of our other peculiarly Australian character traits.

200 years ago Old Sydney town was a military penal colony seething with resentment. Alcoholism was so rife that for decades rum formed not just part of the currency; it was part of the wage structure. Violence was pervasive – both domestic and authorized. There were mass hangings and even more floggings. At one point up to 1000 armed and highly dangerous, probably mentally unstable bushrangers roamed the Sydney Plain and its immediate hinterland. Many were killers. By 1835 perhaps 90% of Sydney’s white inhabitants were either convicts, ex convicts, married to a convict or the children of convicts. The level of PTSD must have been extreme. This was the land so memorably described in Robert Hughes ‘Fatal Shore’.

Within this police state, a uniquely Australian class system operated. At the top of the class pyramid stood the military – governing us, guarding us and exploiting us. Next came a sprinkling of free settlers. Then the police; many of whom were former convicts. Below them were other ex cons. Lower down the rung were actual convicts. But even the ‘convict class’ was stratified. Most had their chains removed and were assigned to overseers. But some recalcitrant’s remained in chain gangs doing hard labour. Other recidivists were sent to progressively harsher settlements like Newcastle, Port Macquarie and Brisbane. Worst cases ended up in either Norfolk Island or Port Arthur in Van Diemen’s Land. Then there were the convicts who simply absconded and became bushrangers. Below them all were the original indigenous inhabitants. How does that place end up as the land of the ‘fair go’? How does the ‘Fatal Shore’ become Australia?

Part of the answer lies in British enlightenment. Australia started as a social experiment to reform criminals. Education was encouraged. Although frowned upon, fraternizing between different classes wasn’t a crime. Take Lieutenant Colonel Johnston. He was a British hero from the 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill outside Boston. In 1804 he brutally suppressed revolting convicts at the Battle of Vinegar Hill in western Sydney. In 1808 he led the NSW Rum Rebellion for which he was later cashiered. Throughout his NSW military career he shacked up with Esther Abrahams one of the convicts he supposedly guarded on his First Fleet voyage in 1788. Their seven children were all convict descendents.

As a nation, we remember the brutality of our British jailers. Around 20,000 convicts were sent to the most severe prisons in Norfolk Island and Port Arthur in Tasmania. This was the ‘Fatal Shore’. But that experience was not shared by almost 90% of convicts. British enlightenment meant that together with their feared ‘sticks’, came their less well remembered ‘carrots’. Villains were encouraged to become villagers. Good behavior was rewarded with progressively better conditions. First the chains were removed. Well behaved convicts were rewarded with the right to earn a quid after hours, even get early release. Ex cons were encouraged to purchase a little piece of Aussie paradise with their ‘hard earned’.

Our collective attitude towards ‘convictary’ has broadened over the last 50 years as families began openly exploring their convict heritage. But for most of Australia’s history, our convict past was hidden in the closet. That secretive attitude deepened the emotional scars ‘convictary’ left behind. I suspect it also accounts for the collective chip on our nation’s shoulders. That ‘chip’ manifests itself in our constant need to prove ourselves. As a nation we are forever trying to prove we are at least equal to the rest of the world. This is particularly noticeable on the sporting field and in our jingoistic media outlets.

‘Convictary’ lasted for nearly a century (1788-1868). Towards the latter part of that period a new socio-economic force emerged known today as the ‘squattocracy’. That too lasted almost a century (1830-1920). Both cultural phenomenon were reinforced with economic models that accentuated the differences between a ‘1%’ of ‘haves’, and everybody else. During ‘convictary’, first the military and later the free settlers made up the ‘1%’. Convicts and their descendents were largely ‘have nots’. During the ‘squattocracy’, the squatters became the ‘1%’ whilst ‘selectors’ were part of the underclass. In many cases ‘selectors’ were either convicts or their descendents. In most cases squatters were descended from either free settlers or the military.

During both periods the ‘1%’ were handed a ‘magic carpet’ economic ride: free or very cheap land, free labour (convicts) and guaranteed markets in London. It was an economic system every red blooded capitalist dreams about. The ‘1%’ received a ‘first look’ at the best land (eg river front) and during ‘convictary’ - the best labour. That ‘first mover advantage’ was as powerful a wealth generator in the 19th century as it is in the 21st century. A very small proportion of the population grew quite rich.

The economies of the ‘convictary’ and ‘squattocracy’ periods were built on ‘trickle down’ economics. Today those same economic principals are pursued by Australian conservatives championing tax cuts for corporates and multi nationals over individuals. Within markets, a first look at any asset whether land or tax cuts, is a powerful wealth generator. Today’s conservative policies just continue the traditional ‘trickle down’ economics which were practiced back in 19th century Sydney.

Australia emerged from blood, sweat and tears. But as Australian’s are fond of saying ‘never let the bastards get you down’. Part of Australia’s success was due to this dogged determination. Part was luck; and part was opportunity. Another key factor was the economics of ‘plunder’. Guns, germs and steel decimated the original inhabitants in not only Australia but also North America. Britain and the US were now free to sell what appeared to be ‘virgin’ lands to newly arrived ‘white’ settlers. Perhaps 1-1.5bn acres were sold in this manner for either £1 per acre, or in the US US$1 per acre. That was a secret economic sauce that greased the wheels of both Empire and Republic across the 19th century.

In the latter half of the ‘squattocracy’ period, there were significant economic disruptions. The first was the original GFC – the 1890s Depression. That GFC was the most disastrous ever experienced in rural Australia. It combined with a once in a century drought and rabbit plague to destroy many Australians. As usual the under classes suffered most. Many ‘selectors’ lost their land. Then they lost their families. Often they ended up in an early grave leaving behind orphan children. Both the monetary and human toll was enormous. You don’t have to study the 1890s for too long to understand why a welfare ‘safety net’ came to dominate 20th century social policy.

By the time the Great War erupted a couple of decades later, ‘squattocracy’ as an economic model was finished. However like ‘convictary’, it survives in our collective memory as a cultural theme. Never a strong economic force, ‘Anzacary’ stepped into the shoes of ‘squattocracy’ to become a powerful cultural anthem. It combined many earlier themes including a distrust of British authority and a constant need to prove ourselves. Even today ‘Anzacary’ continues to hold a powerful cultural sway over the Australian psyche. After the Second World War, multi-culturalism served to soften the rough edges of the earlier cultural waves. And it added immeasurably to the richness of the Aussie culture.

Today the ‘little Aussie battler, having a go’ can be found across suburban Australia. Paul Hogan and Dale Kerrigan listening to the ‘serenity’, typify the breed. Unbeknown to most Aussies, they are walking in the footsteps of our 20th century diggers, the ‘selectors’ before them and the even earlier convicts. The names have changed, but the cultural thematic remains the same: ‘nice guy down on his luck, battles against the odds. In the end they and/or their children, triumph’. That is a two sentence summary of Australia’s story; and this book.

Just as Australians have begun to embrace their convict heritage, they have over the last half century begun to better understand the rich heritage of aboriginal culture. In baby steps we are attempting to provide redress for the damage wrought upon them during the late 18th and 19th centuries. The damage was great. In my opinion it will take a century or more to ‘close the gap’.

Along this cultural journey the Australian character slowly emerged. The character traits that developed amongst ordinary Aussies during the 19th and early 20th centuries have yielded a culture and outlook on life today, that is very attractive - for both Aussies and the rest of the world.

A legacy of suffering and hard work has bequeathed to us all the ‘Land of the 2nd Chance’. That’s the gift ‘convictary’ leaves us. Despite our historic contempt for the Brits, it was their enlightened attitude towards their criminal milieu that enabled a social experiment to forge not just a nation, but one of the most desirable places on earth to live.

In the 21st century, Australians have gone forth to become global leaders in the corporate, scientific, educational, medical, sporting and entertainment worlds. That ‘soft power’ leads many from around the world desiring to call Australia home.

Although there will certainly be potholes along the way, I think in the decades and centuries to come the outlook for ANZAC is amongst the best in the world. That’s not just because of our quite capable military strength. Nor the strategic advantage offered to us by thousands of miles of shark infested oceans and deadly deserts.

Our positive future will mainly come courtesy of our enormous ‘soft power’ that consecutive cultural waves of convictary, squatterocracy, Anzacary and in more recent decades multi-culturalism have bequeathed to us all. We neither take ourselves, nor others too seriously. Our easy going outlook on life not to mention climate is so attractive, the whole world wants to come here. In my view over the next century or more, many of our Pacific neighbours will wish to become more formally part of the broader Aussie family. And people from around the world including the western world will continue to flock here. According to ‘New World Wealth’, more millionaires migrated to ANZAC in 2016 than any other country. Combining all that human talent will leave us with an economy which in my opinion will be the envy of most other nations.

Other than Rome, perhaps no other country in history, had a more inauspicious beginning as Australia. Rome of course played a major role in the human journey over the last several millennium. Personally I think that provides a clue to our future.

Today Australians wear their convict heritage as a badge of honour. Not because we laud criminality. We don’t. We wear our convict heritage proudly because we recognize the sentences handed down to our ancestors were mostly unjust and certainly disproportionate to whatever crimes they may have committed. When Australians rallied for Mercy for the condemned Bali 9 leaders in 2015, it was our collective convict heritage that was stirred. That heritage nourishes our common belief that everyone in society is entitled to a ‘fair go’, a concept that continues to permeate our political discourse. When we pursue egalitarianism we do so partly out of homage for our antecedents who not that many decades ago could but dream of such a society.

I hope all the descendents of Australia’s convict past develop a greater appreciation of the immense challenges their forebears faced as they struggled to survive this land. In the end they overcame those challenges to leave us – Australia. And I hope all Australians develop a greater understanding of the forces that shaped our unique Aussie culture. Oy Oy Oy!

LONDON

THE CIRCLE OF LIFE

Thursday 22 October 1992

"All my life’s a circle, sunrise and sundown.

The moon rolls through the night time,

till the daybreak comes around.

All my life’s a circle, but I can’t tell you why.

The season’s spinning round again, the years keep rollin’ by." Harry Chapin¹

In late 1992 London based pay TV operator British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB), was on the cusp of becoming one of the world’s hottest stocks. Just 2 years previously it had been losing £10m per week; in the process drowning Rupert Murdoch’s empire in red ink. But post a merger with its only competitor, a re-financing and securing exclusive rights to the British premier league, BSkyB was moving rapidly towards breakeven. In years to come it would become a multi billion pound company literally spinning off cash for the Murdoch Empire. But in Oct 1992 most investors still viewed BSkyB as at best ‘interesting’, and at worst, a continuing albatross around Rupert’s neck.

BSkyB was run by feisty Australian TV legend Sam Chisholm. A man who’d made his mark in the eighties leading Australia’s No.1 TV network, Kerry Packer’s Channel Nine. But in 1992 Sam was in London answering to Rupert.

On the other side of the world a very new ‘wet behind the ears’ stock broking analyst beavered away in his Sydney office marveling at BSkyB’s potential. His excel spreadsheet told him that on its current trajectory BSkyB would make £5m per week within 18 months. But before publishing that conclusion, he needed to check his assumptions. He needed to talk to Sam.

One of the analysts work colleagues was former Australian rugby legend Simon Poidevin. Both Simon and the analyst had survived Christian Brother schools in the early to mid seventies. They had once even played rugby against each other. Simon went on to win the rugby World Cup with the Wallabies. The analyst went on to Accounting at NSW Uni. 17 years later the analyst and ‘Poido’ as he was fondly known, worked together at one of Australia’s mid-tier stock brokers. ‘Poido’ was good mates with Chisholm and delighted in making the introduction.

Late one October evening, the analyst nervously dialed Sam’s London number. Sam was larger than life. He had a fearsome reputation. After introducing himself, the analyst began questioning Sam. At first Sam listened politely. Then he interrupted:

"Tiger why are you interested in what I’m doing?"

"Because I think you’re sitting on top of one of the most exciting money making opportunities in the world" the analyst replied.

The analyst may have only been in this stock broking caper for 7 months, but he’d quickly learnt the essential stock broking skill of ‘sucking up’ to company executives. Suitably flattered, Sam went on to answer most questions.

The analyst published his report not long after. It was a huge hit. The share price of BSkyB’s parent company News Corp soared. Within his brokerage, the analyst was a hero. In London, BSkyB was well on its way to being floated on the London Stock Exchange. The analyst even managed to get his brokerage a piece of that action.

Sam Chisholm’s bonus for his BSkyB success was so large, he plonked it down on an Australian rural property known for over a century as Bundarbo (photo below). It was one of Australia’s richest and best developed farms. A suitable reward for a man who’d almost singlehandedly steered BSkyB away from the rocks of bankruptcy, to become one of the largest corporations in the UK, if not the world. And this is where the circle was squared. Because 110 years earlier the analyst’s great grandfather and siblings owned, farmed and traded at one time or another, ~4,000 acres of that very same Bundarbo.

For awhile the Lloyd family lived it up as good country squires. But in the end the harshness of Australian rural life, economic reality and inevitable and premature death, got in the way. In the end the Lloyd’s lost it all. And a century later Sam Chisholm was the country squire. Our story begins in a London court room, exactly 160 years before the analyst’s chat with Sam.

---

¹ Refer ‘the Music’ page 307

THE TRIAL

Monday 22 October 1832

"He bade the judge good morning, and he told him to beware.

That he’d never rob a needy man, or one who acted square.

But a judge who’d robbed a mother, of her one and only joy.

Sure, he must be a worse outlaw, than The Wild Colonial Boy" Australian bush ballad

Judge Littler had been a fixture at Newington Court for years. Sitting in his chambers before court that morning, he reflected on his fabulous weekend in the country. Late October London weather was starting to cool. So it was probably the last weekend he’d enjoy on his country estate for awhile.

As the clock edged towards 10am, his mind turned back to the business at hand. Newington court sheriff Miles Stringer, knocked on his door. "Morning Your Honour. Have a good weekend"?

"Fabulous Miles the judge replied but the traffic this morning was dreadful."

"How’s the case load today" Littler asked?

"Your Honour the bobbies were busy over the weekend. We’ve got about 100 today".

"Damn, I’ve got an important dinner engagement this evening so we need to rap it up by 4.30pm at the latest" the judge said testily. In his heart Littler knew it was going to be one of those tedious Mondays.

Laughing perhaps for the last time that day Littler said "well Miles, show time. Better start bringing the guilty bastards up". Miles was careful to always laugh at the Judge’s jokes. Today was no exception.

"All rise, Newington Quarter Sessions now sitting, Judge