AUSTRALIAN SHEEP HISTORY 5 



Land Bill passed in 1877, while another was passed by the Federal 

 Government in 1910. Victoria has lost most of its large Merino 

 runs, and what are left will soon go the way of the others. Most 

 Victorian sheep-breeders are going in for the Cross-bred sheep 

 owing to the great demand for large carcase sheep for the 

 frozen mutton trade. 



Australia has a lot to thank Captain McArthur for ; he had many 

 difficulties placed in his way. He was laughed to scorn by those 

 conservative London merchants who wanted something safer to 

 invest their money in than Australian sheep-runs ; but like most 

 strong men he was not deterred by their opinions. He had his 

 own ideas, and carried them out successfully. 



In 1905-6, 717,384 carcases of frozen mutton were shipped from 

 Australia to other countries, the value of which was ^"466,301 ; 

 while in 1909-10 there were 1,100,292 carcases shipped, valued 

 at 687,682. 



About 74 per cent, of the sheep in Australia at the present time 

 (1913) are Merino ; the remaining 26 per cent, consisting of cross- 

 bred and a few pure-bred English long-woolled sheep. Austral- 

 asian sheep numbers for the years 1909-12 are given in the 

 following table : 



The value of the 1910-12 Australian wool clip was ^24,642,643. 



