14 THE DEVELOPMENT OF SHEEP RAISING 



mutton breeds of England. The majority of the purchases were of 

 the best Saxony types, descended from Spanish Merinos. A Mr. 

 Warrington of Tasmania, in 1829, formed two separate breeding 

 flocks from two noted families of Spanish Merinos. 



England had long since ceased exporting wool and it is said 

 that the original aim of the Tasmanian flock owners was to grow 

 wool for England, and, ultimately, to render that country inde- 

 pendent of Spanish, German, an^l other foreign sources of supply; 

 but for many years their most valuable work was the breeding of 

 Merino sheep for the rapidly multiplying "stations" around the 

 coastal fringe of the Australian mainland. When wool from the 

 Australian Merino flocks came into the hands of English manu- 

 facturers it met with a ready demand, and the growers were told 

 that if they could supply such wool in bulk to the English trade, 

 they would find a large and profitable market for it. 



From 1830 on, the Australian wool growing industry made great 

 progress. As owners found in the early days of sheep raising in our 

 own country, so too the owners in Australia have found the wool 

 type most profitable; and, largely because their country has been 

 populated at a much slower pace than ours, they have been much 

 slower to change to the mutton type than we. Merino blood still 

 predominates in Australian flocks, although the mutton breeds are 

 gradually gaining ground and the mutton qualities of the Merinos 

 are being improved. As the supply of both mutton and wool in 

 Australia far exceeds the home demand, sheep raisers are obliged 

 to depend largely on foreign markets. Until recent years very little 

 of the wool intended for export was sold before it left Australian 

 ports. It was consigned to commission firms in England, who dis- 

 posed of it by means of auction sales. But the custom of selling 

 wool in Australian seaboard cities is now rapidly growing. 



Australia disposes of her surplus mutton by shipping frozen car- 

 casses to England. Until refrigeration for ocean liners was per- 

 fected, she had practically no outlet for her surplus supply of meat, 

 and hence there was no great incentive for encouraging the mutton 

 types of sheep. 



Present Importance. Australia has no superior as a sheep 

 country. It is a large country where pastorial agriculture has been 

 emphasized for many years and sheep seem to have been the animals 

 best adapted to her grazing lands. There has always been room for 

 expansion; which fact, together with the demand for wool and 



