FIRST CENTURY OF DAIRYING IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 



stations on the North Coast. Mr. Clark Irving, of the Tomki K-tate, 

 Richmond River, and Mr. C. G. Tindal, of Ramornie Clarence River, 

 purchased stock. Mr. Tindal's purchase included Mr. Henry Os- 

 borne's Durham cow Charlotte, by Duke (imp.), 'for 100. At thi- 

 tinn Mr. Osbornc was offered a tempting sum of money for a splen- 

 did Longhorned Durham co\v. '' Tallboy," a half-sister to Charlotte, 

 but he could not be drawn, which to a great extent proved his judg- 

 ment, as Tallboy afterwards produced the bulls which sired the heifer- 

 which commanded high prices for many years from the coastal dairy 

 farmers. Tallboy's dam was by the imported strawberry Durham bull 

 out of a daughter of Brutus. 



It was during the years 1845-50 that Mr. Kvan Kvans gave up store- 

 keeping and commenced dairying at Penrose. Dapto. He had -for a 

 short time previous been purchasing calves from the small settlers 

 around Dapto, and sending them off to the southern tableland until 

 they were forward in calf and then bringing them back and dis- 

 posing of them to the dairymen around the district. But when he 

 commenced dairying he went to Camden and bought t<?r> heifers nM 

 two bulls from the estate of Mr. William Howe, of Glenlee. He 

 shortly after purchased young bulls from Messrs. T. S. Lomax and 

 Henry Osborne. These animals, in conjunction with the stock pur- 

 chased in the district, as just mentioned, laid a solid foundation which 

 carried the superstructure built up by his son, Mr. Evan R. Evans, 

 well on into the seventies. Mr. Evan Evan, sen., was largely in- 

 terested in a station property in conjunction with Mr. Henry Osborne, 

 situated in the Lachlan district, in the vicinity of Gundagai, called 

 Waggra. The calves .from Illawarra sent there and brought back- 

 again to their native climate were dairy cattle of a type and excel- 

 lence not seen to-day. 



It was during the years 1855 and 1865 that the boom set in in beef 

 ca,ttle. Buyers were on the alert, and nearly all the cows showing 

 a preponderance of Shorthorn, Hereford, or Devon in their general 

 outline and color were quickly bought up to mate with the pedigreed 

 bulls of those breeds that were being imported to Xe\v South Wales 

 in great numbers. By 1860 every dairyman of note from north to 

 south of the South Coast was trying to prove to the satisfaction of 

 some buyer or other that certain roan, red, or bally cows in his herd 

 were bred by some noted Shorthorn, Devon, or Hereford breeder, in 

 order to effect a satisfactory sale. It is very easy, therefore, to ex- 

 plain away the cause for the absence of authentic written statements 

 regarding the pedigree of so many of our so-called imported bulls. 

 The absence of pedigrees is very marked in all the early Shorthorn, 

 Hereford, and Devon herds that were established between 1854-64. 



With such facts in front of us, is there a:iy wonder that \ve should 

 have our doubt- about the correctness of a pedigree based on a cer 

 tain bull stated to be imported, when almost in the same breath the 

 owner says, " Pedigree lost." When the human eye detects, and 

 reason suspects, a cross in a bull or a cow, the owner, in the absence 

 of authentic proo>i, may expect trouble should he attempt to u.-e 

 the word " purebred." 



Xot much can be gained from the shi w renorts of former days 

 with regard to the breeding and mating of dairy cattle. Therefore, 

 any show i -ep<rt cannot be availed of by anyone not actually in pos- 

 iion of the history of the breeding of the animal- exhibited. For 

 exannde. at the Show of 1860, held in the Market Square, adjacent 

 to Klliot's Motel. Wbllongong, the report -ays : "Among the horred 

 stock a tine two year-old bull belonging to Mr. A. MeCill. which took 

 iirst pri/.e. was pronoiriccd by competent judge-; to be equal to any 

 animal of its kind ever exhibited in the district. The same gentleman 

 also -howed a remarkably well bred row -n-o-n imported stock." 



54- 



