FOUNDING THE ILLAWARRA HERDS. 



This property was situated at the junction of the Bringelly Creek 

 with the Nepean. It has also been stated that in 1844 Mr. Henry 

 Osborne imported a very remarkable strawberry Durham bull about 

 two years old, which he kept in his stud herd till about 1846, when 

 he leased the bull or exchanged him for one imported by Mr. J. 

 Terry Hughes. " In 1842," says Mr. Russell, " Mr. Duncan Beatson 

 became manager for Mr. John Terry Hughes at Terry's Meadows 

 (now Albion Park), and the following year (1847) the "English bull, 

 with a bull called the " Bally bull," were put into the herd for stud 

 purposes by Mr. Beatson." 



In case some of my readers might labor under the impression that 

 this " Bally bull" was of the Hereford breed, it is better to state 

 at once that the animal in question was of the Longhorn breed, from 

 the stud of Captain John Macarthur, of Camden. as Mr. Russell dis- 

 tinctly indicates, when he describes these Longhorns, as follows : 



" They were brindled and yellow in color, long frames, long heads, 

 with very long crooked horns of various shapes, large-sized udders, 

 and long teats." Some of the cows were strawberry-roan in color 

 with white strips on the back and down the face." Mr. Russell is 

 positive that nearly every dairy herd of note between Bulli and the 

 Shoalhaven River were based more or less on the progeny of these 

 two bulls or from the matings of these bulls with other importa- 

 tions." Mr. Russell is very emphatic when describing the strawberry 

 English bull imported by Mr. Henry Osborne, and says : "That Eng- 

 lish bull was the best bull ever seen in New South Wales." Mr. 

 Russell also gives a list of names of those who had purchased young 

 bulls by the strawberry English bull prior to 1850 : " Dr. Jerrard, 

 (Dapto). T. S. Lomax (Lakelands), Jessett and Tritton Bros (Dapto), 

 Enoch Fowler (Oak Flats), and the Swan family." Mr. Russell fur- 

 ther adds : "The dairy Herds of the' dairymen just mentioned never 

 received any hand feed, yet thirty-six quarts of milk per day wiss not 

 considered a wonderful performance for one of those Longhorned 

 cows, nor were they like the cows of the present day, which com- 

 mence to go off their milk as soon as they go in calf. Those cows 

 would, without much care or attention, milk ten months in the year, 

 year in and year out for years." 



In proof that Messrs. John Terry Hughes and Mr. Henry Osborne 

 bred practically on the same lines, Mr. Russell states : " In the year 

 1855 Messrs. Henry Fredricks, John Collev, and Tames Spin'-s pur- 

 chased from Mr. Henry Osbourne thirtv heid of springing heifers 

 at 10 each, dividing them equally when they got the heifers to 

 Jerrara, near Kiama." Mr. Russell describes these heifers as being 

 " mostly of the cross between the Longhorned and Shorthorn breed, 

 with a 'few roan and red colored animals among the mob." This 

 statement bears out exactly the often repeated story which went to 

 show that Mr. Henry Osborne never cared to part with his fancy 

 colored animals. The Messrs. Black and Boyd families made their 

 purchases from Mr. Osborne shortly afterwards. It will be seen 

 from the authentic statements of Messrs. Archie McGill, Tohn Brown, 

 and John Russell, all of whom are alive to-day, and still associated 

 with the dairying industry, that at least twenty years before the bull 

 " Major" was seen or heard of in Illawarra, there were better bulls 

 and a much better type of dairy cattle than has been seen since the 

 sixties. The three gentlemen just quoted do not stand alone in their 

 opinions, as it was the almost unanimous verdict oi our fathers in 

 the seventies and eighties. 



In 1856 Mr. David Johnston commenced sel'ing off his valuable 

 herd of purebred Durham cattle. These choi:e animals were sub- 

 mitted to the " hammer," and found ready purchasers among the 

 cattle men of Illawarra. The sales were held at the sale yards, 

 Brown's Hotel, Dapto, Mr. Collie being the auctioneer. 



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