CHAPTER V11I. 

 ILLAWARRA IN THE SEVENTIES. 



At or about the time, say 1865-70, when Mr. Evan R. Evans had 

 the alleged imported bull " Major" he had a roan bull bred by the 

 A. A. Company, of Gloucester, and a roan bull bred by Messrs. Cox, 

 of Mudgee. This roan Cox's bull is supposed to be the sire of several 

 of the bulls known throughout the South Coast. Impressions once 

 formed die away but slowly, and the impressions formed in connection 

 with this Cox's bull were no exception to the rule. 



Many of our writers on the origin of the lllawarra cattle seem to 

 forget that it was the custom in the earlier days of dairying to al- 

 ways keep two or three bulls running on the farm at the same time, 

 and as no arrangements were ever made with regard to keepin/g pedi- 

 grees, it has all along been a waste of time and paper to defend the 

 pedigree of many of our best bulls against the statements of a man 

 who was probably watching the performance. 



In the seventies Mr. Evan R. Evans made other purchases, as 

 stated elsewhere. He purchased from the A. A. Company, of Glou- 

 cester, two bulls Solon and Balko and from Mr. Cox, of Fern Hill, 

 Mulgoa, a bull which he called Beaumont. Other breeders namely, 

 Mr. Robert Hindmarsh, had purchased a bull he called " Coronet" 

 from a Mr. Durham, of Singleton ; Mr. George Tate purchased a 

 bull from Messrs. Barnes and Smith, which he called " Napoleon"; 

 and other breeders made purchases of bull calves of which no records 

 have been kept. During these years numbers of heifers were pur- 

 chased from Hassal & Roberts, of Braidwood, Maddrell of Araluen, 

 Campbell of Bergalia, Foster of Narooma, Comen of Eurobodalla, 

 Byrnes of Cadgee, and from dealers who purchased to suit the mar- 

 kets of the coast, to mate with these bulls, as a rule with a view of 

 improving the milking qualities of the dairy herds. But when Mr. 

 W. R. Hin'dmarsh bought his Victorian-bred bull (a descendant of 

 the celebrated Duke of Derrimut, bred by Mr. Morton, of Mount 

 Derrimut, Victoria) .for 750, Mr. W. W. Ewin purchased the 5th 

 Duke of Brunswick for 1150, and two heifers at 1000 guineas each, 

 they were not buying to breed milkers. Their principal object 

 was to breed stud stock for the Sydney market. This system was 

 carried to such an extent that it was quite a common thing to see 

 South Coast men's names figuring as buyers and sellers among the 

 lists at all the pedigreed stud cattle sales in Sydney. During the 

 seventies and eighties some of the Shorthorn cows on the South 

 Coast were said to have as many as seven calves in one year. Be 

 that as it may, it would be a serious mistake to think the men just 

 mentioned, together with Messrs. W. R. Jenkins, of Berkley, Wollon- 

 gong, Henry Osborne, jun., of Avondale, Dapto, Francis McMahon 

 and William Wilford, of Ulladulla, used, respectively, such bulls as 

 Butterfly, Alexander, Mariner, and Royal Butterfly for the purpose 

 of breeding dairy cattle. Mariner's pedigree has not been published 

 He is alleged to have been born at sea and purchased in a bazaar 

 in Sydney. Hence the absence of nationality and pedigree. He was 

 a good dairy bull, nevertheless. As men possessed of business tact, 

 they calculated on the value of the calf being (brec 1 as it was from 

 pedigreed stock) worth 50, and as the produce of one of the best 

 dairy cows would only be worth, including calf, about 12 a year, it 

 is easily seen why the cattle boom took such a hold on the South 

 Coast dairymen in the seventies, and why so many of their bulls 

 turned out such failures whenever an attempt was made to use their 

 progeny in any of the dairy herds along the South Coast. 



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