Advertisement
Published: October 27th 2007
When visiting a new country there are many ways to learn about it. A good place to start in Australia is with its history. The entire continent was occupied by Europeans just over 200 years ago, 219 to be exact. It is a fairly large continent, almost the same size as mainland USA which is sometimes called the lower or contiguous 48 states and has an area of about 7.9 million square kilometres. Mainland Australia has an area of 7.6 million square kilometres. In the first decade, just a few hundred people rising to just a few thousand by the end of that decade transformed the entire continent in such a way that the process became irreversible. Yes many of the indigenous people did suffer, their population was reduced from somewhere around a million to about 200,000 mainly by the introduction of smallpox; this was accidental and never malicious. Not many people would deny that later many of the aboriginal people were treated very badly and this was not properly addressed until 1973 with many problems still outstanding but genuine attempts are being made to resolve them.
Australia was settled (the aborigine people say invaded), in 1788, five years later the farm near to what is now Parramatta was begun and the original farmhouse is now the oldest remaining European building in Australia. Far more significant though is the fact that the Merino Sheep was developed here by John & Elizabeth Macarthur, this fine wool sheep probably did more to get the Australian colonies established than any other economic factor. Because of this sheep, Australia became and still is the largest wool producer, accounting for just over one quarter of the entire world production.
The Elizabeth Farm is maintained by the Historic Houses Trust and apart from Christmas Day and Good Friday is open seven days a week. It can be reached from the centre of Sydney in less than an hour.
John Macarthur and his wife Elizabeth arrived in Australia on the second fleet just two years after the original settlement. He was an officer in the New South Wales Corps. Soon after arrival he was appointed paymaster for the colony and stationed in Parramatta then half a day’s travel from Sydney, some travellers on modern trains think it still takes that long even though the schedule is around 30 minutes. It was not long before he was promoted to Inspector of Public Works. Some nasty people have suggested that he used his influence to obtain a 100 acres land grant and more than his fair share of allocated convicts to work on his farm. Twice he was recalled to London, the first time to be court-martialled for taking part in a duel and later to face another possible court-martial for his part in the second mutiny against Captain Bligh. You might recall that Captain Bligh had had a spot of bother on HMS Bounty; he had problems again as Governor of New South Wales when the Army Corps rose against him. Anyway John Macarthur not only talked his way out of the court martial, which at the extreme could have resulted in execution, he persuaded Lord Camden to increase his land holding to 500 acres so that he could extend his sheep run for the good of the colony. Later he was able to increase this to 900 acres by purchasing land from other farmers.
The Merino sheep was originally developed in Spain to stand up to a similar climate to the Australia one. It has a thick fleece of very fine threads and is ideal for making clothing; some of the superwools are now very hardy, can be thrown into an ordinary washing machine, even spun dry. It is possible that Elizabeth Macarthur, a farmer’s daughter, will have been the one with the expertise for breeding sheep whereas John Macarthur had been mainly a soldier. This is recognised in the naming of the Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute. Some of the articles are in conflict saying that the Merino stock was kept pure; others that some South American rams were used to make minor improvements. Whatever, it worked and helped to establish Australia.
We’ll start of with a picture of the Prickly Pear; this was introduced by the first fleet. In those days, the easiest route to Australia, allowing for navigation difficulties, prevailing wind and current, was via Argentina. The sailing ships would pick up their final supplies, the result being that if they had a pest we still have it. Captain Phillip brought about 200 cochineal insect infested cactus plants with the idea of starting a local industry; instead, we had a disaster that was to cause problems for almost 140 years. Many people were employed in controlling the pest that threatened much of the grazing land, it was spreading at the rate of half a million acres a year. In 1926, after much research, cactoblastis caterpillars were introduced, an immediate success and the land was reclaimed very quickly.
This is the original homestead but I think the colour-bonded steel roof could be a later addition. With its deep verandas and good through ventilation it became the standard for all similar buildings.
Outside we have the simple boot-scraper. Those who understand physics will know that this is the simplest and most reliable machine that we have ever invented. Placing a boot on it creates a fulcrum using the work generated to remove any soil from the sole. Needs little maintenance and has no moving parts.
So, water filters are nothing new. This one is thought to be about 150 years old; it has been carved out of a piece of limestone and produces good quality drinking water.
Moving inside the house we look at the Parlour, my grandparents in UK had a room very similar to this.
I also remember a fire range like this one, it was used a lot during the war and up to about 1950 for cooking including bread, pastries and cakes.
Most of this furniture would have been made locally by artisans; some of them may have been convicts who were virtual slaves.
It doesn’t seem long ago that washing boards were being used in the dolly tub every Monday, took all week to wash, iron and air everything.
Here we have some of the original wooden buckets. We were amazed at the weight of them and were told that when in use they would have been even heavier because they had to be soaked to seal the joints. The final weight of the bucket and the contents would be about 10 Kgs and in the early days, they would have been carried, two at a time, from the river 200 yards away.
This is the farmhouse herb and vegetable garden. It is grown with older varieties of seed based on drawings and some photographs of the original farm.
Finally, a portrait of Elizabeth Macarthur, I think we owe her a lot.
It is unfortunate that there is now only one acre of the original nine hundred left. It is now the museum that we have just visited but very little evidence of the original development of the Merino wool industry remains. Several similar farms in the area are now the City of Parramatta.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.234s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 12; qc: 50; dbt: 0.0447s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.1mb
doris charles
non-member comment
Elizabeth Farm Sydney
what good history this is Nigel, i like to read your blogs they are always very interesting. Regards Doris