Elizabeth Macarthur

In 1788 a young gentlewoman raised in an English vicarage married a handsome, haughty and penniless army officer. In any Jane Austen novel, that would be the end of the story, but for the woman who would play an integral part in establishing Australia’s wool industry, it was just the beginning. Elizabeth Macarthur landed at…

Read More

Eliza

In the main street of Campbell Town, Tasmania is this statue, dedicated to Eliza Forlong who, on deciding in her 40s to emigrate to New South Wales to breed sheep, first walked across Saxony to find the best breeding stock, and therefore became one of the founders of the Australian wool industry. Australian Dictionary of…

Read More

Ann & Catherine

Hobart Town Gazette, 6 November 1819 Ann and Catherine were both Norfolk Islanders who took up land around Hobart when the island settlement was closed. By 1819, both were widowed and responsible for the running of their respective farms. Ann Lucas (nee Howard) & her husband settled at Browns River, now Kingston. Ann Howard on State…

Read More

Mrs Kearney

ON Sale at Mrs. Kearney’s, Fresh Butter at 5s. per lb. where New Milk may be had every Morning at 7 o’clock, at 6d. per quart. Hobart Town Gazette, 7 November 1818 MRS. KEARNEY informs her Customers and the Inhabitants of Hobart Town, that she has reduced the Price of her Milk to 6d. per…

Read More

Dolly

Sherwood Hall at Latrobe, home to “Thomas Johnson, a pioneer and settler who began life in Van Dieman’s Land as a convict and his wife Dolly Dalrymple Briggs, the first part aboriginal”. Australian Dictionary of Biography Bridging the cultural divide with Dolly Dalrymple

Read More

Mrs Buist

I came across a small pile of Midlands Agricultural Society* exhibition certificates that been awarded to Mrs Buist in the 1880s, for produce and working bullocks. Last month, I found some more, so I thought I’d see if I could find some more about her with a quick poke around. Seems she’d been winning at…

Read More