BIGNNING OF THE AUSTRALIAN WOOL INDUSTRY BY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2516, 4 June 1902, Page 6

BIGNNING OF THE AUSTRALIAN WOOL INDUSTRY BY.

There are various claimants for the honour of being the first to introduce the merino sheep into Australia, but that honour appears to belong to a countryman of our own (says the Bradford Observer) in the person of the Rev. Samuel Marsden, who was born at Farsley, near Leeds. He passed his youth as a blacksmith, working for a master at Horsforth, but by indomitable perseverance he worked his way to the University of Cambridge — no mean feat in those days. He was ordained in 1793, and was immediately afterwards appointed to the settlement at Sydney. New South Wales had been made a British settlement in 1788. and the settlers became possessed of their first sheep by the purchase of 30 head from the captain of a merchant vessel from Calcutta an 1793. These sheep were of the Indian breed, but the flock was afterwards increased by importations from the Cape of Good Hope and England, and, favoured by the climate, the flocks increased rapidly. Mr Marsden arrived at Botany Bay and began his mission in 1794. He interested himseli in the development of agriculture, and particularly in the rearing of sheep, and, to give practical effect to his scheme of educating the colonists, he established a model farm at Botany Bay. He returned to England on a visit in 1808, and brought over a quantity of the wool which had been grown in the settlement. It was packed in barrels, and had been so little appreciated in the colony that it was used to bed out cattle. Mr Marsden naturally visited his native village, and wuat happened there is best told by an extract from, a letter written by Mr William Thompson, one of the chief actors in the inception of this interesting romance of trade :— " It was in the spring of 1808 when the Rev. Samuel Marsden returned to this country, and then brought with him the first wool that ever came from the colony. He came over from Horsforth to dine with my father as an old acquaintance, and after dinner we went down to Park Mill, then employed by my brother Jeremiah and myself under the firm of J. and W. Thomson. On going over .the premises he saw some Cheviot fleece, and inquired their value, at the same time stating that he had brought over,a small quantity of wool from the colony, but did not know its value. He -offered the -srool to me on condition I would pay the carriage down from London, make a piece of -black cloth from the finest (ho admixture), and let him have a- suil, which I agreed to. The wool was sent down, about 10 stone or 12 stone, which was sorted, and about 5 stone of the finest sort made into a white cloth, then dyed black and finished, one-half of which, say about 20yds, was sent to him in London. " The wool proved well, and made a doth superior to his. or my expectation; he liad a suit made from it, and was so much pleased therewith as to visit King George 111 in it. t* ho admired it very much, and expressed a wish to have a coat of the sa-ine cloth, which was at once readily granted. His -.laiesty was so impressed^ with the importance of the wool of the colony that he gave orders for Mr Marsden to have selected some of the best .sheep from his flock of merinos at Windsor. They had a good deal of conversation about ; the colony, and his Majesty expressed a fear that they would not be able to -make returns, w hen Mr Marsden informed him. that he thought wool would ultimately be a large return." Mr Thompson goes on to say that " a while after, Messrs Alexander Birnie and Co., wine and porter merchants, imported a large quantity of wool in casks, wllc-h I purchased from them, -and a large proportion of it had evidently been buried in the earth. After this we received largely oh consignment from the R-ev. Samuel Marsden, Captain Cox, and othere." Mr Cudworth -says that "Mr Marßden -fitted out an expedition to civilise tire cannibal tribes of New Zealand in 1814, and Tvas the first man to teach the Natives of the Northern Island .religion, agriculture, and the arts, and preached ihis first in S«w Zaa.lanA on Christines Day. TSIiL fram

the ■words, ' Behold* I bring you good tidV.^ ings.' This remarkable Yorkshire man, 1 closed his life in Sydney in 1838, where a national monument has been erected ta his memory. In remembrance of him as a native of the locality, a number of staane3 - glass windows have also been inserted in his parish church at Parsley." His chiei memorial, however, is the enormous trade of winch he was the pioneer, worth to Australia about £20,000,000 per annum, and which has had such a marvellous influence upon the trade of his own city (Leeds). The six merino rams selected) from the King's Windsor flocks were taken out to Australia in 1810. The first consignment of merino wool arrived in 1811,. and amounted to 1671b, which was soldi by auction at Garraway's Coffee House in London, so that this date marks the rise of the Australian wool trade and of the London colonial wool sales.