Australian Agricultural Company

In the Service of the Company Letters of Sir Edward Parry, Commissioner to the Australian Agricultural Company

Sir Edward Parry's correspondence as Commissioner to the Australian Agricultural Company was voluminous. His letter books,covering his correspondence with officials, merchants and others in the Colony of New South Wales 1829-1834, have been transcribed as In the Service of the Company.

The extensive archives of the Australian Agricultural Company, including records from both the London and Australian offices, are held by the Noel Butlin Archives Centre. The archives are listed on the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register.

The baptisms of children at Port Stephens, written into the back of Volume 1, have been listed separately.

Volume I (1829 - 1832) and Volume II (1832 - 1834) are available from ANU E Press in PDF or hard copy. 

Pure merinos and others: the "shipping lists" of the Australian Agricultural Company

Pure Merinos and Others begins with a general history of the Australian Agricultural Company and its subsidiary, Peel River Land and Mineral Company. Between 1825 and 1862 the companies brought from Europe to New South Wales over 700 men to work either at the colliery in Newcastle or on the extensive pastoral estates at Port Stephens, Tamworth and the Liverpool Plains. The new arrivals were managers, skilled mechanics,shepherds, miners and labourers. Many were accompanied by their wives and families.

Using the shipping lists from the records of the companies held at the Noel Butlin Archives Centre, Pure Merinos and Others records names of these newly arrived employees and, wherever possible,details of their ages, occupations and wages. The book also includes sailing and arrival dates of the ships on which they came, tonnage, captain and details of significant cargo, especially animal stock.

The book is currently out of print, but can be consulted in the reading room of the Noel Butlin Archives Centre. It is also available at the National Library of Australia, all state libraries and major university and public libraries. This version of Pure Merinos and Others (46.1MB) was published with minor corrections in 2011.

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