200 Years of the Australian Agricultural Company

On 10th April 1824 a dozen men met in the London chambers of Australian lawyer John Macarthur Jnr for the purpose of discussing the formation of a company to raise fine-woolled sheep in the colony of New South Wales, with the fleece to be sold on the London market. That company became known as the Australian Agricultural Company, and it is now the oldest continuously operating company in Australia still trading under its original name.

200 Years of the Australian Agricultural Company tells the story of one of Australia's largest and most successful companies, from its beginnings operating sheep stations across New South Wales to its present, as the operator of Australia's largest cattle herd, with pastoral stations across Queensland and the Northern Territory. The exhibition explores the Company's history through a selection of archival photographs, maps, drawings and papers held in the Noel Butlin Archives Centre. 

Our sincere thanks to Dr Pennie Pemberton for her assistance with this exhibition. Pennie's book 'Pure Merinos and Others: The Shipping Lists of the Australian Agricultural Company' can be accessed in digital format on the ANU Archives website - https://archives.anu.edu.au/collections/noel-butlin-archives-centre/guides-finding-and-using-collection/australian-agricultural.
 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples please note that this exhibition includes images and names of the deceased.