The London Connection: the formation and early years of the Australian Agricultural Company

Abstract

The Australian Agricultural Company was formed in London in 1824 to promote the raising of fine wool in New South Wales. Previous treatments of the Company's formation and early years have focussed principally on developments in New South Wales. In contrast, it is maintained here that the Company's genesis can only be fully understood in the context of the London financial market and imperial investment of the time; the family and business connections of the promoters and directors; and the changing nature of the British wool market. Further, it is argued, that the Company's survival through its first decade owed far more to the Court of Directors in London than ever previously acknowledged. The work is divided into two parts. Part I explores the context in which the Company was formed. Its four chapters cover the Stock Market boom of 1823-4 (which also saw the flotation of the Van Diemen's Land and Canada Companies); an analysis of the British shareholders, particularly the role of John Macarthur the younger (the son of John Macarthur of Parramatta and Camden): a survey of the British wool market; and the development of New South Wales wool to 1824 and its entry into the British market. The first two chapters of Part II sets out the circumstances surrounding the Company's formation in 1824, and the Directors' decision in 1825 to take over the coal mines in New South Wales. The following chapters then examine, chronologically, developments in London and New South Wales which culminated in August 1834, with the decision to pay the Company's first dividend. Show more