Monday, September 5, 2016

WHEN AUSTRALIA RODE ON THE OLD SHEEP'S BACK


The December  1936 edition of the National Geographic  Magazine, recently obtained by this blog,  contains   several  well  illustrated   articles  dealing  with  the  Australia way of  life , especially   the   importance of   wool  to the nation .
 
Of  particular note is  an  aerial photograph [above]  of  Anlaby  Station , north of Adelaide , home of the  wealthy  and  influential  Dutton  family , who   hosted royalty and many prominent people, including  Lady Spencer, Princess Diana's paternal grandmother .
 

 Anlaby  is  mentioned  in connection with the  fact that  a  fifth of the nation's wealth was   carried on  the back  of  sheep . The author wrote that the  merino  was   the "uncrowned  King of Australia, " supplying between a quarter and a third of  the world's wool .  Above the mantelpiece of one  sheep station  study  , like an  ancestral portrait , was " old David," an Australian merino ram bought for  more than  " US25,000 ! "

This sounds as if he was referring to Anlaby ,  as it was the oldest  merino  and  Clydesdale stud in South Australia , shearing more than 70,000 sheep  a  year , the homestead  employing  14  gardeners   in 1904 . Then there was the steam yacht . A member of the clan, Francis Dutton , shared in the  copper find at Kapunda which added to the  family  coffers; he  became the SA Premier  and the   SA  Agent- General in London, where  he died in 1877. 
 
 Known as   "Squire  Dutton, " Henry   Hampden  Dutton    made the first car crossing  from  Adelaide to  Darwin  in  1908  with Murray Aunger . He died, aged 53,  in his  bed  at Anlaby,  the  large house  filled  with  antiques, books , paintings ,  in  1932.  
 
Over the years , the Dutton  empire shrank along with its  fortunes  until there was a closing down auction  of contents  during  the   time of  author and poet  Geoffrey  Dutton . At the sale   was the  now  Magnetic Island  researcher and postcard  enthusiast  Gary Davies who bought  some ephemera and   a  footscraper , the latter now outside the entrance  to  his  stately  home, the grounds  of  which include part of  the Magnetic Island  old  jetty next to  a man-made billabong , the  venue for  well attended  jazz  festivals in the past  .  During the  auction , he recalled the top of  the Anlaby  fountain , which had  played before  many prominent  visitors, including  local and overseas literary  identities,   fell off , symbolising  the  end  of   a   dynasty  and  a  golden  era .