The Duttons had the first sheep station and stud in South Australia and made a fortune selling wool . Naturally , Anlaby, their main homestead , received numerous brochures and letters related to the sheep industry , including the above 1912 offer for a new type of electric shearing machine , sporting an office spike hole at the top .
There is evidence in the files of moves to counter growing union power and concern about shearing contracts . This harks back to 1891 when shearers went on strike in Queensland over pastoralists attempts to employ cheap non-union labour , an event leading to formation of the Australian Labor Party .
A 1910 letter from the Pastoralists ' Association of South Australia covered the arbitration and conciliation hearing in which the Australian Workers' Union (AWU) was described as being " against pastoralists" . It said the adjourned hearing would resume with a visit to Wingalee Station , near Coonamble , NSW, to view the start of shearing . It invited Anlaby to be a registered party in the case .
A 1912 letter, with associated prospectus , from Sydney , outlined the plan to set up a large company ,The Federal Pastoral Shearing Co. Ltd., to check the influence of the AWU as well as provide a "controlling voice " in contract shearing . It proposed taking over The Federal Sheep Shearing Company Limited , founded in 1904, operating in NSW, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia .
Another call to arms came in the form of a "Liberal Union " card , above , urging farmers to start branches and protect their interests . The president of the Liberal Union , Senator Joseph Vardon ( 1843-1913 ) , anti Socialist , was a printer and publisher , whose business was taken over by the Adelaide Advertiser .
The 1910 Pastoralists' Association of South Australia membership list shows three properties held by the Duttons : Dutton , Hy. ( Henry ) , at Anlaby , known locally as The Squire of Anlaby ; Dutton, H. H. (his son ), of Nikalapko , at Morgan , the busy riverboat port on the Murray River (later ensconced at Anlaby ) ; and Dutton and Melrose , North Booborowie, Ulooloo.
UPCOMING : More interesting documents , samples and the Cattle King .
