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Australian Agricultural Company (1824 - )

From
1824
Functions
Agriculture and Forestry and Fishing

Summary

The Company was established by Act of United Kingdom Parliament and Royal Charter in 1824 to raise fine wool sheep in New South Wales on a million acre land grant. In 1831 the company took over coal mining operations in Newcastle, New South Wales and in 1854 sold its Peel Estate (Tamworth, New South Wales) to the newly formed Peel River Land & Mineral Company, continuing its pastoral operations at Port Stephens and Warrah, and coal mining at Newcastle (to 1916) and Hebburn. From 1932 the Australian operations of the company and the Peel River Land and Mineral Company were jointly managed, and two subsidiary companies were formed: AA&P Joint Holdings and Union Pastoral Investments. In 1959 the company finally acquired the whole share capital in Peel River Land and Mineral Company, and the subsidiary companies were wound up. In 1965 the Company transferred it tax domicile from the UK to Australia, and the head office from London to Tamworth NSW. In 1985, with its cattle operations mainly in Queensland and the Northern Territory transferred its registered to office to Brisbane. In 1994 the company was acquired by Elders Futuris Ltd.

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Archival resources

Cultural Collections (Archives), Auchmuty Library, University of Newcastle, NSW

  • Australian Agricultural Company records, 1824 - 1952, Various, contact archive for details.; Cultural Collections (Archives), Auchmuty Library, University of Newcastle, NSW. Details

Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales

  • Australian Agricultural Company records, 1932?, MLMSS 1581; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
  • Australian Agricultural Company records, 1864 - 1889, ML Mss 1846; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
  • Jesse Gregson records, 1844 - 1966, MLMSS 1382; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

National Library of Australia, Manuscripts Collection National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection

  • Australian Agricultural Company records, 1830 - 1834, Mfm G 2430; National Library of Australia, Manuscripts Collection National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details

Noel Butlin Archives Centre, Australian National University, (formerly Archives of Business and Labour)

  • Australian Agricultural Company records, 1824 - 1998, Various, contact archive for details.; Noel Butlin Archives Centre, Australian National University, (formerly Archives of Business and Labour). Details
  • W.E.R. Wilson records, 1933, P87; Noel Butlin Archives Centre, Australian National University, (formerly Archives of Business and Labour). Details

University of New England and Regional Archives

  • Australian Agricultural Company records, 1823 - 1947, A497; University of New England and Regional Archives. Details
  • Australian Agricultural Company records, 1879 - 1978, A 707; University of New England and Regional Archives. Details
  • Australian Agricultural Company records, 1872 - 1959, A 164; University of New England and Regional Archives. Details

Published resources

Books

  • In good company. 175 years of the Australian Agricultural Company, 1824-1999, Australian Agricultural Company, Sydney. Details
  • Bairstow, Damaris, A million pounds, a million acres. The pioneer settlement of the Australian Agricultural Company, The author, Cremorne, New South Wales, 2003, 418 pp. Details
  • Barnard, A, The Australian Wool Market, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, Victoria, 1958. Details
  • Gregson, Jesse, The Australian Agricultural Company 1824-1875, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1907, 336 pp. Details
  • Harris, Alexander, Guide to Port Stephens ... , the colony of the Australian Agricultural Company, 1849. Details
  • Kennedy, Ken, The Australian Agricultural Company, Newcastle University History Club, Newcastle, NSW, 1976, 7 pp. Details
  • Pemberton, P.A., Pure merinos and others: The "Shipping Lists" of The Australian Agricultural Company, Australian National University, Archives of Business and Labour, Canberra, 1986, 125 pp. Details

Journal Articles

  • Atchison, J.F., 'Archives of a Joint-Stock Company - the Australian Agricultural Company; its system of administration and its records 1824-1970', Archives and Manuscripts, vol. 4, no. 3, 1970, pp. 21-32. Details
  • Campbell, J.T., 'The first decade of the Australian Agriculture Company 1824-1834', Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, vol. ix, 1923. Details
  • Jack, R. Ian, 'The AACo's Flour Mill at Stroud', Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, vol. 63. Details
  • Robertson, J., 'The Australian Agricultural Company and the Port Stephens fiasco', Armidale and District Historical Society Journal and Proceedings, no. 6, 1963, pp. 9-30. Details
  • Robertson, J., 'Equipping a pastoral property: Warrah, 1861-1875', Business Archives and History, vol. IV, no. 1, 1964, pp. 23-43. Details
  • Robertson, Jon, 'The Australian Agricultural Company', Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, vol. 50, no. 3. Details
  • Singleton, C.C., 'The Railways of the Australian Agricultural Conmpany Newcastle', Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, vol. 13, no. 78, 1944. Details
  • Turner, J.W., 'The entry of the Australian Agriculture Company into the New South Wales coal industry', Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, vol. 58, Dec, 1972, pp. 233-246. Details

Online Resources

Bruce A. Smith

Created: 1 December 1999, Last modified: 14 October 2010