APPENDIX.
Reading edition
Enumeration of the quantity of sheep to be shorn in the present year (1853), upon the Rivers Murray and Lachlan, as far as Swan Hill, in the Provinces of South Australia, Victoria, and New South Wales.
Owners. Sheep.
Mr. Pyke 20,000
Westmeath 40,000
Messrs. Sylvester & Smith 15,000
Mr. Lintott 6,000
Grierson 3,000
Messrs. Phelps & Connolly 12,000
Mr. Beveridge 10,000
Hamilton 5,000
McCallum 13,000
Grant 6,000
Ross 7,000
Morey 7,000
Gibbs 5,000
McPherson 6,000
Keane 16,000
McGrath 10,000
Jamieson 10,000
Messrs. Crozier & Rutherford 13,000
Mr. Paterson 7,000
Bagot 5,000
Chambers 6,000
Mr. Walker 6,000
Coomar 5,000
Hart 6,000
Walsh 6,000
Haywood 3,000
Scoott 4,000
Fletcher 12,000
Scott 7,000
McLennan 7,000
McLean 6,000
McFarlane 4,000
Cameron 4,000
THE LACHLAN.
Mr. Peters 10,000
Messrs. Phelps & Co 20,000
Mr. Wentworth 50,000
Laing 15,000
Firebrace 6,000
Messrs. Firebrace and Brown 10,000
Mr. Nyne 40,000
Total number of sheep 443,000
To this number may be added an unestimated amount of sheep upon the Darling River, amounting certainly, to 17,000; which at a very low calculation will give 460,000 sheep; yielding a supply of wool—at 2 lbs. per sheep, and an average of 250 lbs. weight per bale—of 3,680 bales; or, at a rough estimate of £20 per bale, £73,600; or, at the not unusual yield of 2¼ lbs. per sheep, £82,080.
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This estimate extends no further than Swan Hill, about 1,300 miles from the sea. To give a correct idea of the probable amount of wool to be derived from Swan Hill and north of the Murray, onwards, is not easy, but including the runs to Albury and Gundegai, and from thence again to near the junction of the Lachlan, it may be estimated at 280,000
Again, on the north bank of the Murrumbidgee there may be set down twenty stations, depasturing each 4,500 sheep, or 90,000
In Victoria, and on the south side of the Murray, from Swan Hill to Albury, not embracing the stations at the Campaspe, Goulburn, or Ovens, excepting those at their respective junctions 220,000
Total 590,000 [31]
In this calculation, out of 124 stations, seventy only have been put down as cattle stations, or unlikely to send their wool to Adelaide.
A third estimate of produce likely to go to the Adelaide market, and taking Swan Hill as a depôt, would bring in a very large quantity of wool, via Lake Lalbert to Swan Hill.
The stations producing this wool are situated on the Rivers Loddon, Avoca, Avon, Richardson, and the Wimmeira country, towards Lake Hindmarsh; and a good road, with a little trouble, might be made available to Lake Lalbert, which is distant only twenty-five miles from Swan Hill.
From the above enumeration, it is evident that the opening of the Murray navigation by steam cannot be otherwise than most advantageous to the interests of the settlers.
In previous years they were necessitated to forward their wool by dray to Melbourne, at a cost of £40 or £45 per ton. In many cases these drays, instead of bringing back the annual supplies of provisions, &c., have been detained, broken down, or delayed by the loss of bullocks, or other difficulties. The settlers are now to pay £20 or at most £25 per ton for the same purposes, and even this freight will gradually come down. In a word, as has been before observed, “the steamer has quite set the squatters on their legs again,” many of them having actually resolved, in consequence of the difficulties attending labour and transport, to abandon their runs.
It may, at the same time, be mentioned that, in all probability, the steamer’s profit returns will be highly remunerative, which, indeed, would be requisite, as the daily expenses during our stay have been estimated at £30.
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