This lithograph by the artist Samuel Thomas Gill (1818 - 1880 - Ballarat Fine Art Gallery) shows wool being carried by dray.
When European settlement began, the new settlers hugged the coast and waterways. Land transport was just too expensive.
Wool changed this because it provided a high value product that could justify land transport.
Macarthur was a difficult man, something of a commercial buccaneer, whose clashes with various Governors culminated in Australia's one and only military coup.
The first auction of Australian wool was held at Garraway's Coffee House in London in 1821. By 1838 sheep had moved into every Australian colony, the annual wool clip was over two million kilos and wool had become Australia's main export.
Today, people best know Murrurundi as a small settlement just before the New England Highway leaps up the Liverpool Range. In fact, this was frontier country.
In 1829 Governor Darling attempted to control the limits of settlement by proclaiming 19 counties surrounding Sydney. Murrurundi lay on the northern edge. To go further north meant being outside the rule of law.
The move failed. Wool boomed in 1830 and settlement spread rapidly.
Those going beyond the bounds of settlement became known as squatters because they were squatting on the land without license or payment.
European settlement moved in two broad streams, one inland, one river hopping up the coast.
The world the squatters entered was not unpopulated. Indeed, while population densities varied, New England was quite densely populated, especially along the humid coastal strip.
The map (original here) shows the distribution of Aboriginal language groups. The Hunter tribes had already felt the impact of European settlement. Now all Aborigines would be affected.
Those heading north to take up land had to pack everything onto drays, not just tools and household goods, but also basic rations.
The drays travelled at best at the pace of the stock, creating a constant stream of noise and dust. Men were needed not just to drive the drays, but also to act as shepherds.
This much late photo from the Powerhouse Powerhouse Museum shows teamsters having a break. While later, it gives a feel.
This painting by George W. Lambert painted in 1923-1924 is simply called The squatter's daughter.
The squatters who went north from the Hunter Valley to find new land may have been just that, illegal squatters, but within a short time in historical terms they were to become an establishment in their own right.
On Personal Reflections, the week's posting began with Sunday Essay - chick flick books, social change and the desire to escape, further musings on the process of social change in Australia.
This was followed on 1 September by two posts: Blog Performance - August 2008 and then Political parties are NOT brands. The second complains about the misuse of language and the way that this affects thinking.
On 2 September I returned to the Haneef matter in The wheels continue to come off the Haneef case. As, indeed, they continue to do.
3 September saw two posts. Mechanistic management and Mr Rudd's education revolution suggests that whole Rudd education revolution is bound up in the semantics of modern managerialism, set within the bounds of past ideas, while 3 September 1939 - the Second World War starts simply notes that the anniversary of the start of the Second World War appears to have passed without any comment at all in the Australian media.
4 September saw Ethnicity, ideology and the sometimes slippery concept of Australian "independence" - Part One: "Independence" followed on 5 September by Ethnicity, ideology and the sometimes slippery concept of Australian "independence" - Part Two: Australian Identity . Both posts discuss aspects of Australian history and identity.
There were two posts on 6 September. The costs of standardisation and uniformity continues my constant discussion on management and public policy, while in Election Night 6 September 2008 I tried my hand at live blogging the WA election results.
7 September saw Sunday Snippets - As Darkness Falls, New England Woes, Hugh Frewen, a pot pouri post.
On New England Australia there were three posts. The week began with As Darkness Falls - a good read, a review of Bronwyn Parry's new book. This was followed on 3 September by NSW's home building collapse, a brief note on the decline in home building in NSW. 4 September saw New England Australia - blogs, an update on blogs located in or about New England.
There were also three posts on Regional Living Australia.
Regional Australia - how much does food cost pointed people to the Grocerychoice site as a way of getting information on average grocery prices in particular areas, while Regional Australia Food & Wine - Orange revisited simply pointed people to an earlier post on this topic. This was followed on 5 September by Musings on Australian food and wine which is as the name says.
There were just two posts on Managing the Professional Services Firm. Raising one's eyes unto the hills simply provided a copy of one of Gordon Smith's photos, while Establishing a Discipline of Practice - stocktake of posts is as the name says.
