Angus breed’s long path to success

Read the full Summer Angus here.

Angus cattle were known as “black polls” back then and were often discriminated against by buyers because of their colour.

In the 1940s and 1950s they were still dubbed as the “poor man’s cattle” and “little black pigs”.  

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In his excellent book, The story of Angus in Australia, Nigel Austin suggested the first Angus cattle to arrive in Australia were unloaded at Hobart Town docks on January 20, 1824.

He wrote that those eight black cattle from Scotland, bound for Captain Patrick Wood’s property, Dennistoun, Bothwell, were regarded as the first cattle to come to Australia of the type that formed the Aberdeen Angus breed during the following 60 years.

Some of their descendants are still grazing the paddocks of Dennistoun.

Early reports mention black polls arriving in NSW between 1800 and 1810 but details about them are hard to find, Austin wrote in his book. 

It’s believed a mix of black cattle in Scotland, including Angus doddies and Buchan humlies, were fused together to produce the Aberdeen Angus breed.

Captain Wood and his son, John Dennistoun Wood, imported more black polls from Scotland, including four bulls from famous breeder William McCombie, of Tillyfour, in 1858. 

Unfortunately the Dennistoun homestead and all its records were destroyed by fire in 1909.

Bayard Edgell bought Dennistoun along with some of its cattle in 1917 and established a stud.

In July 1840 Ernest Dalrymple introduced 10 black polls to his Darling Downs property which later became known as Talgai station. They were the first pure-bred cattle to reach the Darling Downs but made no major impact.

The big impetus for the establishment of Aberdeen Angus cattle in Australia started in 1870 with the import by William Kaye, from Kaye and Butcher, Melbourne, of six cows and heifers and two bulls from William McCombie’s Tillyfour herd in Scotland along with two bulls from other breeders.

While the cattle didn’t make an immediate impact their progeny left a lasting good impression on local producers and eventually sparked a flurry of imports from Scotland and NZ in the 1880s and 1890s.

The Tillyfour consignment was eventually sold at a bargain price to to George Loader from Abbey Green, Singleton, thus becoming the first acknowledged Angus herd in NSW. Loader later sold some of the cattle to Richard Dines from Merriwa.

Some of the Dines family’s cattle were bought by William Hogarth who started breeding Angus cattle on his Balgownie station, Cambooya, in 1882 and established the first stud in Queensland. 

The White family, who arguably have made the biggest ongoing contribution to the development of the Angus breed in Australia, started the Edinglassie stud at Muswellbrook in 1880.

Trading as White Bros, the partnership was headed by James and Francis White whose father bought Edinglassie in 1839 and became the patriarch of one of Australia’s great rural families, which has also produced one of our greatest writers Patrick White.

James White was also a pioneer of the Hunter Valley’s Thoroughbred industry and among his many major victories on the track were two Melbourne Cup winners, Chester and Martini Henri.

The White family amassed a rural empire which included the famous Belltrees at Scone bought in 1853 and historic Saumarez station near Armidale.

By 1907 they had the most extensive Aberdeen Angus herd in Australia estimated at 70,000 head on their string of properties.

The White Bros partnership ended in 1908 with “FJ” White, a son of Francis, taking Saumarez at Armidale, Bald Blair at Guyra and other properties, and his brother James Cobb White taking Edinglassie.   

James Cobb White became the first president of the Aberdeen-Angus Herd Book Society (now Angus Australia) when it was formed in 1919.

He was succeeded in 1927 by “FJ” White’s son, Colonel Harold Fletcher White, a decorated soldier from the First World War and operator of the Bald Blair Angus stud which is now managed by his grandson Sam.

Harold Fletcher White, who died in 1971, headed the society for a decade and was a tireless advocate for the breed and also a pioneer of performance breeding.