THE CATTLE KING

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 118, 5 October 1912, Page 10

THE CATTLE KING

SIDNEY KIDMAN'S STORY. I Sydney, September 23. Mr. Sidney Kidman, the ''Australian Cattle King," holds niQTO land than anyone else in the Commonwealth, probably more than .any other individual in the worhl, his l'urts in Queensland, ilie NOTth- [ em Territory, West Australia and South Auetralia, aggregating over 50,000 square miles, or 0000 square miles more than the whole of the North Island of New Zealand. He owns more than 100,000 head of cattle and 10,000 horses. There is a good story of the career of the Cattle King in the Sunday Times. He was born near Adelaide 55 years ago, and six months later his father died. Between '57 and '7l he survived measles, reading, writing and arithmetic, and other juvenile ailments in an uneventful way, and in the latter year turned his face northwards towards the great unknown lands. Laying out £2 10s on a horse, he made his way towards New South Wales. His stock-in-trade knocked up at Tt-rowie, and; chumming up with another wayfarer, he made over to what is now the famous Broken Hill. He got a job at 10s per week on Mount Gipps' station, and stayed there a year or so, and then asked for a rise. Instead, his cheque was handed to him, and he moved out. His next job amongst the cattle yielded £1 jaer week, and then he bought a bullock team, and went loading from Wentworth to Menindie and Wilcannia, in New South Wales.

•'At the time," said Mr. Kidman, when , telling the story of his life, "a drought was on, and cartage from Menindie to Wentworth cost £ls a ton ,and £25 to Wilcannia. Mr. William Maiden, the original owner of the South mine—he bought it from his brother-in-law (George White) for £soo—-was carting, loading to Wilcannia at £25 per ton. Plour was from £SO to £75 per ton. EARLY DAYS OF COBAR. "I sold out my working bullocks, and went to Cobar. I had a butcher's shop there, and used to cart copper ore from Cobar to Bourke, on the Darling. At this time Cobar in all directions was open country. There were a number of miners and other people about, but there was no flour, tea or sugar to be had. I got a horse and went to Condobolin, on the Lachlan. I bought some bullocks and a lot of sugar, tea and other rati ohs. At Cobar I sold the sugar for Is per lb, the . salt at Sd per lb, the small tins of jam at 2s 6d each, and the soap at 5s a bar. I did not know much about trading, or I would have bought tons more. I have seen water there sold at Is a bucket, flour at £lO a bag and £IOO per ton. In the same year flopr was up to £IOO a ton at Bourke. I sold the butchering business and got a. job with my brother George, and went over with a mob of cattle to Adelaide. I received 25s a week. I was about 22 years old when I returned. When T came of age I got my share of £4OOO which was left me oy my grandfather. It was £4OO or £SOO. Then I went back to the Darling, bought a mob of horses, and with one mini brought them to Terowie, from where I drove them myself. They were a fine lot of horses, and Liston, Shakes and Co. sold them, and they averaged nearly £2O a head.

"I did well out of that. It gave me a fair start. Then I went away to Bourke, and used to buy horses on the Barwon, the Mclnjiyre and the Bogan. I tendered for the 'mail from Terowie to Wilcannia, and to' where Broken Hill now is. Without putting any horses on I sold the contract to. George Raynor for £6OO, and he sold it to Hill and Co. Owing to Broken Hill breaking out, .it was one of the most profitable mails Hill and Co. ever had. They charged £5 from Terowie to Silverton, and 'the coach used to often carry 25 passengers. Hill and Co. made about £6OOO a year out of the contract. My idea in getting the contract was to use the horses I could not sell. Then I turned my attention >to cattle again, and .bought a mob at Kalara, on the Darling'. I brought them to Adelaide and lost £IOO on them. Still, I thought I would have another try, and purchased a lot from Oulines, on the Paroo. I lost another £IOO. There was a bit of a drought, and I went back to Wilcannia and bought 50 tons of chaff at £lO per ton. i was away for about three months, and when I returned I sold it for £3O a ton. I bought 100 bags of oats at 10s, and sold them at £l.

A ROMANCE OF BROKEN HILL. "About this time Broken Hill was beginning to move along. After the drought I went to Cobham Lake, and bought 900 cows and bullocks—all they could muster out of 10,000—at £3 per head. I travelled the cattle via Broken Hill and sold them at the Burra, En route I met Jim Poole, who was partner with David James, M.P., sinking a tank at the Nine-mile, which is a few miles from where Broken Hill now is. I gave Jim Poole 10 of the culls for one-four-teenth share in Broken Hill, and also left 10 bullocks to be broken in. The culls were worth about S3s. I paid a £fi call to sink Rasp's shaft, the first shaft that was ever sunk Qn the Barrier. I was going up in the coach from Terowie to Broken Hill, and Harris, a sharebroker, was- a passenger. I told him I had a one-fourteenth shave in Broken Hill which I would sell for £l5O, l-28th in the Bobby Burns, for which I wanted £250, and a mine called Dunstan's Reef, for which I asked £2OO. lij 12 months the Bobby Burns was not worth much; while I was in Queensland they carted Dunstan's Reef into Broken Hill for flux; and Harris sold my one-fourteenth share in Broken Hill to Bowes Kelly and Wetherby for £l5O, but T received only £IOO. Bowes Kelly and Wetherby made a fortune out of the share.

"After that little romance T went away into Queensland and bought cattle. I proceeded out oil the Mulligan to Samlringham station', which I now own. I entered into partnership with my brother, Sackville, and remained so until his death. He was running a large butchering business at Broken Hill, and I used to go out 'and buy the cattle. I was all through the strike in Queensland, and camped with the strikers at Charleville. I swam the Warrege when it was running a banker. I took a mob of 500 bullocks from Coniingin to Broken Hill and sold them at 25s a 1001b. My brother and I went in for dealing. We bought sheep in large numbers, and have had from 50,000 to 60,000 on the road. We worked the dealing in with the butchering." Mr. Kidman is never so happy as when travelling in a buggy across the huge tracts when: he is monarch of alj he surveys.