Australia's First Angus Recognised
AUSTRALIA - The arrival of the first black polled cattle, later to become known as Angus, in Australia in 1824 will be recognized at the unveiling of an historical marker at Bothwell, Tasmania, on Thursday April 2.
23 March 2009
1 minute read
Tasmania’s Minister of Primary Industries and Water, the Hon David Llewellyn, will perform the ceremony at 10:30 am on Dennistoun Road opposite Bothwell’s visitors’ centre assisted by Angus Australia’s president, John Young, from Western Australia. The ceremony will precede the annual Bothwell calf sale.
A mob of Angus cows and calves, accompanied by a piper, will re-enact the arrival.
On January 20 1824, eight black cattle, then known as Fifeshires, stumbled off the Triton onto Hobart town wharf after a perilous voyage from Scotland. Those witnessing this historical moment would not have realised it signaled the arrival of a beef cattle breed that now dominates temperate Australia and contributes millions of dollars annually to Australia’s export earnings.
The cattle were driven up the main street of Hobart and then commenced the 75 km journey to their final destination, Dennistoun, the property owned by Captain Patrick Wood near Bothwell.
Wood’s Fifeshire cattle were regarded by early writers and then by the Angus Society of Australia as the first cattle to come to Australia of the type similar to those that formed the Aberdeen Angus breed over the next 60 years.
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