The Horse in Australia 1788-1813
When the First Fleet arrived in early 1788 nine horses, purchased from the Dutch colony at the Cape of Good Hope and primarily of Spanish origin, were landed: one stallion, three mares and three 'colts' (1 male, 2 female) plus a further stallion and mare bought privately by two of the marine officers (Binney 2005, p. xvi). Though a government stud was soon established, the authorities showed little interest in horse breeding in the early years and the better quality Arab, Thoroughbred and Jennet horses that followed were imported largely through the commercial enterprise of the officers of the NSW Corps and various wealthy free settlers ('exclusives').
The importation of large numbers of Spanish Jennet mares during the 1790s and the fact that Arab stallions dominated breeding up to the 1820s meant that the colony's horse population by 1813 was primarily composed of Arab and Arab-cross horses. Such strong Arab bloodlines, combined with the freedom of open pasture lands, began to produce a local horse of hardy character, strong and with good wind and increasingly well suited to the local environment (Kennedy 1992, pp. 12, 80, 84). Even Commissioner J. T. Bigge, loaned a saddle horse by John Macarthur during his time in NSW 1819-1821, was impressed with the quality, endurance and speed of the colonial bred horses (Kennedy 1992, p. 85). The success of early horse breeders such as John Macarthur, D'Arcy Wentworth and Samuel Marsden was founded on Jennet mares and Arab stallions (Kennedy 1992, p. 83).
Because the business practices of these 'privateers' were not always strictly legal and they sometimes operated without official approval it is difficult to track exact numbers of horses in the colony. Illegal imports did not always appear in official census figures (Binney 2005, pp. xvii-xviii). By the early years of the 19th century, however, there were probably something like 300 horses in the colony, most owned by officers and wealthy free settlers. Horses were expensive and the preserve of 'gentlemen'. Their number had increased to almost 1000 by 1808 and by 1815 numbered close to 2,500. (Kennedy 1992, pp. 13-14). The first officially sanctioned race meeting was held at Hyde Park in October 1810 (at which Wentworth Jnr. rode one of his father's horses to victory) and by the time Blaxland's party set out for the Mountains horse breeding was a minor (compared to cattle and sheep) but established part of pastoral activity on the Cumberland Plain.
All three of the explorers owned horses and large pastoral properties. Blaxland had 'Brush Farm' and 'Lee Home' at Eastwood and South Creek respectively, Lawson 'Veteran Hall' at Prospect, and Wentworth 'Vermont' on the Nepean River. On his first small property acquired at Concord in 1807, Lawson had kept six horses and his interest continued when he established Veteran Hall. Following his retirement from the military in 1824 he became a significant player on the Australian equine scene, importing a number of stallions and breeding and racing numerous horses. (Binney 2005, pp. 35-38) His horses were also prized by the emerging coaching services. In an 1826 memorial written to Earl Bathurst of the Colonial Department he claimed to own 70 horses (along with 9,000 sheep and 1500 head of cattle) (Magann nd., p. 68)
The four sumpter horses chosen in 1813 were most probably locally bred, selected with an eye for fitness and stamina and, in light of the above, primarily of Arab descent. They were the precursors of a great equine heritage, for the pasture lands to which they helped open a passage would become, with increased Thoroughbred imports, a nursery for that hardy Australian stock horse, the Waler, a horse that later found its place in both the 'bush' ('Man from Snowy River') and 'Anzac' (Australian Light Horse) legends. (Yarwood 1989, p. 17)
© John Low