Corporate entry: Australian Agricultural Company Limited
Summary
Records 1824-1974. The A.A. Company was formed in London in 1824, partly due to the recommendations of Commissioner J.T. Bigge, who had urged that settlers with capital should be encouraged to take up land in Australia, with land grants offered in accordance with the number of convicts employed and stock introduced by the settler. The Company was incorporated in November 1824; by the year's end all company shares were taken up, including 588 reserved for colonists in New South Wales. In 1826 the first land was purchased in the Port Stephens area; this was not ideally suited for grazing and the Company was later granted large tracts of land on the Liverpool Plains and Peel River, where the properties Warrah and Goonoo Goonoo were established. From 1826 a further venture was made into coal mining in the Newcastle area, and these operations, as with the Company's pastoral activities drew criticism and accusations of privilege and monopolization. The discovery of gold in the Peel River region promoted further mining involvement, with the establishment in 1853 of the Peel River Land and Mineral Company, as a subsidiary of the A.A. Company. The parent Company has since expanded in the pastoral field with interests in New South Wales, Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia. The Archives of Business and Labour hold a comprehensive collection of A.A. Company and subsidiary company records, from the Australian and London offices; these cover all aspects of company business and comprise 12 deposits. Records of Queensland stations include Blandensberg held from 1915, Corona from 1911, El Rita and Headingly, held from 1916, Highfields and Marion Lake from 1948, Toolebuc held from 1956, and Wrotham Park from 1965. Material relating to these properties is scattered throughout the collection. Records of the Australian and London offices span the period 1824-1974 and may be generally described as: Incorporation, capitalization and financial records, minutes of meetings, despatches and correspondence, annual reports and maps, concerning pastoral and mining activities. Station records include manager's reports, financial records, bank statements, wool statistics and stock returns, stock registers, wages sheets, tax details, climatic records and photographs. The total holding comprises 588 linear feet and 85 reels of microfilm. A.B.L. total deposits: 1, 78, 114, 117, 118, 126, 131, 160, 167; Microfilms M.I, M.28, M.40. Restricted access post 1940 material. See also: Corona Station; Peel River Land and Mineral Co. Ltd.