Thesis (M. A.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of History, 1984

Linn, Robert W.

Adelaide Research &amp; Scholarship

r(fTHE MENTAL ITIES OF EARLY SOUTH AUSTRALIAN PASTORALISTS:The Anqas. Keynes . McBean and Melrose families in centralSouth Australia.Robert l'1. LinnThesis presented as a requÍrement for the [Þgree of Doctorof Philosophy in the Department of History, Faculty of Artsat the University of Adelaide.- l': . ,¿ :-¡t.' . ( t¿. Cj'.4tt-, o / ,{l o', /, , ," /'-/- t !' tv'{,iiThis thesis contains no material which has been accepted forthe award of a degree or diploma in any other university, orto the best of ny knowledge and belief contains no materialpreviously published by another person except when duereference is made in the text.Si gned Date.lgMk.l*?Ti t'l e PageDecl arationContentsAcknowl edgementsAbbreviati onsSummaryIntroductionChapter OneChapter TwoChapter ThreeCONTENTSThe British Background : Education,Reì igion and Se'lf-Hel PResponses to Early South Australia :Specul ationResponses to Early South Australia:Reversal s of FortuneItliiiiiiivviiviiiI27496479t08123147t682042089Chapter Four ...Chapter FiveChapter SixChapter SevenChapter Eight ..Chapter NineConcl usionBibl iographyThe Attainment of tleal thLaying Out Country EstatesThe Country Gentleman in Public andPri vateReactions to Death and DishonourEducating the Next GenerationThe Rise and Transfiguration of thePastoral GentrYìVACKNOÌ,'ILEDGEMENTSThere are many people who have helped me during the courseof researching and writing this thesis. Firstìy, my supervisorNorman Etherington has guided me, heìped to focus my thoughts onthe problems and has tried to teach me the skills of historicalcraftsmanship. In my first years on the dissertation BillGammage advised me on the rudiments of research and opened myeyes to the large horizons of Australian history. Ric Zuckermantoo, gave assistance and friendship constantìy and was often ani.nspi ration.In ny quest for research material and first-hand knowledge ofmy subject matter there were many in both Australia and GreatBri.tain whose doors were always open and hospitality never-ending.I wou'ld like to thank Mrs. Joan McBean and her late husband Colinwho with Keith Batt started me thinking about the project in 1977.Further thanks go to Henry and Michel Angas, Margaret Bolton, Jimand Paul Cowell, Mr. Richard Keynes, Joseph and Sally Keynes, Mr.and Mrs. Bill Kilpatrick, Angus and Sylvia Mclachlan, Jo Mclachlan,Lachlan McBean, Vina MacBean, Mrs. Gwen Melrose, Mr. and Mrs. JohnMurray, Jamie and Meta Scarlett, Robin l,lhitehead and Med and Nolly!,Iright. Mr. John Hope of l,lolta-l^lolta, Clare, and Miss Molly Murraywere also kind enough to give me access to material at their disposal.As the work progressed there were individuals, firms, archives,libraries and government departments who were ever heìpfuì. I owea great deaì to the continued assistance of the archivist and staffof the South Australian Archives, and particularly to Rod Teaklefor his patience. The proprietors of The Pastoral TimesDeniliquin, were kind enough to let me work on their research material,Vas were the partners of the firms of Whiting and Byrne, and Hodgsonand Finlayson in Melbourne. I gained assistance from the LaTrobeLibrary, the Archives Office of ['lew South l,lales, the A.N.U. Archivesof Business and Labour, the National Library of Scotland, theScottish Records Office, the Dorset Records 0ffice, the InvernessPublic Library, and the Barr-Smith Library at the University ofAdelaide. The South Australian Department of Lands, the Trustee ofDeeds in Melbourne and the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriagesin Adelaide a'll made their time and staff available. David Gilbertand the National Trust S.A. (øl I ingrove), and Ian Clark and SandyMcleay, supplied some of the architectural drawings which weretranslated by l,layne Farmilo and Mario Constantinides into theirfÍnal form.I have a particular debt to my friends in the world of historyand to some of my colleagues in the Department of History at theUniverstlty of AdeìaÍde who have supported me and corn¡ented on mywork; thanks to Marian Aveling, Carol Bacchi, Peter and PennyCahal an , Bob Dare , Ron Gi bbs , Ki ngsl ey lreì and, Lei th MacGi'l 'l i vrayand John Tregenza.The University of Adelaide kindly a'llowed me a post-graduateresearch award for three years and helped finance my British researchwith a travel grant. My thanks go to the University and in particularto the staff of the HÍstory Department.Marilyn Connor and Bev Arnold were kind enough to type thedrafts and help in the final stages of the thesis production.Most importantly Íny wife, Jane and my family have believed inthe project from the start and to them I owe what I cannot adequatelyrepay.ViLastty, I am especially grateful to two of my closest friendsand guides who did not live to see the finished work. My father'Dr. Howard Linn and my uncle, Mr. Colin McBean.viiAFPABBREV IATIONS USED IN THE TEXTAngas Family PapersKeynes Family PapersMcBean Family PapersMelrose Family PapersSouth Austral ian ArchivesKFPMcBFPMFPSAAReqi ster The South Australìan ReqisterviiiSUMMARYThis thesis discusses the mentalities of the first generationof South Australian pastoralists in the Angas, Keynes, McBean andMelrose families of central South Australia.The discussion starts by outlining the backgrounds of GeorgeFife Angas, Joseph Keynes, Lachìan McBean and George Melrose inGreat Britain. The influences on their minds were identified asthe lower-middle cìass ideals of self-improvement and the religionand ìove of nature imparted to them by their teachers and family.It was also discovered that these men, despite their relativelylowly position in society were aware of how a gentry functioned.Attracted to South Australia by Wakefield's scheme of systematiccolonis.ation, which promised a hierarchically ordered society on theBritish model but with room at the top, these men set about the taskof earning a colonial fortune. The thesis next investigates how oneof the pastoralists' number, Joseph Keynes, coped with an earlysetback to his dreams, and how George Fife Angas one of the colony'sprogenitors and the other pastoralists fared amidst the speculativeenvironment of early South Australia.Eventual'ly Keynes, Melrose and McBean began to make substantialachievements in their quest for wea'lth and position. In lB5l Angasarrived in South Australia to colìect his ready-made fortune. Thethesis then focuses on how these individuals reacted to their wealth.It shows how they attempted to set themselves up with grand estatesand retainers, modelling their public facade on the Eng'lish landedgentry. However, these pretensions towards gentry living were notixmet sympathetically by the rest of the South Australian popuìation.The discussion moves to expìore how Angas, Keynes, McBean and Melroseresponded to these criticisms on a public and private level.The thesis continues to look at the developing mentalities ofthis self-styled pastoral elite through their response to some of thegreat problems in their lives after they had obtained their wealth.When their reactions to death and dishonour are discussed it is foundthat they respond privately to those dilemmas by reaching back to theteachings of their British youth. They never satisfactorily reconciledtheir pose as a landed gentry with their private resolves to keep oldways.seeing that they lacked the necessary attributes and power tocreate an Australian landed gentry, they attempted to give theirchildren the education of weatth. Thelr chiìdren were imbued witha mixture of their o]d lower-middìe class ideals and the socialaccompìishments of an elite. Their children were gradualìy assimiìatedi nto the res t of the col oni a'l el i te.The thesis concludes by noting that the attempt of the pastoraliststo create a gentry could not be successful for a number of reasons. Notonly was the external opposition formidable, but the pastoralists lackedboth the numbers and the intellectual certainty required to givepermanence to their dreams.

The mentalities of early South Australian pastoralists : the Angas, Keynes, McBean and Melrose families in central South Australia / Robert W. Linn

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The mentalities of early South Australian pastoralists : the Angas, Keynes, McBean and Melrose families in central South Australia / Robert W. Linn

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Adelaide Research & Scholarship

The mentalities of early South Australian pastoralists : the Angas, Keynes, McBean and Melrose families in central South Australia / Robert W. Linn

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Adelaide Research &amp; Scholarship

Adelaide Research & Scholarship