Ramornie, Clarence River.

Rare engraving of Ramornie station which was situated at Urara River, a tributary of the Clarence, and about ten miles distant from Grafton. It was established by Charles Grant Tindal who was the first to establish meat works in Australia. Mr. Tindal explored Queensland (present northern NSW), and subsequently bought Koreela Station, at the head of the Clarence, then known as Big River. Early in the 1850’s he sold Koreela and purchased Ramornie Station, a portion of which ran to within eleven miles of Grafton.

Charles Grant Tindal (1823-1914), cattle-breeder and canned meat manufacturer. In 1843 he brought out rams for his father’s naval colleague William Ogilvie, arriving in Sydney on 17 December in the Hamlet. Unable to get work as a station superintendent he accepted Ogilvie’s invitation to Merton on the Hunter River. In the next five years he accompanied the brothers W. K. and E. D. S. Ogilvie and others on various expeditions in northern New South Wales. Despite ‘differences in temperament’ he worked with E. D. S. Ogilvie at Yulgilbar until late 1849. By September 1850 when his brother Frederick Colquhoun (1829-1855) joined him, Tindal had leased Koreelah station near the headwaters of the Clarence. They worked hard and prospered. In September 1852 he bought Ramornie at Copmanhurst which was to be the headquarters of his Australian enterprises. Early in 1855 he sailed for England and on 14 August 1856 at St Mary’s Church, Turville, Buckinghamshire, he married Anne Amory Travers (1832-1901). After sight-seeing and business trips in Europe and England, they returned to New South Wales in January 1857 and work was started on a stone homestead at Ramornie that was occupied in December 1858.

From the original edition of the Town and Country Journal.

Collections:
National Library Australia: Bib ID 41861
State Library New South Wales: 1870-1919 TN83A
State Library Victoria: RARENSL N.S.W. 1870-1919