James Tyson

Early life

James Tyson was born about 1820 in the Camden district (then called Cowpastures) of New South Wales, the son of William Tyson and Isabella Marie (née Coulsen). There is disagreement over the date of his birth. Some sources say 11 April 1823 while others say 8 April 1819. At his death in 1898, he was described as being either 75 years of age or 81 years of age, suggesting an even wider range of possible birth dates.

His mother, Isabella, was a convict, sentenced to transportation for theft. His father, William, and his eldest brother, also William, came with her. Receiving a grant from Governor Lachlan Macquarie in the Narellan area, the Tysons set themselves up as small farmers, later moving with their growing family to East Bargo. As a youth James commenced work for neighbours such as Major Thomas Mitchell, and John Buckland who contracted him to take cattle to the north-eastern border area of the colony of Victoria. Then, with his brothers, he took up squatting licences in western New South Wales. Eventually they settled on land at the junction of the Lachlan and Murrumbidgee Rivers, in the reed-beds which had defeated John Oxley's exploration in 1837.

Business life

The legendary Tyson fortune was founded on success in butchering on the Bendigo goldfields. It was extended by canny buying, knowledge of cattle and of stockroutes, pastoral lending and the judicious selection of enormous leaseholds to provide a chain of supply which stretched from North Queensland to Gippsland and which fed beef to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. It is on record that on one occasion he offered the Queensland government a loan of £500,000 towards the cost of constructing a proposed transcontinental railway, and in 1892 at a time of economic depression he took up £250,000 in treasury bills to assist the government.

Politics

In 1893 he became a Member of the Queensland Legislative Council but did not take a prominent part in its proceedings.

Link with Flora Shaw

Enid Moberly Bell (1947:124–126) recounts a chance meeting between Tyson and Flora Shaw on a long train journey: although vastly different in background, they had "a fundamental agreement on values – indifference to wealth, delight in adventure, satisfaction in work accomplished ..." – see E.M.Bell (1947) Flora Shaw: Lady Lugard, D.B.E. Constable.

Death

Slow of speech, though astute and perceptive, "Jimmy" Tyson habitually dressed like a tradesman or boundary rider, and when he visited his various properties, he did so anonymously, preferring the swagmen's camp and the company of sundowners to the comfort of the manager's homestead.

Tyson travelled much about Australia, but eventually made his principal home at Felton station on the Darling Downs. He died there on 4 December 1898. He had been ailing for two weeks but refused to see a doctor. His funeral service was held at St James's Church at Toowoomba and he was buried in Toowoomba Cemetery.

At the time of his death his estate was the largest in Australia to that time. However he died unmarried, childless and intestate. His estate was sold off, realising about £2.36 million, which was divided among his closest relatives. In 1901, his remains were exhumed and re-buried in a family vault at St Peter's Anglican Church in Campbelltown, New South Wales;

Legacy

Awards

In 2010, the Hon James Tyson MLC was inducted into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame, as Australia's first cattle king.