Deposit N393 - Mackenzie James Wilson collection

Identity area

Reference code

AU NBAC N393

Title

Mackenzie James Wilson collection

Date(s)

  • 1880 - 1988 (Creation)

Level of description

Deposit

Extent and medium

3.2m (10 boxes + large maps)

Context area

Name of creator

(1915 – c. 2000)

Biographical history

Mackenzie James Wilson joined the New Zealand & Australian Land Co in June 1934 as a jackeroo at the Weilmoringle Station. In 1939 he became an overseer and in 1945 manager of the station. In 1951 Wilson was transferred to the Sydney Office to become the Assistant Pastoral Inspector and then Pastoral Inspector in 1953. Sometime later he was appointed Assistant General Manager and General Manager in Australia in 1964. He became a Director in 1967. In 1969 the New Zealand & Australian Land Co was taken over by Dalgety and New Zealand Loan Ltd. Following the merger, Wilson was appointed Assistant General Manager of Dalgety’s Pastoral Division, but restructuring of the Division he was offered to leave. After his resignation on 4 October 1970, Wilson worked as a private pastoral consultant to the Northern Cattle Co Ltd, M L C Ltd and Australian Mutual Provident Society (AMP) and other companies. In October 1973 Wilson joined AMP as Assistant to their Pastoral Investment Manager and participated in the Tea Gardens Land Project in 1974-1975. He stayed with AMP until 25 July 1975 when he joined the Australian Pastoral Company Ltd, and appointed as General Manager in October 1975. Australian Pastoral Company Ltd was a fully owned subsidiary of the Australian Continental Resources Ltd.

Name of creator

(1877 - 1968)

Administrative history

The New Zealand and Australian Land Company Ltd dated its origins to the 1860s when small associations were formed in Scotland and England to acquire pastoral and agricultural lands in New Zealand and Australia. A number of these associates combined and were registered in Scotland as the Cantebury and Otago Association Ltd in 1865, while others amalgamated to form the 'old' New Zealand and Australian Land Company in 1866. In 1877 the two companies were amalgamated and the New Zealand and Australian Land Company Ltd was formed and registered in Scotland on 26 October 1877. The registered office was originally in Glasgow, later Edinburgh, and administrative offices operated in Dunedin and Sydney. At the time of registration, the major portion of the company's interests were in New Zealand. By 1910 nearly all their freehold and leasehold lands were sold to settlers or acquired by the New Zealand Government under a Closer Settlement scheme. In 1939 the only two properties remaining in New Zealand were Hakataramea and Mount Possession. Australian acquisitions increased from 1900 to 1914, when the stations in New Zealand and Australia carried over 1.6 million sheep and 100,000 cattle. However, from 1946 to 1948 the Crown resumed 310, 000 acres of freehold land for Soldier Settlement, reducing the company operation to less than half those of 1914. In 1968, the company was taken over by Dalgety and New Zealand Loan Ltd. The company's tax domicile was removed from Scotland to Australia. From 1970 its properties in Australia were operated as a subsidiary of Dalgety Australia Ltd, and those in New Zealand by Dalgety New Zealand Ltd.

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Papers cover three periods of Wilson’s employment as General Manager of the New Zealand & Australian Land Co, as consultant for AMP (Australian Mutual Provident Society) and other companies and as the General Manager of the Australian Pastoral Co Ltd. Records include minutes of meetings, reports, correspondence, financial records, station records, staff related records, subject files, business diaries and maps. Other company records include Northern Cattle Co Pty Ltd, M L C Ltd, Stanbroke Pastoral Co Pty Ltd, Scottish Australian Co stations, B G L Killen Group and R A Wenham case.

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Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Researchers must sign an access agreement

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Finding aids

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

OMCX, Australian Pastoral Company Limited Records, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland.
University of Melbourne Archives: 1980.0115

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Dates of creation revision deletion

Entered from deposit description on 21 August 2012, revised and converted to N393 by Beth Lonergan, November 2018

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