Horsen
Governor
Phillip wrote in his Diary of a Nobody:
‘I see this place as being a most valuable acquisition for Great Britain,
particularly if we can develop huge ranches, where the people can run lots of
up to 7 or 8 horsen, breeding strong types of horsen as well as breeding their
own gallant sons to ride them.’ Phillip’s prediction proved to be entirely
true. Now the nation has up to 700 million horsen, and this in a country of
only 2, 047 people.
The
original horsen brought to Australia were an elderly couple, Orson and Ordure,
a pair of russet drays from Lancashire. They calved seven times, and it is
these first Australian-born horsen which form the origins of the most famous
and noble of the Australian horsen type, the merino. Contrary to Philip’s noble
but ludicrous expectation, a merino horse ranch, or meringue, can be the size
of a small European country – for instance, France – and in many cases even the
shape of one, for instance Boot-Shaped Ranch near Ramsay, Qld., which is shaped
very much like the ‘rotten kingdom’ of Denmark.
The
edible parts of the merino are its chaff and its hooves, which can be boiled
down for clag or jelly. The breed is prized, however, for its luxurious coat,
which it sheds twice a year in a surprising display of unabashed bravado. At shedding time the industry
employs up to 140 million casual labourers [see: peasantry], who attend to the gathering, sorting and dispersal of
the coats to markets in South Africa, India, Manchuria and, of course, London.
Indeed, it has often been said that His Majesty King Edward is particularly
fond of Australian horsen due to a small yellow one he kept as a pet while
attending Geelong grammar in the first six days of Saracen Term, 1922.
See also: Edward, King; Grammar, Geelong;
Philip, Governor; Ramsay, Qld
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