Colonists upended Aboriginal farming, growing grain and running sheep on rich yamfields, and cattle on arid grainlands

Yam daisies on the left, cattle on the right Cutting out the cattle, Kangatong/Eugene Von Guerard, 1856 , CC BY-SA

First Nations readers are advised this article contains references to colonial violence against First Nations people.

In 1788 the First Fleet brought two bulls and four cows from the Cape of Good Hope and put them on grass on Bennelong Point, where Sydney Opera House is now. But there wasn’t much grass, and it wasn’t much good, so the cattle took off. Seven years later they were found 65 kilometres southwest, on the Cowpastures near Camden, a flourishing herd. By 1820 they were supporting an abattoir and a couple of tanneries.