A Brand New Law

In nineteenth-century NSW, owning horses and cattle was common. An important asset for many, losing a horse, cow or bullock could mean losing your transport or livelihood. Livestock was a favoured target of thieves who were only abetted by patchy fencing and primitive communications. In the 1860s, newspapers fretted that cattle stealing had reached ‘alarming […]

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‘The Unfortunate Man, Alexander Dick…’

Silver spoons were very nearly Alexander Dick’s (c.1791-1843) undoing. A free settler who arrived in 1824, he was a working silversmith with a prospering business in Sydney in 1826 when he made a deal that cost him dearly. Anxious to produce an order of silverware for a client, he knowingly bought a set of ‘old’ […]

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