Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/412

 386 ADELAIDE AND VICINITY ^'^J " Angas improvement. Caiilion blended with enterj^rise was soon productive of satisfactory results, and nowhere in the Province were greater changes made than at Barossa. The town of Angaston was estabUshed untler his supervision, and other thriving settlements sprang up in the vicinity. The German "immigrants assisted to the colony by Mr. G. V. Angas were grouped in townships," the chief of which were Klemzig, Bethany, Langmcil, Taniinda, Lobethal, and Hahndorf— all at this day flourishing settlements. Ten years later, under the management of Mr. Angas, "the wilderness had been made to blossom as the rose, larder had been evolved out of chaos, and the lands acquired under such peculiar circumstances, and the cause of years of privation and an.xiety, gave promise of yielding to their jjossessor a more than ample fortune." I'Vom the beginning Mr. J. H. Angas took a place among the most important pastoralists and landed proprietors in South Australia, and he has since led the way that has been followed by other settlers in the country parts. He put his whole energies into the work, and the estates gradually improved in development, in wealth, and importance, hrom time to lime they were enlarged, until the territory under his control was larger than that of most of the old feudal lords of Europe. Eor practically 57 years now, Mr. Angas has been constantly engaged in this developmental work. So vigorous have been the demands u[X)n his time in managing his large interests that, after a hard day's work, he has been known to ride on horseback at night from Angaston to Adelaide, and, after a day in town, ride back again — a distance of nearly 50 miles each way — and to resume work on the following morning. To bear such severe strains recjuires an iron constitution and an iron will. Year in, with year out, Mr. Angas is probably the busiest man in the Province. In 1854 he proceeded to England, and in the following year was married to Miss Susanne Collins, of Bowdon, near Manchester. They have a son and daughter, both of whom are married and setded in South Australia. )-> Released from the management of his father's property, Mr. Angas became a breeder of stud cattle and sheep, and his prize stock are not only unsurpassed in South Australia, but famous throughout the continent. Quite early in his colonial career he purchased high-class shorthorn cattle and merino sheep -from the South Australian Company. He thus formed the nucleus of .splendid flocks and herds, and by expensive importations from Great Britain and elsewhere, eventually obtained the finest cattle in Australia-as attested by the prizes he has won at Royal Shows held in Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide. He has paid more than a ^1,000 for a single sheep for stud purposes, and, by this wise expenditure, produced a strain almost as celebrated in their class as his catde. The business increased as his herds and flocks became larger. The pastures of Barossa were insufficient for his stock, and after inspecting country about 200 miles north of Adelaide, near Mount Remarkable, he e.stabli.shed a catde station there. Of this pioneer station many stirring stories are told by old bushmen of cattle mustering, kangaroo hunts, phenomenal riding prowess, encounters with aborigines, and of reckless characters who from time to time .sojourned there. The Mount Remarkable pastures were eminently suited to fattening cattle, and many thousands of fat stock were .sent thence to the Adelaide market. P2ven this stretch of country was .soon found too small, and Mr. Angas formed stations at Arrowie and Wirrialpa, and stocked them from the large herds at Mount Remarkable and Collingrove, the homestead near Angaston. With a fair rainfall