OutbackBusiness A (19th Century)

Thomas Elder makes first mass import of camels to Australia to link pastoral empire in South Australia's north

Thomas Elder makes first mass import of camels to Australia to link pastoral empire in South Australia's north
Thomas Elder, of South Australia's Elder, Smith & Co. pastoral and wool empire, imported camels to cart materials and supplies between his huge outback pastoral stations and for exploratory expeditions, such as the Lindsay in 1891, that he financed,
Image courtesy State Library of South Australia

Thomas Elder arranged the first mass import of camels into Australia in 1866 to cart supplies between the huge network of outback pastoral properties he started with partner in Elder, Smith & Co. and brother in law Robert Barr Smith in the outback extremes of South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia.

South Australia’s first camel arrived at Port Adelaide in 1840 but was shot in 1846 after it caused the death of explorer John Horrocks. The push for camels to be imported into the colony continued but a Camel Troop Carrying Company was unable to get government funding in 1858.

Elder, who saw camels as the answer to the outback transport, sent Samuel Stuckey to India in 1862 to look for camels, and chartered the Blackwall in 1865 to load camels at Kurrachee in India. The first 121 camels landed at Port Augusta in 1866 and went to Elder’s Umberatana station before his Beltana Station in the Flinders Ranges became a centre for camel breeding. Thirty-one “Afghans” or “Ghans” (though from regions and ethnicity wider than Afghanistan) arrived with the camels to manage them. Soon the camels and their drivers were transporting materials and supplies to Elder's stations at Blanchewater and Murnpeowie.

In 1868 he chartered Henry Simpson's Kohinoor to return the "Afghans" and bring out another 60 camels and a fresh contingent of attendants. 

For the next 50 years, studs kept breeding a camel superior to the thousands more that were imported. The camels helped Elder and Barr Smith start Elder Smith & Co., one of the world’s largest wool-selling firms, from the pastoral stations.

Camels also were vital to opening vast regions of arid inland Australia. Explorers such as Ernest Giles used them, as did  J.W. Lewis, surveying the country north east of Lake Eyre in 1874-75. Elder financed the exploring expeditions of Warburton (1872), Ross (1874), Giles (1875), Lewis (1875) and Lindsay (1891)

A hundred camels proved indispensible in helping to construct the Adelaide-to Darwin telegraph line in 1872.

Rail and road superseded the camels in the early 20th Century when many were released into the outback where, superbly adapted, they bred up to numbers estimated to be near a million.

Other related ADELAIDE AZ articles

The new Bank of Adelaide head office on the corner of King William and Currie streets, Adelaide city, in 1880. (The roadworks are preparing for tram lines.) Henry Ayers involvement at high levels of Adelaide business was supplemented by being premier of South Australia seven times in the 19th Century.
Minerals >
Burra mines leader Henry Ayers first Bank of Adelaide chairman in 1865; also South Australian premier
READ MORE+
Reg Sprigg and Arkaroola, the former station in the Flinders Ranges that Sprigg later turned into a tourist resort and wildlife sanctuary. Sprigg first went there in the 1940s looking for uranium mining possibilities at its Mount Painter.
Outback >
Geologist Reg Sprigg in 1944 confirms uranium lode in a top-secret survey at Radium Hill in South Australia's north
READ MORE+
The passenger clipper Torrens, part owned by South Australia's Elder Smith & Co., set a record of 64 days for the Plymouth to Adelaide voyage in 1871. Its other claim to fame was having future novellist Joseph Conrad as its first mate. Bottom left: The barque Beltana moored at Port Adelaide near an Elder Smith warehouse.
Business A (19th Century) >
'Torrens', famous for UK to Adelaide record – and link to Joseph Conrad – in South Australia's Elder Smith & Co. fleet
READ MORE+
Wilpena Pound Resort and the surrounding Ikara Flinders Ranges National Park are managed by the Adnyamathanha people with the state government.
Outback >
Adnyamathanha people gain title, run Wilpena Resort and help manage Ikara Flinders Ranges national park from 2012
READ MORE+
Charles Wittowitto Cawthorne (inset) was manager for the Professional Musicians Orchestra sixth annual concert 1918 in the Exhibition Building in aid of the Home for Incurables. Image courtesy State Library of South Australia
Business A (19th Century) >
Charles Cawthorne an Adelaide music seller, composer, bassoonist; forms, promotes and manages orchestras
READ MORE+
Yalumba winery has survived into the fifth generation of family control by Samuel Smith and his descendants.
Wine >
Samuel Smith & Sons/ Yalumba: Australia's oldest surviving family-owned winery since 1849
READ MORE+

 

 
©2025 Adelaide AZ | Privacy | Terms & Disclaimer | PWA 1.1.58