Australian Agricultural Company

The Australian Agricultural Company (AA Co) is a company which serves to improve beef cattle production through responsible natural resource and land use. Founded in 1824 through an Act of the British Parliament, with the right to select 1,000,000 acres (4,047 km²) in New South Wales for agricultural development, it is one of Australia's oldest still-operating companies.

Its headquarters are today in Brisbane and it has been listed (or relisted) on the Australian Stock Exchange since 2001. As of July 2008 it had a staff of 500 and operates 24 cattle stations and 2 feed lots, consisting of over 565,000 beef cattle.

Among the principal members of this company were the Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General of England, 28 Members of Parliament, including Mr. Brougham, and Mr. Joseph Hume, the Governor, Deputy Governor and eight of the directors of the Bank of England; the Chairman and Deputy-Chairman and five directors of the British East India Company, besides many other eminent bankers and merchants of England. Agricultural Company acquired its first property Tahlee in New South Wales on 24 December 1829.

The area selected under the founding charter extended from Port Stephens, embracing the Karuah River valley, to the Gloucester flats, and to the Manning River, including most of the northern shore of Port Stephens, extending to 464,640 acres (1,880 km²). The company had commenced its operations in order to improve flocks of Merino sheep in New South Wales for export to Great Britain. Merino sheep were preferred because there was an abundance of land at the time and because the mild winters meant there was no cost for housing or handfeeding stock.

However, it soon found that better land was available and, in 1830, a communication from the Secretary of State for the Colonies to Governor Darling notified the latter that the company was to be permitted to select land in the interior of the colony, in lieu of an equivalent area at Port Stephens, but retaining mineral rights to the latter. After an inspection in 1833, the company decided on two new areas. These were the Warrah Estate of 249,600 acres (1,010 km²), west of Murrurundi, and Goonoo Goonoo estate of 313,298 acres (1,268 km²), along with the left bank of the Peel River to the south of present-day Tamworth, New South Wales. The township of West Tamworth adjacent to the present city was the original company-owned business centre for the area. In 1856, Arthur Hodgson was appointed general superintendent of the company. The pioneering settlers of the area were ordered to leave and paid little from the company for their properties.