Sidney Kidman, the cattle king, created the largest pastoral empire the world has ever known. He was born in Adelaide in 1857, the fifth of six sons to struggling English immigrants. His father died when he was only one year old. His mother remarried, but Sidney's stepfather was a drinker, brawler and insolvent. Sidney's great ambition was to become a stock and station holder, and through the late 1800s and early 1900s, he embarked on a buying spree that left onlookers breathless. Sidney's plan was to ensure he had enough land that his livestock would always find water, even in the severest drought. He ended up owning over 3 percent of Australia - allowing him to move his cattle from north to south along the great inland river systems and drought proofing his empire.
This strategy made him Australia's most famous millionaire and a bush legend. His stinginess was legendary, as was the loyalty he inspired.
While his family grew up in luxury in Adelaide, Sidney would spend up to six months at a time travelling his properties. He was honoured with a knighthood and, on his 75th birthday, thousands attended a rodeo held in his honour in Adelaide.
Rough... In his unpublished MS about the history of pastoralism in Central Australia, Peter Forrest writes that Sidney Kidman’s arrival signalled a new approach to station management. He bought drought stricken country, in partnership or outright, and exploited it for as long as he could. According to Forrest Kidman has been misrepresented in historical accounts. He was not the ‘courageous pioneer of new country that he has been portrayed as being – he never pioneered an acre of new land, nor did he ever improve country that he acquired. Rather, he took over where others had failed before. He was able to succeed because he had the capital to wait until it rained or until the market improved’ (Forrest, 23)
See Peter Forrest’s unpublished MS, ‘The Pastoral Industries of the Centre’, 33 pages, 1986, Alice Springs Public Library, ‘NT History – Exploration and Pastoral Activities’ Folder
