>> Go Back - page 0 - >> List of Entriess
B
BAGOT, EDWARD (NED) MEADE (1822–1886), pastoralist, businessman and contributor to the development
of the Northern Territory, was born on 13 December 1822 at Rockforest, County Clare, Ireland, the third son of
Captain Charles Harvey Bagot and his wife Mary, nee MacCarthy. Edward Bagot was educated in Ennis, near
Limerick, at Dr King’s School. When seventeen he sat for, and passed, the East India Company’s civil service
examination, but while waiting for his ship to Portsmouth he ‘was suddenly attacked with fits resembling epilepsy’,
whereupon he missed his posting and was sent home. His father decided to take his family to South Australia in
1840 and, in December that year, the ship Birman deposited the Bagots upon Australian shores. In 1841 the family
settled in Koonunga and it is here that Edward gained his first experiences of pastoralism. In 1843, with the
discovery of Copper at Kapunda, he acquired the job of grass-captain and accountant here as well as running a
store and butchery for the men working at the mines. To show his head for business, we see him become a director
of the South Kapunda mine at the age of twenty-eight.
At 34, Bagot ran the Murthoo property that was situated on the River Murray, and in 1854 took up Ned’s
Corner and later Kulnine and Wall Wall. Between 1853 and 1864, he also owned the Beefacres Estate on the
River Torrens. Only the best for this young man, as can be seen by the stock he bought for these properties:
horses, cattle and imported Suffolk Punch Sires, Shorthorn Bulls and Berkshire pigs—all producing progeny of
the finest quality which later won many prizes at local shows. With more than just a passing interest in horseracing,
he bought thoroughbreds from New South Wales and bred many winners, one of which was Don Juan who went
to stud after winning the 1873 Melbourne Cup. Bagot’s knowledge of the pastoral industry was immense and his
stock judgement and advice was sought after continuously. The Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society was
strongly supported by Bagot and so too were most other rural and pastoral organisations.
In 1860, at the age of 38, he branched out and became a stock and station agent in Kapunda when the railway
had reached there. This venture, like all those previously, proved very successful and thousands of cattle, horses
and sheep passed through his sale yards at Kapunda. E M Bagot and Co. eventually merged with the firms of James
Shakes (1807–1900) and John Lewis in 1888.
The early 1870s saw Bagot begin his involvement within the Northern Territory. When Charles Todd called
for tenders for the construction of the overland telegraph line in 1871, Bagot won the contract for the erection of
the first 800 kilometres of the line from Port Augusta to within 90 kilometres of the Northern Territory border.
October first that year saw the planting of the first pole at Port Augusta. The distance he was contracted to cover
was divided into sections, one of which was under the control of B H Babbage, and the other of W H Abbott.
Over 2 000 iron poles were erected by Bagot’s men, including those that were washed away during severe flooding
when sections of the line intersected watercourses. These areas were immediately repaired and steps were taken for
the prevention of such happenings. Bagot finished his contract in good time; he received 38 000 Pounds and the
knowledge that he had played a major part in the development of the Northern Territory.
The Overland Telegraph Line project opened up the middle of Australia, promoted northern Australia’s
settlement and provided all of the Australian colonies with communication to the outside world.
Wealthy South Australians began to invest in Central Australian pastoral regions. In 1872 E M Bagot and his
friend Joseph Gilbert sent their sons north with cattle from their South Australian properties to find good pasture
land. William Gilbert seized upon an area to be later called Owen Springs Station; Ned Bagot Jr founded the station
Undoolya within the MacDonnell Ranges in 1873. Together the stations totalled an area of nearly 6 000 square
kilometres and by 1876 they were fully stocked and ready to be leased. That year also saw Bagot sell-out due
to heavy financial losses: 30 000 Pounds to be exact. South Australian businessmen had been deceived by the
lushness of northern Australian flora after the rains; they had not allowed for severe drought, hostile Aborigines,
heavy costs and markets that kept fluctuating. But, although Bagot may not have done well, Undoolya remains as
one of the oldest runs in the Northern Territory.
Gold fever hit the Territory in the early 1870s, and so too did it hit Bagot. In 1871, he and John Chambers
formed a company in Adelaide called the Northern Territory Gold Prospecting Company. This company sent the
ship Alexandra up to the north with nine prospectors aboard. These men were Westcott, Noltenius, Houschildt,
Roberts, Hylandt, Litchfield, Hulbert, Woods and Porteous Valentine. In 1873 Bagot sold his River Murray runs
so as to invest more heavily in the Northern Territory Gold Mines. His sweet dreams of great returns soon soured
and by 1876 this investment was deemed a complete failure.
Another activity Bagot found himself in which had to do with the Territory was his leading position in the
company, Northern Territory Newspaper and Telegraphic Agency Company (Limited). This was one of Bagot’s
more successful ventures as the Northern Territory Times and Gazette proved over the many years.
By the mid 1870s Bagot had sold all of his stations despite the huge losses, and concentrated on his other
businesses. These included a boiling-down works in Thebarton, which in just one year handled over 70 000 sheep.
In 1875 he opened a business for fellmongering and wool washing, and began manufacturing a very popular meat
extract that he called ‘Bagots’.
E M Bagot married Mary Pettman on 1 August 1853, and before she died in 1855 they had one son. Two years
later, on 30 July 1857, he remarried; this time to Anne Smith, and together they had six sons and six daughters.
He was very well liked by his many friends, business associates and family. On 24 July 1886 when he failed to
return home, considerable alarm was generated, and the Adelaide Register stated: ‘Whether he lives or not it is