THE ELIZA FORLONGE STORY
ELIZA FORLONGE
Mother of the Australian Fine Wool Industry
THE ELIZA FORLONGE MEMORIAL
AT THE BASE OF BALMATTUM HILL
EUROA VICTORIA
Eliza Forlonge was a woman ahead of her time. Her vision, courage and
determination can only be described as amazing. Born in Scotland, Eliza
Jack married John Forlonge, a Glasgow wine merchant in 1804, she bore
him six children but lost four of them to the scourge of the times -
consumption. Only two sons survived, William, born 13th May 1813 and
Andrew born May 1814.
Fiercely protective of these boys, Eliza determined that the climate of
the Colony of New South Wales would ensure their survival and so began
her incredible journeys.
In 1827 Eliza took the two boys to Leipzig in the Kingdon of Germany.
First learning German, the boys, William aged 14, and Andrew aged 13,
were put to work as wool staplers (wool classers) in the wool lofts of a
sorting house for the English market. William commenced as a common
workman and then graduated 2 years later as a "Master of the Business of
Wool Stapling", then, as now, viewed as a craft.
Leaving the boys to learn their craft, Eliza began on the first of three
epic journeys. She walked the length and breadth of Saxony sourcing and
purchasing the best possible breeding stock for her sons to take to New
South Wales. Buying one sheep here, two sheep there, Eliza selected the
animal, paid for it and then fitted a collar bearing the Forlonge seal
to the beast's neck and left in it the care of the studmaster from whom
she had made her purchase. On and on she walked, averaging a daily march
of ten to twelve miles. When she had reached her target number, she then
retraced her footsteps, collecting the sheep and driving them on.
We can only imagine the horrors of the journey. Eliza herself recalled
many years later "my heart used to sink, as I heard the chains of the
drawbridge rattle on coming to a fortified town, lest our passport and
all our papers should not be at hand, or should by any chance be lost".
Not only did Eliza complete the task she had set upon but, once she had
the flock together she then drove them from Koenigstein to Brunswick and
on to Hamburg where she shipped the sheep to Liverpool (in 1829) and
Greenock (in 1830).
What makes her feat even more remarkable is that Eliza had no knowledge
of sheep the and wool trade and had to learn it as she journeyed. One of
the journeys also took her to Rambouillet, the top merino stud in
France, en route to Saxony.
Eliza, after many more adventures eventually made her home at Euroa. The
original homestead Seven Creeks Estate still exists.
Eliza died on the 5th of August 1859 and now lies at the foot of her
beloved Balmattum Hill overlooking the town of Euroa.
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