Chapter XII

AN AUSTRALIAN MILLIONAIRE. Mr. James Tyson.

AS I was seated in the dining-saloon of the _Orizaba_, an Australian, pointing to a particular table, remarked to me that there were three millionaires dining there. I am no company for such. They are out of my sphere. However, one of them kindly invited me to dine with him in Melbourne. I would like to have accepted the invitation. Alas! I was engaged to dine elsewhere. One would like to dine with a millionaire. Tom Hood evidently did, or he would not have told how

‘The company ate and drank from gold,
They revelled, they sang, and were merry;
And one of the gold sticks rose from his chair,
And toasted the “Lass with the golden hair,”
In a bumper of golden sherry.’

According to popular report, the great millionaires of Australia are Mr. James Tyson, six millions; Sir William Clarke, three; and Mr. George Lawson, one and a half.

James Tyson, the well-known Australian millionaire, was born near Sydney in 1823. His father was the scion of a good old Cumberland family, but having offended his parents by marriage against their wishes, he found things so unpleasant at home that he enlisted in the army. His discharge was purchased in 1818, when he emigrated from England in the service of Mr. Commissioner Bigge, who was sent out to investigate the charges against Governor Macquarie. In time, he commenced his career as a farmer, and died. His son, after assisting his mother on her farm, entered the service of a firm of agriculturists, on a salary of £30 a year. Many were his ups and downs. At one time he had to go to a station for a draft of cattle, which were to be placed under the care of himself and brother. James Tyson, to prepare himself for his journey, cooked as many rations as he could carry on his horse, and of money he had just one shilling, which was demanded of him by the ferryman for taking him with his horse over the Murrumbidgee. Declining to part with his shilling, he swam over the river, if not at the risk of his life, greatly to the detriment of his rations. Again, we find him in another part of the colony, where, while his brother kept a dairy, James went jobbing and cattle-driving, until a few of his cattle were fat, and fit for market. He afterwards, with the neighbouring stock-owners, sold a lot at Sydney. He and his brother, in time, obtained possession of a run near the junction of the Lachland and Murrumbidgee rivers. In 1851, when the gold discoveries were made, James Tyson commenced cattle-driving to Sandhurst, where he opened up a large business as a butcher, wholesale and retail, and where he made a good deal of money. After carrying on business successfully till 1855, he made some purchases of stations, and next extended his operations to Queensland. He afterwards acquired several immense stations on the Warrego, where, as in Victoria and New South Wales, he now holds large areas of freehold land. His mother is naturally very proud of her distinguished son. When the Duke of Edinburgh was in the colony he was taken to see the old lady. ‘There,’ said the old woman, as the Prince bade her good-bye, ‘you can tell your mother you have shaken hands with Jem Tyson’s mother,’ and no doubt the message was faithfully reported.

Mr. Tyson is a broad-shouldered, robust man, standing 6 feet 3½ inches high. He has never had a day’s illness in his life; has lived much in the open air, and prefers it; is a keen sportsman, and a good shot. Nevertheless, he is a good deal of a vegetarian. On one occasion, it is said, according to the custom of the country, in the course of his travels he rode up to a station for a night’s lodging. ‘Oh, is that you?’ said the woman of the house. ‘You can go and hobble yourself,’ throwing him the leathern straps by means of which the Australian colonists hobble their horses for the night. The millionaire is reported often to indulge in an economical supper of boiled grass, and hence the woman’s allusion. A stricter teetotaler there is not in Australia. Mr. Tyson has never indulged in a glass of wine or spirits in his life, nor has he ever smoked an ounce of tobacco. It is to be questioned whether he would have had such a successful career as he has marked out for himself, had he indulged in the drinking customs which were the disgrace of all Australia at one time. He owes his good fortune almost entirely to his energy, his untiring industry, and his great self-denial. He is a true friend and a staunch protector of the aborigines on his various stations, who are all much attached to him, and render willing service. He is of a very retiring disposition, and has always refused to allow parliamentary or any other public honours to be thrust upon him. He is a bachelor, and mingles but little in society—is, however, very fond of children, and has always been a liberal supporter of all local schools and other popular institutions, though generally averse to having his name paraded before the public. The exact amount of his wealth is not known, but he is supposed to have amassed from four to six millions, and, on one occasion, he offered the Government of Queensland the loan of half a million towards the construction of a trans-continental railway. Those who know him best, say of him as Disraeli said of Gladstone, ‘He has not one redeeming vice.’ It is to his credit that his temper is so even that, under the most trying circumstances, no profane word has ever been heard to escape from his lips. On one occasion, riding late at night to one of his many stations, he was refused admission by the keeper, to whom he told his name in vain, as the man did not believe him. He slept out that night, and, when he returned in the morning, rewarded the man handsomely for his obedience to orders. Of course Mr. Tyson is not very popular. He is too wealthy to be that. Impecunious people always make a dead set at a millionaire, and are very wrath if he does not see his way to set them on their legs again, or, at any rate, to give them a start in life. ‘The simplicity and frugality of his habits,’ observes Mr. Henniker-Heaton, M.P., from whom I borrow most of the particulars of this sketch, ‘should disarm the envy of those who might be disposed to covet his great riches.’ Alas! the reverse is the case. I found few who had a good word to say of the richest man in any of the Australian colonies, and all sorts of wild stories are told of him—even as to his exploits when in a state of alleged drunkenness. Mr. Tyson has, at any rate, one fault, and that is he is a very great hater of women; he even dislikes, I was told, to employ married men. ‘He sees no good in having a man who is under the influence of a woman.’ Clearly he holds that no man can serve two masters. Poor fellow! I asked:

‘What is to become of all his wealth?’

‘It will help to make work for the lawyers,’ was the somewhat cynical reply.

We admire Mr. Tyson for his abstinence, and for his energy, his industry, and economy. In this respect he sets the Australians a good example, but he is not a model to be followed in every respect. The best of us, it is to be feared, are poor creatures after all.