The Return to Coree: The Rise and Fall of a Pastoral Dynasty

Coree is an historic pastoral property situated in prime grazing country between Yanko and Billabong creeks in the Riverina district of southern New South Wales. Gazetted in 1848, Coree was acquired in 1865 by Samuel Wilson, the entrepreneurial Irish pastoralist who bought up large tracts of grazing land in Victoria and southern New South Wales and was one of the pioneers of wool production in Australia. Wilson sold Coree to another enterprising Irish immigrant, his nephew Samuel McCaughey, in 1881. From then until it was sold, just on a century later, Coree was owned and managed first by Samuel, later Sir Samuel, McCaughey and then, through succeeding generations by his brother David's descendants. Sir Samuel made generous bequests to the Presbyterian Church, the University of Queensland and Sydney University, where several chairs were established in his name. In 1945 the McCaughey Memorial Institute was set up with a gift of money from the McCaughey family and the donation of a sizeable portion of the Coree property. Established to honour family members who lost their lives in World War II, the Institute has funded various research and educational activities in sheep breeding, animal husbandry and irrigation. The Return to Coree chronicles the history of Coree and the McCaughey family over more than a century and a quarter--through periods of prosperity and times of adversity, personal triumphs and tragedies and the vicissitudes of drought and flood. In recounting this fascinating story, Murray Pheils, who was for many years a trustee of the McCaughey Institute, vividly evokes the experience of station life through the decades and brings to life a rich gallery of real-life characters, many of whom made significant contributions to the development of the country's pastoral industry.

Table of Contents:
1 In the Beginning 2 The Wilsons and the McCaugheys 3 Samuel McCaughey Takes Over 4 Coree Becomes a Family Home 5 Samuel and Una Return to Coree 6 Unity Recalls Her Childhood 7 Drought, Depression and Lake Violet 8 Roy McCaughey, George Crouch and Coree 9 The McCaughey Family in Europe 10 London at War 11 Death Visits the Family 12 The McCaughey Institute Is Born 13 My Correspondence with Roy McCaughey 14 We Visit Coree Again 15 Settling in Australia 16 Running the Institute

About the Author :
Murray Pheils was for many years professor of surgery at Sydney University. In 1972 he became governing director of the Coree Pastoral Company, and from 1979 until 1995 he was chairman of trustees of the McCaughey Institute. His wife, Unity, is the sole surviving member of the McCaughey family of Coree.