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Manifold bio6/28/2023 ![]() By the time of the gold rush in 1851, John and Peter were breeding over 1000 head a year, as well as fattening stores. These were Shorthorns, derived from four bulls originally imported by the Bolden brothers and later improved by further importations, and were renowned for size and quality. John and Peter soon gave up breeding sheep, but retained the well-known '3M' brand for the cattle. The three brothers occupied Purrumbete together, breeding both sheep and cattle, until Thomas went to Grassmere run on the Merri River near Warrnambool in 1844. John wrote to his mother: 'We are at last got to the land we wished for … it is a beautiful place, and cannot be surpassed by any I have ever seen'. As yet they had no hut and were working day and night, but their delight in the new run was unbounded. By April the move from the Moorabool was complete. On this journey and later, they could not take their stock and drays through the Stony Rises, so went north of Lake Corangamite, to the neck of land between it and Lake Gnarpurt. He hastened to join his brothers, and they occupied the Purrumbete run in January 1839. On 4 July Thomas had married Jane Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Captain Walter Synnet, formerly of Ballinate, County Armagh, Ireland, and then of Van Diemen's Land. In December 1838, by penetrating the Stony Rises, John and Peter reached Lake Purrumbete and the Mount Leura country. He went back, however, for several visits, during one of which the three brothers examined the country near Ballarat. Towards the end of the year Thomas returned to Van Diemen's Land, leaving John and Peter to run the new station. On 9 July, with one of his brothers, he put ashore what he claimed to be the first sheep ever landed at Point Henry, and proceeded to occupy both sides of the Moorabool River. What he saw made him hurry back to buy ewes and lambs, comprehensive stores, a horse and a dog. Their holding was comparatively poor and, when news came of the Port Phillip District, Thomas lost no time in seeing it for himself in February 1836. Land grants had then finished, but William bought ninety acres (36 ha) next to his son's land, and on the combined properties the family built Kelso House. John and Peter, with their parents and three sisters, arrived on 8 July 1831. On condition that he appoint a respectable free overseer, he obtained 1280 acres (518 ha) on the west bank of the Tamar River. He arrived in Hobart Town on 23 January 1828 with £1500 and a letter of recommendation from the Colonial Office. When the family decided to emigrate to Van Diemen's Land, Thomas was sent ahead. MANIFOLD BROTHERS: Thomas (1809-1875), John (1811-1877) and Peter (1817-1885), were the fourth, fifth and sixth sons of William Manifold and Mary, née Barnes, of Courthouse Farm, Bromborough, Cheshire, England.
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