The history of Merino in Australia dates back to 1797 when a flock of Spanish Merino sheep arrived via South Africa. Two British officers, Henry Waterhouse and William Kent, bought the flock and transported them to Sydney where they sold them to a number of landowners, including John Macarthur.

When John Macarthur returned to England in 1802, he showed specimens of fleeces from his merino flock to the British Government and the wool manufacturers. It was during this period that he was granted 5000 acres of the best pasture land in the colony and laid the groundwork for NSW to be developed as a major wool-growing area.

Once Macarthur returned to Australia, he set about putting his plans to expand the wool export industry in the Colony into action. In just a few decades, he had successfully increased Australia’s export of wool from 32,000 pounds in 1815 to more than 4.5 million pounds in 1834, twice as much as that imported to England from Spain (one of the world’s main wool producing countries).

The Society of Arts awarded Macarthur three gold medals, two in 1822 and one in 1824, for the quality and quantity of his exported wool, which became a world standard for more than a century and a half.

John Macarthur’s success was effectively the beginning of Australia’s wool exporting industry and had an immense monetary impact on the nation’s economy.

Today, Australian merino wool offers the ultimate in wool fibre for all manner of textile products. Woven fabrics, furnishing most of the world’s business and hospitality interiors, are made from luxurious and hard wearing merino wool, which provides lasting performance, durability and comfort.