Obituaries Australia

Daniel Cudmore, n.d.

from Pastoral Review, 15 January 1914

Mr. Daniel Henry (Dan) Cudmore, one of the pioneer pastoralists of South Australia and Western New South Wales, passed away at Adare, Victor Harbour, South Australia, on 14th December, 1913. He had been an invalid for some time, but the shock of his son's tragic death in the motor accident some weeks previously hastened the end. Mr. Cudmore was educated in Adelaide at St. Peter's College. On leaving school he went to Paringa Station, where he lived some time with his brother. Times were very different in those early days, most of the work had to be done by blackboys, and there was much excitement when big mobs of cattle had to be taken down to Adelaide. Cattle droving through wild bush tracks was no light work, as the men in charge of cattle had to be on the alert all night, taking turns watching to prevent the mob breaking away and scattering. For a time Mr. Cudmore managed for his father the Yongala Station in South Australia, and then some Queensland properties.

He and his father later purchased the western half of the well-known Tapio Station, on the Darling, then owned by Messrs. Menzies and Douglas. Mr. Cudmore called it Avoca. He afterwards bought Popiltah, the whole run then consisting of 1100 square miles, carrying over 120,000 sheep.

He was much interested in conserving water. His well-known scheme on the Anabranch for saving the floodwaters from the Darling proved a great advantage to many who would otherwise have been hard pressed for water for their stock.

Mr. Cudmore worked very hard to get people interested in preventing bush fires, and his notes on how to fight bush fires have appeared in all the papers in the States. He was considered the best authority on the subject, and had much experience in the terrible grass fires in South Australia near Yongala Station. He installed a pumping plant on the river above Avoca head station, and successfully irrigated and grew crops of lucerne, wheat, and oats for fodder for stock in dry seasons.

In 1895 Mr. Cudmore retired from Avoca, retaining his interest in Boondoon Station, Queensland, and lived at his country home Adare on the Hindmarsh River, Victor Harbour. He spent the winter months at his father's old home Claremont, at Glen Ormond, until the last two or three years. At Adare Mr. Cudmore collected many curios, relics of the early whaling days at Encounter Bay, among these being whalebones and a blubber pot, also an old ship's cannon, which stands in the Adare grounds. Mr. Cudmore took an interest in the Adelaide Museum, presenting a native canoe, "Mungo," as it is called by the natives. These bark canoes are now very rare. He has left a widow and four sons—Henry, who is at present in New Zealand; Paul, who resides at Victor Harbour; Milo, in Queensland; and C. R., solicitor, of Adelaide; and one daughter, Mrs. Milroy Smith, of New Zealand. The late Mr. R. Cudmore, who was killed in a motor accident a couple of months ago, was another son.