The death of Mr. Henry Hay, of Collendina, Corowa, N.S.W., came as a shock to his many friends. He was in good health up till about the middle of last month, and died after an illness lasting only two or three days.
He was a son of the late Mr. Wm. Hay, one of the pioneers of the Australian pastoral industry, who died in 1908 at the age of 92 years. Henry Hay was born in '47 at Kilmore, Vic., and educated partly at the Edinburgh Academy and partly at the Melbourne Church of England Grammar School. On leaving school he interested himself in pastoral pursuits, and in 1873, in conjunction with his father and brother, purchased Collendina. The partnership was dissolved in 1886, and Mr. Hay continued to work the property on his own account, subsequently, in 1907, taking his son, Mr. H. A. Hay, into partnership.
Mr. Hay was always a man who took the keenest interest in any movement affecting the welfare of his district. He was practically the originator of lucerne growing there on a large scale, without irrigation, and one of the first to recognise the possibilities of that part of the world for wheatgrowing. A letter written to him over thirty years ago from the local progress association of the time expresses their "extreme satisfaction and gratitude for setting the much needed and noble example to other large landholders in the district, of putting the land to its proper uses, thereby encouraging settlement, which is and has been so much needed in this most important portion of the colony." He had been president of the Corowa P. A and H. Society for over twenty years, the Race Club and Picnic Race Club, patron of the hospital, and had held the leading position in practically every association connected with the town and district. He was a very old member of the Australian Club, Melbourne.
Mr. Hay, in 1879, married Christina Mary, daughter of Mr. George Rutherford, of Peechelba Station, and leaves a family of three daughters and one son, the latter, Mr. H. A. Hay, managing partner of the firm.
'Hay, Henry (1847–1918)', Obituaries Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/hay-henry-476/text477, accessed 3 December 2024.