Henry Osborne was a successful agriculturalist and pastoralist, and one of the largest and wealthiest landowners in the colony.
Henry was born in Ireland and settled in the Illawarra in 1829. He was granted 2560 acres of land and named his estate Marshall Mount, after his wife, Sarah Marshall. Many of Shellharbour’s first European settlers came to Australia to work on his estate.
In 1839, at a time when there were few roads and tracks in the country, he drove 1655 cattle overland from the Illawarra to South Australia, to find a new market for the surplus stock. The journey took four months.
Henry became a member of the Legislative Council as a member for East Camden in 1851, and was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1856.
Shellharbour City Council acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Dharawal Country and recognises their continued connection to the land.
We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging and the contribution they make to the life of this City.