crème, at the very top rank of colonial aristocracy.
The term squatter, which has so low and mean a sound to English ears, is quite euphonious and aristocratic in Australia; and when Mr. Hammond invested his capital in sheep and settled on the crown lands of South Australia, he took a position equal to that of the best professional men or leading merchants in the colony, and one more likely to lead to fortune, in those days at least. There are exceptions, as in the case of self-made men like Hugh Lindsay, but the bulk of our sheepfarmers consist of people who brought capital into the colony, and they hold up their heads accordingly.
In all Mr. Hammond's transactions, great and small, he always asked his wife's advice, and always took it; and as her judgment was excellent she really helped him on. Everything prospered with them; his runs were in the choicest localities, his sheep improved rapidly in wool-bearing qualities, his overseers were always trustworthy, his expenses were moderate. When he was forced to buy land it always happened that he had the means of paying for it, and that it was the best thing possible for him to purchase and enclose at that particular time; though every time the hundreds were declared he felt aggrieved
