John Jeremiah Leahy (better known to contemporaries, including his family, as “JJ”) was one of Australia’s biggest and most colourful pastoralists, yet until now relatively little has been written about him, apart from an entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography.

The build-up of his livestock and property empire, which reached its zenith in the 1930s and ‘40s, is outlined in Gerald Walsh’s book The Bush and the Never-Never (2004), and a feature article on J.J. Leahy by

This writer appeared in The Land the following year. But now we have the full and “inside” story of this enigmatic pastoral figure, thanks to a book just completed and published by his son Gerard, the sole surviving member of Leahy’s large family.

For Gerard, it’s been a decade-long assignment of researching, interviewing and piecing together the story – a project interrupted sadly by the need to nurse his wife through a terminal illness, and even to undergo surgery as an organ donor himself in an attempt to save her.

His book, entitled Shirtsleeves to Shirtsleeves in Two Generations, is the first of what will be a two-volume saga, tracing the rise and fall of the J.J. Leahy pastoral empire (as the title implies) and the family breakup that attended it.

During a pastoral career spanning some 60 years, and starting with nothing but his wits, Leahy owned or leased at various times more than 100 properties, mostly in NSW but also extending to North Queensland.

He was essentially a dealer, in both land and livestock, and rarely allowed himself to become attached to any of his purchases (one exception being his beloved “Manna Park” fattening 0property near Forbes), if an opportunity for a profit came along.

Like Sir Sidney Kidman, he liked to buy properties stocked and sell them bare, and he held country at strategic locations to cover climatic risks and ensure he would always have sheep or cattle ready for market.

Although best known as a cattleman, and a regular vendor at Sydney’s Flemington markets, he was also reputed at one time to have had Australia’s largest woolclip, and he bred Thoroughbreds with success. Gerard’s book is valuable for what it tells us of the character of the man behind this empire, and his modus operandi. We learn, not surprisingly, that he was an outstanding judge of stock and land, a man at home as much among drovers as silvertails and a tireless networker.

But thanks to Gerard, we also learn from one who was both family and employee that behind the scenes, J.J. Leahy could be an autocratic, unforgiving and demanding boss, and to the five sons who variously worked for him, a patriarchal figure who commanded respect rather than affection.

We are not surprised to find, towards the end of the first book, that the empire built so painstakingly by J.J. Leahy to carry his family into the future was brought undone, not by drought or market reversals, but by internal family ructions and painful divisions.

Gerard’s book follows the fortunes of not just his father, but of his other family members who were involved to varying degrees in different aspects of the business.

At its peak, the J.J. Leahy pastoral empire ran like a well-oiled machine, with “JJ” himself always calling the shots and determining strategy, and the sons all playing their part according to their respective skills.

But while a business involving multiple family members can be extraordinarily successful and cost-efficient (as many Italian and Greek migrant families in Australia have shown), it can also carry the seeds of its own destruction, once personality clashes emerge.

Gerard Leahy’s book provides us with a rare and candid account of one such unravelling, at the same time filling an important gap in the recording of the nation’s pastoral history.

Peter Austin has been a rural journalist with The Land Newspaper since 1978 and has written widely on pastoral history, properties and personalities. He was editor of the paper for eight years and although now retired, he continues to contribute a regular column, “Peppercorn”, and to write articles on properties of historical interest.

Before joining The Land, he was a stock and station agent with the former pastoral house, Winchcombe Carson, based for 12 years at Crookwell, where J.J. Leahy once owned a butchers shop with his brother, and later held Fullerton Station.

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