Bengalla Station Records

The Bengalla Station series documents the comprehensive operational, financial, legal, and personal history of this significant Hunter Valley pastoral property managed by the Keys family from the mid-19th century through the mid-20th century. The series provides insights into colonial and early 20th century station management practices, business networks, land acquisition under conditional purchase legislation, and family life on a major New South Wales pastoral estate.

Operational records form the core of the collection and include: ledgers (1854-1945), daybooks and store books (1836-1888), journals (1888-1892), business letter books with press copies (1911-1933), wages and rations documentation, stock purchase agreements, livestock records, and station diaries. There is also business correspondence (1879-1909) with merchants, drovers, livestock agents, insurance companies, banks, government departments, and other landowners. 

Financial records document relationships with multiple banks and insurance companies including detailed accounts and receipts organized chronologically (1881-1910), and life assurance documentation for AMP Society and Australian Widows Fund. 

The collection also contains family correspondence (1840-1914), and a photograph album containing 92 portraits, three photographs of bullocks and stockmen (1896), a notebook containing veterinary remedies and recipes, a copy of a memorandum by Mrs. Scott recording floods and prices (1795-1821).

There is a genealogy of a branch of the Keys family signed by John H. Keys which can be found on the fly-leaf of a ledger [A0135/16]