Rum, Wool & Rebellion — The Nepean Saturday

The Nepean chapter runs on the second Saturday of the month, when the producers set up at Penrith Showground. Stock the basket, then take the pretty road south into the Mulgoa Valley, where Fernhill — built by a son of William Cox of merino fame — presides over old stud country. Here's the story the plaques don't tell: Macarthur is toasted as the father of the merino, but he was twice refused when he tried to buy the famous Cape flock Waterhouse brought out — it was the Cox family who bought the bulk of it, and that flock's sheep-cousins became the spine of France's finest merino wool. Finish down the old road toward Camden and the Cowpastures, where the legend lives — and now you know the ledger. Rum, wool and rebellion: the sequel.