A Short History of John and Thomas Gunn
Origins
Even before the Gunns pulp mill in Tasmania, Gunns Limited was probably Tasmania’s best known and most controversial timber Company and a fair bit has been written on its corporate history. Most people know that Gunns' history began in Launceston as a partnership formed in either 1871 or 1872 by the brothers John and Thomas Gunn and quite a bit of history has been written about how the Gunns timber business developed from then: but lthere has been little history written about the lives of the brothers John and Thomas Gunn prior to J & T Gunns' and what historic factors from that period contributed to the surprising success of their building and timber business.
The Gunns borthers' father was Alexander Gunn, a poor Scottish share farmer from the north east corner of Scotland who, with his wife Barbara Nicholson, migrated to Adelaide in 1838 and after a little over a year in Adelaide, where John Gunn was born, the family moved to Launceston in July 1840. In Launceston Alexander Gunn worked in a range of labouring and semi-skilled occupations. Thomas Gunn was born in 1844.
John and Thomas Gunn were both apprenticed out at an early age, as was normal in those days; John Gunn was 11 when he was apprenticed as a carpenter joiner to a builder named either Robert Roe or Rhodes (most probably Rhodes is the right name). Thomas Gunn was apprenticed as a bricklayer to a builder named French. The normal period for an apprenticeship in those days was seven years, so John Gunn would have finished his apprenticeship around 1859 and would have been expected to continue working with his employer as a tradesman for at least several years.
However two years later, in October 1861, aged 21, John Gunn left Launceston and travelled to Dunedin in New Zealand on the ship Star of Tasmania. His reason for traveling there was because a very rich gold field had been discovered near Dunedin in July 1861 and a full blown gold rush was underway by the end of that August with around 200,000 ounces of gold being exported from the field by the end of 1861.
To put this in the historic context of the Australian Gold Rush, by 1861 the easily got alluvial gold in the Victorian gold fields was gone and with it the chance for a young man to win rapid riches with basic equipment. Hard rock mining had taken over, requiring heavy machinery and capital. News of a new, rich, alluvial gold field in New Zealand was a magnet for young fortune seekers who had missed the hay days of the Victorian gold rush. The Otago Witness reports in July 6th 1861 that men on the goldfield there were gaining 10 or more ounces of gold per day working with inferior tools. To put that in a modern monetary context in terms of wages an ounce of gold was worth the equivalent of a weeks wages for a tradesman.
It can reasonably be assumed that John Gunn left Launceston for the Otago gold fields to try his luck.
In late 1862 or early 1863 John Gunn returned to Launceston, to bring his younger brother Thomas to New Zealand. Shipping records show that John Gunn travelled back to New Zealand on the ship “Wee Tottie” in March 1863.
This time John went not to Dunedin but Auckland.
In his book “All Gunns Blazing” Lyons states that John Gunn and possibly Thomas enlisted in the military in the Maori Wars. This statement is confirmed by a newspaper report in March 1864 at which time John Gunn was a paid Sargent in the First Class Militia.
There were actually several MAROI WARS, the war the Gunns were involved in went from 1863 to 1864 and between the military forces of the Colonial Government and a federation of Māori tribes around the Waikato district south of Aucland. History now recognises that this war was essentially a land grab initiated by a hostile colonial Government in response to the decision of the Waikato Maroi tribes to block sales of land to British settlers. It ended with the confiscation of about 12,000 km² of Māori land.
There are newspaper records that Thomas Gunn worked in the Takaka River Gold Fields, that he owned a house in Auckland and was a major shareholder in a hard rock gold mining company.
In 1864, with the conclusion of the Maori Wars, the partnership of Somner and Gunn Builders began; they won contracts to build a church, a synagogue and later a cricket grandstand in Dunedin, which was booming as a result of the gold rush. From 1864 to 1868 John Gunn formed a construction Company in partnership in Auckland with another builder by the name of Rhodes who was almost certainly the same Rhodes who he had been apprenticed to in Tasmania. This partnership is confirmed by records held by the Gunn family (personal communication: Thomas Gunn). It is interesting that the work that Gunn & Rhodes and Gunn & Somner did were all large scale projects such as warehouses, churches and other major buildings such as the headquarters for the Bank of New Zealand in Auckland.
According to Lyons around 1870 the two brothers left New Zealand and went to Sydney to try to break into the building industry there though exactly why they left New Zealand and what they did in Sydney is unclear. However they did not succeed in Sydney and returned to Launceston around the end of 1870.
In Launceston the two Gunn brothers married two sisters, both daughters of an ex-convict shopkeeper named Isaiah Morris.
Then in 1871 or 72 (probably 1871) the Gunn brothers formed the business J & T Gunn.
According to Keith Hardman, Gunns Limited’s accountant and the Gunns Company’s General Manager and Managing Director, the brothers Gunn began their business with a seed capital on 160,000 pounds sterling. John Gunn contributed 80,000 pounds in cash for shares and Thomas Gunn contributed another 80,000 pounds as interest bearing debentures. Exactly what the initial business structure was is uncertain but the size of the seed capital raises interesting questions. 160,000 pounds was a huge sum of money in the 1870’s and to get a true idea of the size of this sum in 21st century dollars we can look at mid 19th Century wages.
For example in 1871 a Policeman of 3 years service earned about one and a half pounds per week a Mine labourer almost 2 pounds per week; a farm labourer got one pound per week and a 1st year tradesman about one pound per week (plus food and board).
If we round up the average mid 19th century wage for a skilled worker to 2 pounds per week or 100 pounds a year this makes the 80,000 pounds that each of the Gunn brothers contributed as seed capital for J&T Gunn was the equivalent of 800 years wages or, in today’s money, around $30,000,000 each.
There is no historic information regarding the source of this significant sum of money however, Lyons states that John Gunn, grandson of the original John Gunn, said the capital had not come from a family source and that it was the result of the brothers’ prudent saving.
However it is more likely that the brothers had an extremely successful venture in the New Zealand gold rush and then made more money in the construction business there.
Whatever was the source of this capital it was certainly sufficient for the two brothers to begin a significant business venture in Launceston.
J & T Gunn’s first project was the construction of St Andrew’s Church at Evandale in 1871 rapidly followed by a number of very large construction projects, which included warehouses, factories, government offices, shops and large homes; essentially a similar pattern to the work they did in New Zealand.
The possession of a significantly large amount of Capital enabled the brothers to start their business by purchasing premises, which included buildings and a saw mill in immediate proximity to the Launceston wharves. The possession of this lump of capital also meant that by 1881, a mere ten years after beginning their business John and Thomas Gunn, built and owned a massive two story, brick building with a five story tower, a steam powered joinery works and a log sawmill. Their new factory covered almost an entire city block in Brisbane St. Launceston.
From a social point of view the initial rapid expansion of J&T Gunn through the 1870’s is difficult to explain as the brothers had come from a lower class family, married into the middle class family of an ex-convict shop keeper and been away from Launceston for almost seven years. The success of the Gunns brothers may be an indication of the egalitarian nature of late 19th century Tasmanian society, as apart from the fact that they appear to have returned to Launceston fabulously wealthy they had no real social status and no local reputation which would have opened the door to construction contracts of the very substantial value that made up the bulk of their early business.
The economy of Launceston, like much of Tasmania had benefited from the Victorian gold rush as the demand for timber for mining and building and also food supplies was initially largely satisfied by Tasmanian interests. However one event in particular that contributed to the wealth of Launceston society and also coincided with the beginning of J&T Gunn’s business was the 1871 discovery of massive tin deposits at what became known as Mount Bischoff Mine, which was then the world’s largest tin mine. Whilst J&T Gunn was not directly involved in the Bischoff mine the money that flowed into Launceston as a result of that and other mining ventures in northern Tasmania at that time provided a wave of stimulus to the Launceston economy; a wave which the Gunn brothers were well positioned to ride.
As the Gunn’s construction business grew the brothers began systematically cutting out the middle men in the supply of their raw materials. They purchased a number of saw mills and even built their own brick works to bypass having to import bricks from the mainland. J&T Gunn was the first business in Tasmania to build a steam driven brick works at Glen Diu, near Launceston, and kilns for drying sawn timber and as well as other innovative “value adding” practices such as dressed and moulded timber.
To improve cost efficiency on their inventory J&T Gunn also began selling retail and wholesale hardware and timber supplies from Brisbane Street as well as from their mills.
By the time that John Gunn died in March 1897, he was the chairman of the National Bank of Tasmania and a director of the Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Tasmania and J&T Gunn was one of Tasmania’s largest employers and also arguably the largest construction, hardware and timber conglomerate in Tasmania. Not a bad effort for the son of a share farmer.
After John’s death Thomas continued to run J&T Gunn with the assistance of a close circle of loyal employees and relatives.
J&T Gunn incorporated in 1907 with Thomas Gunn as Chairman and his son Frank and John Gunn’s son Fred as directors.
The early 20th century saw J &T Gunn expand rapidly, buying up competitors that had compatible business holdings.
During this period Thomas Gunn also ventured, profitably and slightly controversially, into land development on King Island which activities resulted in a Royal Commission because of some questionable transactions.
Thomas Gunn died in August 1910 and effective control of J&T Gunn passed to his nephew Fred Gunn.
Whilst there is no doubt that the success of the partnership of John and Thomas Gunn was the result of the brothers’ astutely combining their different talents and skills there also can be no doubt that it was the seed capital raised as a result of John Gunn’s New Zealand adventuring that provided the platform from which the two brother were able to launch a business that has spanned three centuries.
References
Daily Southern Cross, Volume XX, Issue 2079, 18 March 1864, Page 4
Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XX, Issue 48, 5 June 1861, Page 2
Page 3 Advertisements Column 1 elector story
Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIII, Issue 3093, 15 June 1867, Page 3
WAGES AT WALLAROO. 1860
To the Editor of the ADVERTISER.
Sir-In your paper of Saturday, April 27,1 noticed an article in which it was stated by Mr. Gouge that laborers' wages had risen from 40s to 50s. per week, with rations. As it may be the means of misleading many, I beg to contradict that statement as being very incorrect. I have been working at Wallaroo, and the adjoining mines, for the laat nine months, and have never known wages to be so high. Laborers are now getting from 35s. to 42s. per week, without rations.
W. E. GILES.
The Times, Thursday, Nov 30, 1871; pg. 11;
Policeman of 3 years service 26 shillings and 6 pence per week
The Times, Wednesday, Sep 30, 1874; pg. 8; Issue 28121; col
Laborer 13 shilling and 6 p. per week.
July 6 1861 page 4. Otago Times
Gold, Gold, Gold, is the universal subject of conversation. The number of persons leaving town each morning is quite surprising. The fever is running to such a height that, if it continue, there will be scarcely a man left in town. On the last Sunday, the congregation at church consisted of the minister and precentor. In Dunedin, everything is rising in price - that is to say, everything in demand or which involves the employment of labour. About three weeks since there appeared in our columns a letter from Mr Gabriel Read, addressed to the Superintendent, informing him of the discovery of a paying gold field in the neighbourhood of the Tokomairiro. Mr Read stated he obtained, in ten hours, seven ounces of gold, working with inferior tools. Mr Read stated a party of three, who worked with proper tools, that Mr Read's party (Read, Brookes, and Hardy) had obtained seven pounds weight of gold in eleven or twelve days. The Gold has chiefly been worked in a small creek or rivulet falling into the Tuapeka, which latter stream is a tributary of the Clutha. and all of the adjoining small creeks and gullies of a similar character, are found to yield Gold in equally paying quantities. The spot is on Run 137 near the station of Davy and Bowler. This is about 20 miles from the Tokomairiro Plain in a straight line, but 30 miles have to be traversed to reach the place. From Dunedin the shortest road to the Diggings is by the range at the back of the West Taieri, and Waihola. No person should start for the Diggings without taking supplies with him.
Image of John Gunn circa 1880's
Image of Thomas Gunn circa 1880's
( thanks to Thomas Gunn for permission to use these images )
