J. & D. Shearer

The family migrated to South Australia in the Omega, arriving in South Australia on 24 August 1852, living first at Port Adelaide, where their father pursued his trade of stonemason, then at Clare,[1] where the youngest boys attended the local school.

When that business failed he moved to the other end of town where J. G. Ramsay of Mount Barker had a workshop.

In 1888 they started manufacture of a wrought ploughshare using a resilient grade of steel developed for him by Meadow's company in England.

[6] A visitor to the business in 1908, and again in 1910 with a parliamentary committee, said the company had trouble keeping up with demand for their products.

He noted strippers made by the firm were lined up outside the factory on the banks of the Murray River awaiting shipment by paddle steamer and barge.