Florance Broadhurst

While his entrepreneur father had recognised the potential of the industry and began mining, eventually to obtain a monopoly on the extraction of the guano, he proved unsuccessful in managing the concern.

This situation continued until Florance, who had a mercantile education, joined the concern and began managing the venture under the name Broadhurst MacNeil and Company.

Broadhurst proved enormously successful exporting to Europe and winning a gold medal at the Paris Exposition.

While working the deposits on Gun Island, his labourers found a large number of artifacts that he believed to be relics of the 1629 Batavia shipwreck.

These were eventually shown to be related not to the Batavia, but the VOC ship Zeewijk, which was wrecked off Gun Island in 1727.