Henry William Nancarrow: Member of the Cornish Diaspora and his role in the Cornish, Scottish and Australian Mine, Cobar, New South Wales.

Henry William Nancarrow, a â¿¿Cousin Jackâ¿¿ of all trades, helped finance and develop copper mining at Cobar in western NSW. Henry arrived in Sydney in 1848 aged fourteen and settled at Maitland. He started work as a farm hand was subsequently apprenticed to a baker, worked as a sawyer, blacksmith and then for the government as a contractor on roads and bridges. By 1865 he had saved sufficient capital to set up a hawking business. For five years he travelled between the coast and the inland. In 1870 he settled at the frontier town of Bourke and with his brother Richard opened a store and purchased the Old Fort hotel. After discovery of copper at Cobar, Henry helped finance a new discovery in 1872 that became the Cornish, Scottish and Australian (C.S.A.) mine. This was eventually revealed as the largest copper deposit in the Cobar region. He also invested heavily in the original Cobar Copper Mining Company. Henry wisely sold his mining interests in 1873 before the copper price and speculative â¿¿copper maniaâ¿¿ collapsed. He invested the money in property and other businesses. Henry Nancarrow is not atypical of many ordinary Cornish immigrants to Australia in the 19th century. Despite his humble background and rudimentary education, his entrepreneurial spirit, hard work and persistence in a new land of opportunity allowed him to acquire property and wealth that he could only have dreamed of if he had stayed in Cornwall. Along with similar Cornish settlers he contributed significantly to the economic and social development of Australia.