Archibald Mosman (1799-1863), merchant and pastoralist, was born on 15 October 1799, the elder of twin sons of Hugh Mosman, of Auchtyfardle, near Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire, Scotland, and his wife Agnes, nee Kennedy. His father was convener of the County of Lanark and his eldest brother Hugh, became deputy-lieutenant of Lanark. Archibald and his twin brother George, after spending some time growing sugar in the West Indies, arrived in Sydney in the ‘Civilian’ on 24 August 1828. The ship appears to have been under charter to them; they brought with them their own clerk, W. Scott, and a recommendation to the Governor from the Colonial Office. They at once launched into business in Sydney. A warehouse was first established in George Street which they used to ship wool to Liverpool, as revealed in an announcement in the Sydney Gazette, 15 January 1829, that Messrs Mosman were agents for the Mary sailing to ‘Liverpool direct’ and that they would ‘either purchase or make an advance on wool [in cash] consigned to their House in Liverpool’; perhaps connexions with Liverpool had been established during the years in the West Indies. The partnership between the brothers was dissolved in July 1829 but whether this was more than a business manoeuvre is uncertain. In practice the firm seems still to have been referred to as Messrs Mosman, and in 1831 a small grant was obtained on the foreshore of Great Sirius Cove.