Edmund Bede Comans papers

fonds

1855-1970

Textual Records, Graphic Materials, Photographs

888870

6 metres of textual material (27 boxes of textual material

Edmund Bede Joseph Comans was born in Forbes 1882, the only child of Micheal and Maria Comans, he passed away in Sydney 1968 after a lifetime of dedication to horse breeding and showing. Comans was a farmer and horse breeder and was actively involved in the creation of several horse stud book societies at a time when there were very few standards, regulations and rules around registered horse breeding in Australia.

Comans was primarily involved in the creation and development of Clydesdales, Australian and Welsh Ponies, Crabbet Arabs, and Bloodstock (later the Australian Jockey Club) breed societies, where he held various committee positions over the years. Later in his life he helped establish the Ingleburn Riding Club, the Sydney Hunt Club, and the Ingleburn Pony Club after the end of both World Wars.

During World War I and II Comans was involved with Australian Government Remount Horse Breeding Schemes, as always actively encouraging the quality and training of horses in Australia by corresponding with breed societies from around Britian, Canada, New Zealand and America.

Comans wrote an unpublished work around horse breeding and showing, including an indexed work, Horse Breeding Industry 1900-1939 which summarises his knowledge and passion for ensuring the quality and improving the standard of imported and domestic quality of horses. Comans was also a prolific collector and annotator of newspaper clippings, horse catalogues and journal articles.

Reference:
Compiled from the collection

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Series 4:

Information transferred from Manuscripts Leaf Catalogue No. 2 as part of the eRecords Project, 2009-2010

This collection includes pictorial material at Pic.Acc.1408