H. L. Conran

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Henry Lewis Conran, known as H. L. or Harry, was an Australian pastoralist and stockbroker born in Melbourne on 26 December 1861. He was educated in England and joined the Royal Navy, becoming a midshipman and serving with future Admiral Creswell before leaving the service in the early 1870s. He then turned to farming in Queensland with his brother Thomas Wills Conran, leasing Yamala Station on the Peak Downs and later purchasing 4,749 acres as Conran Bros & Co. They also held a significant interest in Gordon Downs Station and invested heavily in improvements.

In 1879 he helped found the Peak Downs Turf Club. The brothers faced hard times during the 1881–1886 drought and a bushfire that followed. Tom later made a fortune trading Broken Hill stocks and joined the Adelaide Stock Exchange in 1901; H. L. moved to South Australia but did not find quick success until the Coolgardie–Kalgoorlie gold rush, when he made a substantial fortune. He lived in Glenelg and ran an office in Grenfell Street. In 1893 the brothers formed the Conran Syndicate to finance mining ventures in Western Australia, including the Cosmopolitan Mines. He acted as Adelaide broker for mines such as Wealth of Nations and Brilliant Reward in 1894 and was a shareholder and creditor of The Coolgardie Courier, which later went insolvent.

He later moved to England, establishing a home called “Courabelle” at Westgate-on-Sea, Kent, though he returned to Australia each year. The Conran family had friendly ties with the German royal family, and he once sent the Crown Princess a pair of kangaroos with joey. He died after years of ill health and was buried in Hampstead Cemetery.

H. L. Conran married Mary Louisa “Minnie” Molle in 1886; her father was Col. Molle of the 43rd Regiment. He had brothers Thomas Wills Conran, Charles Conran, and Marcell Conran; he also married Ida McLachlan in 1881.