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James Penn Boucaut was a South Australian lawyer, Supreme Court Judge and politician; he was the Premier of South Australia at three different times; 1866-1867, 1875-1876 and 1877-1878. He was also one of the first to raise purebred Arabian horses in a recognised breeding program in Australia.

Born in England in 1831, he migrated to Australia with his family in 1846 and worked as a stockman. He studied law and was admitted to the Bar in 1855. While in politics he was a strong supporter of Federation. In 1878 he was appointed as a Supreme Court Judge and served for 27 years. He retired in 1905. It was at this stage that Boucaut developed a passion for horse breeding.

In the introduction to his book The Arab; the horse of the future, he says that he was led to forming a stud mainly because of his love of the country, and because of his need to get away from the city and Supreme Court Chambers at the end of each week. Boucaut had purchased land in Mt Barker Springs which he named the Quambi Stud Farm. His decision to breed Arab horses was because no one else had adopted the breed in South Australia and he believed that purebred Arabian horses would improve the Australian horse stock. What started as an 'amusement' soon grew on Boucaut (1905, p. 2).

In his books he argues strongly that the English thoroughbred, bred originally partly from Arab horses, had deteriorated and that a fresh introduction of pure Arab stock would improve the breed, both in race-horses and in riding horses. He attributes the cause of the deterioration largely to the sport of racing and breeding of horses simply for short bursts of speed, without thought for the animals' other useful attributes. In an added postscript, he praises the work and opinions of George Hamilton, in his book, An appeal for the horse, which is also part of this exhibition.

The Quambi stud was derived from two imported purebred stallions and four imported purebred mares, all of which came from a famous stud at Crabbet Park in Sussex, England, owned by Mr Wilfred Blunt. The stallion Rafyk, pictured here with Boucaut, was a bright bay horse foaled at the Crabbet Stud in England in 1890. Rafyk's sire was Azrek, imported to England from Northern Arabia by Blunt. The Quambi stud is well described in an illustrated article in The Chronicle, dated February 1904.

At the age of 78, Boucaut dispersed his stud. A pamphlet published in 1908, Observations on thoroughbreds, bombay mongrels and arab horses: together with some particulars of the Quambi pure-bred arab stud, provides some information on the breeding of the horses at the stud at the time. This is fortunate, because according to the Arabian Horse Society of Australia, his horses were not officially registered within Australia as there was no Australian stud book at the time; instead they were registered with the British Arab Horse Society. Despite this, some of the progeny of the Quambi horses have been acquired over the years and can still be traced back.

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