The founding of the company of Macdonald, Hamilton and Company has its origins in the Hunter River Steam Navigation Company (HRSN) which was set up in January 1840 to provide a shipping service between Sydney and the Hunter River. The company was formally lauched in July 1840 with a capital of £40,000 which took the form of 2000 shares of £20 each.

The new company ordered three iron paddle ships with the names Rose, Thistle and Shamrock.

"Rose", built by Fairbairn and Company, Millwall, London.
Length: 150 feet, Beam: 20 feet, Draught: 6 feet 6 inches, speed on trials 12 statute miles per hour.
Both "Rose", and "Thistle" were rigged as two masted vessels with flush decks.

Illustration: Used with permission and courtesy of the State Library of Queensland

"Thistle", built by Fairbairn and Company, Millwall, London.
Length: 150 feet, Beam: 20 feet, Draught: 6 feet 6 inches, speed on trials 12 statute miles per hour.

Illustration from "The Newcastle Packets and the Hunter Valley" by J.H.M.Abbott, (Sydney 1942), facing p84. Courtesy of the State Library of Queensland

"Shamrock", built by Paterson of Bristol.
Length: 150 feet, Beam: 22 feet, Draught: 6 feet 6 inches. She was rigged as a three masted schooner with a raised quarterdeck.

Passengers and cattle were able to be carried on board at the same time! When in service she operated between Sydney, Melbourne and Tasmania and was regarded as the crack steamer of her day. She was the first steamer to sail to, and into, Moreton Bay.

Photograph of Shamrock at Anchor.1841, Hunter River Steam Navigation Company. Used with permission and by courtesy of the John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

The Company was to be closely involved with the expansion and development of Eastern Australia. With these three very popular ships, they were the first of some 120 ships that plied the coastal trade of Australia and the Pacific for over a century or more, HRSN was soon established. By 1841 the Company had obtained the monopoly of the Hunter River trade and within ten years their services were operating the three major routes, Sydney to the Hunter River, Sydney to Moreton Bay and Sydney to Melbourne.(1) Because of the amount of trade and the rapid growth of the Colony, the Company needed to expand further so it was decided that HRSN, should be completely re-organised and a new company formed in its stead, to be named the Australasian Steam Navigation Company,(ASN), with the same directors as HRSN. (2)

(1). McKellar, N.L., From Derby Round to Burketown, The AUSN Story, (Brisbane, 1977) 7 (2) Ibid