Crompton and Sons

In 1857[2] Henry bought an Adelaide Hills property, dubbed "Stonyfell" (meaning "rocky hill") by his fiancée, Annie Montgomery Martin.[3] Together with Henry Clark, Crompton established Stonyfell Vineyards in 1858,[2] and by 1862 he and Robert Slape had planted some 34 acres (14 ha) of vines and largely completed the two-storey cellars.[4] On 21 May 1862[5] Henry formed a partnership with his brother Sidney and Joseph Crompton. Henry died in 1864 and in 1873 Joseph (who had meanwhile married Susan Mary Clark) bought out Sidney's share, becoming sole owner, but retained the business name "Clark & Crompton" until 1880. Joseph and his family moved into Stonyfell Cottage which had been built in 1838 by the previous owner James Edlin.[5] According to Department of Mines records, there was a quarry opened in 1837 by James Edlin in the area, to supply slate and building stone.[6]

In 1901 the whole family, with the exception of H. W. Crompton, was still living there.[7]

Clark & Crompton employed as winemaker Henry Tyler, who produced a dry red Burgundy, a dry white Hock, a light red and a Muscat from their own and other growers' grapes, producing in the 1870s around 9,000 imperial gallons (41,000 L; 11,000 US gal) each vintage.[4] With the sale of the property in 1888, Francis Crompton had no further interest in winemaking, but Henry Martin and his son Ronald took over the winemaking business from Dunstan in 1902 and in 1934 purchasing vineyards and cellars from the Dunstan estate.[4]

In 1874 he founded the Stonyfell Olive Company Ltd. with William Mair and Sidney Clark[1] on 130 acres (53 ha) of Stonyfell land. This business became largely owned by the family of Owen Crompton after his marriage to Sarah Simpson, daughter of A. M. Simpson, who settled on her the whole of his considerable stake in the company. With the inexorable expansion of Adelaide's suburbs, the land was sold to developers.[5]

In 1878 he began exporting skins to Britain[7] and in 1879 he bought a 10-acre (4.0 ha) property in what is now Beverley, South Australia for stabilising hides and skins for export to English fellmongers. In 1882 he opened a similar establishment in Footscray, Victoria.

At one stage Cromptons were exporting 1000 bales of rabbit skins annually, or 150 tons per week.[5]

He is believed to have been the first to export kangaroo skins to England, sometime before 1883, to Booth and Company (England) Ltd. Over 80,000 skins were exported to the same company in 1952.[5]

For a considerable time Cromptons were exporting accroides resin from the yacca plant (Xanthorrhoea spp.), obtained when Kangaroo Island land was being cleared; in one year 1200 tons were exported. This resource is effectively non-renewable,[5] as the plant is extremely slow growing.

In 1878 Joseph founded the Bunyip Soap factory on 53 acres (21 ha) to the south of Port Pirie. In 1889 the factory moved to the banks of the Torrens on Winwood Street, Southwark, previously occupied by T. Cornish's tannery, where it was managed by J. Milbourne, previously with the Apollo Soapworks then J. Kitchen and Sons. The company was still operating from the same premises, adjacent to F. H. Faulding Ltd., in 1962.[5] The name Bunyip Soap Company was registered in 1898 and from c. 1955 as Crompton Bunyip Soaps Ltd until c. 1991 when the firm went into voluntary liquidation.[8]

Around 1900, Bunyip Soaps opened an office in Perth[9] and had a factory at 25 Cliff Street, Fremantle in the first half of the 20th century.[10][11]

He leased a 500-square-mile (1,300 km²) property near Keith, South Australia where he grazed sheep, later selling the 300,000 acres (120,000 ha) for £6000.

He purchased a dairy farm of 116 acres (47 ha) on Port Road, Woodville, South Australia,[5] and purchased 500 acres (200 ha) at Carrickalinga near Myponga, South Australia.