 Richardson had come to NSW in 1850 from Liverpool in England, where his father had trained him to be a wool merchant.He joined Mort & Co., the prominent firm of auctioneers and wool brokers in Sydney, where he soon became a valued employee and was promoted in 1855 to land manager.His work brought him to the Sutton Forest district where he met and married Violet Alston of "Woodside", from a prosperous Moss Vale family.