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Distribution For Not - Publishing Echo THE LONG PADDOCK Distribution For Not - Publishing Echo 2 THE LONG PADDOCK ANDREW CHAPMAN AND TIM LEE The Five Mile Press Pty Ltd 1 Centre Road, Scoresby Contents Victoria 3179 Australia www.fivemile.com.au Introduction Part of the Bonnier Publishing Group 7 www.bonnierpublishing.com Part 1 ON THE HOOF Copyright © Andrew Chapman and Tim Lee, 2014 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or be FROM WILCANNIA TO BOOLIGAL transmitted by any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or Distribution 13 otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Part 2 HAY, HELL & BOOLIGAL First published 2014 For FROM BOOLIGAL TO HAY Printed in China Not 73 Cover and internal design by Philip Campbell Design - Part 3 THE OLD MAN PLAIN National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry FROM HAY TO DENILIQUIN Chapman, Andrew, photographer. 117 The long paddock : a photographic journey along Australia's longest stock route / Andrew Chapman, Tim Lee. Part 4 TO THE BORDER ISBN: 9781743467268 (hardback) FROM DENILIQUIN TO MOAMA/ECHUCA Stock routes--New South Wales--Pictorial works. Publishing 137 Droving--New South Wales--Pictorial works. Country life--New South Wales--Pictorial works. Part 5 AN EPIC TREK Lee, Tim, author. Echo BRINKWORTH’S GREAT CATTLE DRIVE 779.96362 165 Front cover Just past dawn at Mungindi, drover Bill Little cracks his stockwhip to get his cattle moving for the day Previous pages: Brinkworth cattle move out near Hillston Opposite: The shimmering promise of dry times mixed with a faint hope for rain, across the Long Paddock near One Tree 4 5 MAP of the long paddock INTRODUCTION Bourke e r i v Louth Across the Australian continent runs a vast network Australia ran from Wilcannia on the Darling River pioneers in an adventurous outdoor life pitted against R g n of corridors largely unseen and unrecognized by most in northwestern New South Wales to the Victorian the elements. E.S. “Ted” Sorenson wrote in 1906 how i l r 100 KILOMETRES a Tilpa people. This network is officially called the Travelling border towns of Echuca and Moama. the early drovers, known as overlanders, had “left their D Stock Route, but popularly known as “The Long From the 1840s the stock routes were vital to the tracks across the pages of Australian history and have Paddock.” pastoral expansion of the inland. Initially the pathways passed onto the Big Muster under a halo woven of Wilcannia NEW SOUTH WALES Stock routes are public thoroughfares set aside for for breeding stock, the herds and flocks of the squatter song and story.” the movement of domestic stock from paddock to rapidly multiplied. Within a few short years, drovers No stock route in Australia was more immortalized C O BURNDOO STATION market or from one property to another. Many follow were moving stock more than halfway across the in song and verse than the “The Western Road.” B Distribution B the ancient travelling routes of indigenous Australians, continent; from newly settled regions as far away as “Banjo” Paterson, Henry Lawson and others found Menindee H MT MANARA STATION I Foroften along the most accessible paths that avoided Queensland and the Northern Territory to markets inspiration in the colourful characters and exotic places G H W natural obstacles in the landscape. Usually they were a in Victoria, which were then in the thrall of the gold along this outback route. A Y c h l a n Ivanhoe L a R i v link between water sources. rushes. Some journeys took more than a year. A.B. “Banjo” Paterson famously rhymed the e r Not KILFERA STATION - Often the stock routes became the principal Drovers called the Moama to Wilcannia Stock age-old conflict between the settler and the travelling Mossgiel roads. Some evolved over time into major highways. Route “The Western Road.” In recent years it was drover. C Hillston O The Sydney Road, better known today as the Hume designated as “The Long Paddock,” a 610 kilometre TOM’S LAKE STATION B ADELAIDE CAMP B Highway linking Melbourne and Sydney, began life as touring route that follows the Cobb Highway. But this is the law which the drovers make, Wentworth H Booligal a major stock route. Travellers along this route today can readily learn of its right easily understood, I G Oxley One Tree H Carrathool W From the earliest times, these main stock arteries rich history from the dozens of interpretive signs that They travel their stage where the grass is A HORSE AND JOCKEY Publishing Y and their tributaries funneled millions of cattle and line the way. bad, but they camp where the grass is good; Maude Hay UARDRY STATION O L M sheep from the great plains of the inland. Ultimately From the vast saltbush plains of the Riverina, They camp, and they ravage the squatter’s D u v e r Sixteen Mile Gums r i Black Swamp r R u e e the stock mostly ended up on the dinner plates of thousands of stock were also annually moved on foot grass till never a blade remains, M m d g Balranald E d b i w a r A Booroorban Echo d N R people in the nation’s large cities and regional centres. to the mountains of southern New South Wales. This Then they drift away as the white clouds i v e r P ACT L Wanganella A In earlier times, visitors to Australia marveled at practice, which began in the earliest days of European drift on the edge of the saltbush plains. I Pretty Pine N Jerilderie cities such as Melbourne, Bendigo and Ballarat and settlement and continued until the 1950s, ensured Conargo Deniliquin their opulence created by gold. But usually they were that animals were not exposed to the broiling summer For livestock producers, the importance of stock- Mathoura M u r r a y R i v e r BRINKWORTH ROUTE even more astounded that meat was so abundant and heat of the inland plains or the dangers of diminishing routes has been likened to the emergency lane of the VICTORIA Moama affordable. water supplies. It also removed grazing pressure in the freeway, most prominently and commonly in times Echuca THE LONG PADDOCK ROUTE Most of that meat arrived as live animals walked months when the land is most fragile. of drought, but just as vitally when bushfire or floods from the inland. The busiest stock route in southern Stockmen and drovers embodied the spirit of the have swept a destructive path over private land. 6 7 The pasture on these pathways has saved many a Queensland drover Bill Little. “They’re our land. It’s stand the office or the confines of the city. They love small farmer from ruin. For some, such as pastoral everybody’s land; your land and my land.” the outdoors, the freedom of the road, their livestock, entrepreneur Sir Sidney Kidman, Australia’s great Travelling stock routes are often rich in flora and dogs and the horses that still play a vital role. And “Cattle King,” it helped amass vast fortunes. fauna, remnant vegetation and wildlife. As Crown despite the pace of modern life, the speed of their In 2013, an epic cattle trek emulated Kidman’s Land they mostly escaped the axe and the plough that travel is still governed by the speed of the stock. Their feat of walking stock vast distances from dry regions so profoundly changed the Australia landscape. For movements are determined by the rhythms of the to better seasons and markets. In June, 18,000 cows, this reason they are as much valued by conservationists seasons and the climatic cycles of an ancient land. the largest movement of cattle since colonial times, as drovers and livestock producers. These are the people of the Long Paddock. Distribution were moved by drovers from western Queensland to But few people realize that travelling stock routes southern New South Wales. are still the permanent home of a hardy band of For Originating from the drought-parched Gulf of nomads who share a rich heritage and carry on age-old Carpentaria region of northern Australia, the cattle traditions. These are the stories of the drovers who live, Not were bought by South Australian pastoral baron Tom walk and work along some of the most famous stock - Brinkworth. He gambled that winter rains would routes in Australia. And of some of the people who provide good pastures along the way. make their living in farming enterprises alongside these However, as if to test the mettle of modern drovers famous outback trails. against those of an earlier age, nature conspired to rob It’s a land of epic stories of lives governed by the the venture of a crucial element: good pasture. During changing pulse of the seasons in an arid landscape of the seven-month-long journey barely a drop of rain fell vast inland plains and open spaces. In summer, the Publishing in their pathway. wind is like a dragon’s breath blowing from Australia’s Because the stock route is public land and a public arid centre, whipping dust and debris into a devilish resource, everyone has a democratic right to use it; to dance, parching all in its path. In winter, night- Echo journey over, camp on or to graze their stock. So long time frost can whiten the landscape, and the winds, as they abide by the rules and regulations. unimpeded by trees or mountains, can whistle over the “The stock route system to me is like veins flat expanses.