Drover (Australian)

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Sheep droving through the town of Warialda in northern New South Wales
Sheep droving through the town of Warialda in northern New South Wales

A drover in Australia is a person, typically an experienced stockman, who moves animals, usually sheep or cattle, "on the hoof" over long distances. Reasons for droving include:

  • delivering animals to a new owner's property,
  • taking animals to market,
  • moving animals during a drought or season change in search of better feed and/or water.

The first droving over a significant distance occurred in 1836 when 300 cattle were moved by Joseph Hawdon in 26 days from the Murrumbidgee River to Melbourne, a distance of about 480 km. As droving skills were developed, more and more challenging assignments were undertaken. In 1863, boss drover George Gregory took 8000 sheep from near Rockhampton to the Northern Territory border, some 2100 km, taking seven months. In 1881, Nat Buchanan, regarded by many as the greatest drover of all, took 20,000 cattle from St George in Southern Queensland to the Daly River, not far south of Darwin, a distance of 3200 km. Drovers were sometimes on the road for as long as two years. The drovers who covered very long distances, often through remote areas, became known as “overlanders” .

The most famous Outback stock routes were the Murranji Track, the Birdsville Track, and the Canning Stock Route. The Canning was regarded as the loneliest, the most difficult, and the most dangerous.

Cattle were expected to cover about ten miles (16 km) a day, sheep about six miles (10 km). Occasionally mobs of horses were moved by drovers. One famous overlander even claimed be had droved [some say “droved”, some say “driven”] a swarm of bees from Ballarat to the Murrumbidgee!

Traditional droving could not have been done without horses. Apart from the stock horses used during the day’s travel, there were packhorses, and the all-important night-horses. The “horse tailer” is the team member responsible for the welfare of the horses.

A good night-horse was highly prized for its night vision, and its ability to bring animals under control when a “rush” or stampede occurred at night. A rush can be started by a sudden noise such as a dingo call, a bolt of lightning, sparks from a fire, or even a bush rat gnawing on a tender part of a hoof. Drovers tell vivid stories of the totally chaotic conditions that occur when several hundred cattle start a charge at night. If they head towards the drovers’ camp, the best option may be to climb a sturdy tree (very fast). Many drovers have been trampled to death in a rush, sometimes still in their swags. But a good night-horse can be given its head, and will gradually wheel the leading cattle around until the mob is moving in a circle, and calm can be restored.

The gradual introduction of railways from about the 1860s made some droving work unnecessary. However, the work of the overlanders and drovers in general fell away rapidly in the 1960s as trucking of animals became the norm. Road trains carrying large number of animals are today a common sight in rural and Outback areas. But during times of drought, taking animals onto the “long paddock”, the fenced stock route between properties often shared with a public road, is common practice even today, and droving skills – with some modern aids – are still required.

Localised droving was common in the Kosciuszko National Park and Alpine National Park and High Plains areas, until the areas became National Parks. The drovers would often bring cattle from the lower pastures to the fresh green pastures for the summer months. During the summer months many of the drovers would often stay in mountain huts like Daveys Hut, Whites River Hut and Mawsons Hut.

An idealised image of the droving life is described in the poem Clancy of the Overflow [1], and more realistically depicted in the historical film The Overlanders [2].

It may be surprising to some that women have been noted as exceptional drovers. One such was Edna Zigenbine [3], who took over a droving job from her sick father, and subsequently became a boss drover on the lonely northern stock routes.

Harry Redford established a reputation as an accomplished drover when he stole 1000 cattle from Bowen Downs Station near Longreach in Queensland in 1870 and drove them through very difficult country into South Australia, along a route now known as the Strzelecki Track.

[edit] Droving in popular culture

Much literature has been written about droving, particularly balladic poetry.

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

  • Willey, Keith (1982) The Drovers Melbourne, Macmillan, ISBN 0333 338308
  • Barker, H M (1994) Droving Days Carlisle, WA, Hesperian Press, ISBN 0859 051978
  • Harris, Douglas (1982) Drovers of the Outback Camberwell, Vic, Nan Rivett, ISBN 0959 367128