Welcome to my first
post for the Cowboy Kisses Blog and thank you Ginger for the invite.
As I’m Australian
(although I write American based Westerns) I thought I would start with the
Aussie outback.
In Australia a stockman (plural stockmen) is a person who looks
after the livestock on a large property known as a station.
Stockmen who work with cattle
in the Northern Territory are
known as ringers and are often only employed for
the dry season which lasts from April to October. A station hand is an employee, who is involved in
routine duties on a rural property or station and this may also involve caring
for livestock. Young women from the cities are becoming a common sight on
outback stations, often attracted by the chance to work with horses. Some stations are now making changes
for the employment of women by building female living quarters and installing
hydraulic cattle crushes. A station trainee is known as a jackaroo (male) or jillaroo (female), and does much the same work as a
stockman while under supervision.
Cattle Station in NT
A drover in Australia is a person, typically an experienced stockman, who moves livestock, usually cattle
or sheep, "on the hoof" over long distances. Reasons for
droving are usually delivering animals to a new owner's property, taking
animals to market, or moving animals during a drought in search of better feed and/or water. Moving a small mob
of quiet cattle is relatively easy, but moving several hundred head of wild station cattle over long distances is a completely different
matter.
Droving
Mustering:
A muster (roundup
in the US) is the process of gathering livestock. Musters usually involve cattle, sheep or horses, but may also include other animals. Mustering may be conducted
for a variety of reasons including routine livestock health checks and
treatments, branding, shearing, lamb marking, sale, feeding and transport or droving to
another location. Mustering is a long, difficult and sometimes dangerous job,
especially on the vast Australian cattle
stations of the Northern
Territory and 'The Falls' (gorge) country of the Great Dividing Range. The group of animals gathered in a muster is referred to
as a "mob" in Australia.
Mustering can
be carried out on horseback, with utes, quad bikes or helicopters. It usually
depends on the terrain and the type of animals being mustered as to which
method is used.
Mustering by helicopter.
Stations:
My
sister-in-law is an employee at an outback station, Fossil Downs. It is located
about 50 kilometres (31 mi) North East of Fitzroy Crossing in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It consists of 800,000 acres. Certainly not huge by our
standards, the largest in Australia is Anna Creek in South Australia at 9,140
square miles. Fossil Downs is also renowned for its very talented Performance
Horses.
Fossil Downs Cattle Station
. My
husband’s sister is the lady with the dog
in her arms at the front.
Fossil Downs Station
I hope you
enjoyed learning a little more about the Aussie Outback. In coming months I
will enlighten you about our peculiar, native animals and plants.
Sue
8 comments:
Hi Susan,
I've never been to Australia, but it's on my list of places to see. Thanks for sharing such great info. When I think of Australia, I see 'Mad Max' (the originals), 'Australia' with Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman, and an old tv show called 'The MacGregors' with then-unknown actor Guy Pearce. And, of course, the Great Barrier Reef. :-)
Over the next few months I will talk more about Australia and hopefully all readers will enjoy it. Thanks Kristy.
I remember the first several Harlequins I read were based in Australia. I've been in love with the outback ever since.
Hi Lauri
Dry, dusty but with a beauty all it's own. Love it. Thanks for dropping by.
Hi Sue,
Great post. Nice to see you here, giving our American friends some information on Australia.
Cheers
Margaret
Thank you Margaret
Fun to read about the different terms used in Australia. Interesting post!
Danita Cahill
Hometown Love and Laughter
Hero and I have always wanted to travel to Australia, but I'm afraid we waited too long to manage the trip. Guess we'll admire Australia vicariously via you.
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