Born in the Cattle: Aborigines in cattle countryThe Aboriginal stockman in cowboy hat, brightly coloured shirt, jeans and riding boots, is a familiar sight in much of outback Australia. Yet, white Australia has largely excluded Aborigines - men and women - from its national legends. Born in the Cattle tells the story of Aboriginal involvement in the northern cattle industry. It shows how the Aboriginal people excelled at this 'no shame job', how they incorporated it into their world, how they used it to stay on their own land with their kin. Combining new skills with old, they shaped a unique Aboriginal cattle country - and thereby made a major contribution to the economy of Australia's north. Using oral evidence which enables Aboriginal perspectives to emerge in a way not previously possible, Born in the Cattle is a major work of social history, the first to describe the texture of everyday life and work in the outback north before World War II. The story begins with the battle for the waterholes, describes the skills the Aboriginal people brought to work with cattle, reveals for the first time the important role of Aboriginal women, and explores in a new way the complex pattern of relationships between white and black in the outback. 'To protect their country and its people, Aborigines had to teach station whites many things. Aborigines worked the stations; they managed the land in new ways, though following old principles. They have made the cattle industry their own; they are still the majority of those living on northern pastoral stations, and their dynamic culture leaves a distinctive mark on bush life...' |
From inside the book
Page 29
... head station camp looked like a small township , and was essentially self - contained . Power and water supplies were located here ; the head camp was a food and production centre with a butcher , fruiterer , grocer , baker , and dining ...
... head station camp looked like a small township , and was essentially self - contained . Power and water supplies were located here ; the head camp was a food and production centre with a butcher , fruiterer , grocer , baker , and dining ...
Page 30
... head station . At outcamps a white head stockman , possibly another stockman or offsider , and a cook ( frequently a Chinese man ) were employed . In 1937 , 35 Euro- peans were employed for the full year . Other stockmen ( or ringers ) ...
... head station . At outcamps a white head stockman , possibly another stockman or offsider , and a cook ( frequently a Chinese man ) were employed . In 1937 , 35 Euro- peans were employed for the full year . Other stockmen ( or ringers ) ...
Page 31
... station records , unless a bookkeeper was employed . Managers reported conditions and needs to head office . Regular inspections were required to keep tabs on seasonal fluctuations and stock movements , so mana- gers were often away ...
... station records , unless a bookkeeper was employed . Managers reported conditions and needs to head office . Regular inspections were required to keep tabs on seasonal fluctuations and stock movements , so mana- gers were often away ...
Page 32
... station diaries and ledgers , paid bills and wages , and managed the store ; he also recorded rainfall and weather conditions . Head stockmen ran the camps , ordered supplies , equipment and staff from the head station and made some ...
... station diaries and ledgers , paid bills and wages , and managed the store ; he also recorded rainfall and weather conditions . Head stockmen ran the camps , ordered supplies , equipment and staff from the head station and made some ...
Page 33
... station consumption . The mailman's job required journeys by foot of over 100 miles . It was considered prestigious ... head stockmen or stockboys . On Bradshaws Station in the late 1890s and 1900s the able Jabiru gardened , fenced ...
... station consumption . The mailman's job required journeys by foot of over 100 miles . It was considered prestigious ... head stockmen or stockboys . On Bradshaws Station in the late 1890s and 1900s the able Jabiru gardened , fenced ...
Contents
| 1 | |
| 24 | |
3 Stockcamp and House | 49 |
Picture section | 52 |
4 Black Velvet | 68 |
Picture section | 84 |
5 Tame Blacks? Paternalism and Control | 95 |
Picture section | 116 |
6 Workin Longa Tucker | 122 |
7 No Shame Job | 145 |
Oral History and Writing about Aborigines | 176 |
Endnotes | 179 |
Select Bibliography | 193 |
Index | 195 |
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Common terms and phrases
Abori Aboriginal employees Aboriginal society Aboriginal women animals areas Arnhem Land Australian became black women Blan Bleakley Report Bonrook Borroloola boss boys bush tucker Canberra cattle industry cattle station cattle-spearing ceremonies Chief Protector clothing colonial Cook Creek CRS A1 culture Daly River Darwin diary dreaming drovers Durack European female flour frontier ginal gines girls half-caste Harney head station Herbert homestead horses hunting Jack Sullivan July Koolpinyah Kununurra labour Land Claim Laurie lived male manager's missus Mudbura murder mustering native never Ningbing Northern Standard Northern Territory NTPLA part-Aboriginal pastoral pastoralists police Queensland relationships ritual sexual Shaw social sometimes spear Stanner station Aborigines station camp station managers stockcamp stockmen stockwork stories Sullivan supplies Sydney tion traditional travelling tribal tucker Vesteys Victoria River Downs violence wages Wagiman walkabout Warlpiri waterholes Wave Hill white women woman workers Xavier Herbert yard young