CHAPTER VI 



ON THK WAU,ABY TRACK 



* I AM not ashamed to confess that I have had 

 I to carry my swag in my time," declared an 

 Australian Premier not very long ago. Hund- 

 reds of men occupying positions of wealth and 

 influence in Australia could truthfully make the 

 same avowal, for upon the wallaby track, as upon 

 the high seas, may be found men of all sorts and 

 conditions. I/ong ago, an Australian public man 

 denned the swagman as one who goes about look- 

 ing for work, and praying devoutly that he may 

 never find it. The epigram has, to a certain ex- 

 tent, passed into a tradition, although it is mani- 

 festly unjust to all but a very small proportion 

 of the men who carry their swags through the 

 Australian bush. 



The existence of the swagman proclaims no- 

 thing so loudly as the uncertainty and precarious 

 nature of pastoral employment in Australia. If 

 there is one thing upon which the farmer and 

 pastoralist can rely, it is a regular supply of com- 

 petent men for the busy time of shearing, lamb- 

 marking, drafting, and harvesting. There is no 

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