CHAPTER XXVII 



THE BULLOCK-DRIVER 



When the cattle-run or the sheep-walk has been formed, 

 the station and its routine organized, and everything 

 got into working-order, it is necessary to set up and 

 maintain relations with the distributing and receiving 

 centre. This may be a small to^vnship on a neighbour- 

 ing river or a larger town or a city on the sea-coast, 

 which receives the avooI or hides and other products of 

 the run, and distributes the commodities that are given 

 in exchange. The Avelfare and the very existence of 

 the up-country station depended on the greater or less 

 regularity of the agencies of exchange. Were the 

 rivers in flood ? An out-back station might be cut off 

 from its base and, receiving no supphes for months, 

 be reduced to everlasting beef or mutton as its sole food. 

 The chief intermediary then was the bullock-driver, 

 with his team. The bullock was as naturally the 

 squatter's ally as the camel was that of the Arabian or 

 the Arab, and the ass that of the Oriental. He was 

 always at hand, and fed himself by the way ; if he was 

 slow, time was then of small consequence ; and his 

 harness was of the simplest description. The driver 

 was an individuahty. He was an AustraUan institu- 

 tion, and is beheved to have been unique, like the 

 Austrahan pastoralist regime itself. There are teamsters 

 in Canada and the United States, but they are of a 

 different kind. Drivers of bullocks are found all over 

 the world, but the bullock-driver is Australian. Aus- 

 traUan blacks acquire some proficiency in the craft, 



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