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Family Information

‘…when they used to go down in the horse and carts and droving the cattle down, their first chore would be to check the fences…have to clean out the through, make sure the mill was working and doing that job and then they’d go and catch a few marrons.’

David Dunnet

 

Once the drovers and their cattle reached the coast there was no time for horsing around as there was plenty of work to be done. On the unfenced leases, the cattle were left to roam but on others, fences had to be checked and water sources cleaned out and made useable again.

 

When the cattle were settled and all of the work was done, there may have been some time for fishing or marroning before the drovers headed back up to their home properties. The cattle were left on the coast for around four months until the winter rains arrived to replenish the inland farms.

 

At the end of the spell on the coast, the drovers would return to muster their cattle. Riders would head out in different directions, find a mob of cattle and bring them back to a central area. A number of cattle would have bells around their necks which was a great aid to finding them in the bush.

 

The journey home would take several days with many cows heavy with calf.

 

‘it would take us about three to four days to round all these cattle up in the scrub, mainly by following the sound of the bells we’d find the groups.’

Thomas Wheatley

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