The magazine of the art-form of the photo-essay
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Jan 2016 back issue
by Andrew Chapman
The image of the drover on his stockhorse moving cattle along a dusty
bush track evokes the very essence of Australia. Enshrined in folklore,
celebrated in verse and ingrained in the national psyche the droving
tradition is alive and well. It flourishes along the vast network of travelling
stock routes that thread their way across rural Australia.
These public lands, many of them famous stock routes, are known
colloquially as “The Long Paddock.” They date from colonial days when
herds of stock were moved from the boundless plains of the inland to feed
the cities and towns along the eastern seaboard.
Journalist Tim Lee and photographer Andrew Chapman have followed the
pathways of the present day drovers to capture in words and images
people whose nomadic lives are governed by the seasons and whose main concern is the welfare of their animals.
The characters they meet are hardy, colourful and resilient. They are a repository of bushcraft and wisdom, a
connection to colonial Australia.
Reg Suton and his 15 year old son Bill moving a mob of cattle between Longreach Qld and Hay NSW. Here they are
strung out along the road in early morning light.
Two of Reg Sutton's working dogs moving stubborn cattle on the Hillston Booligal Rd, New South Wales.
Young Eligh Alchin helps his sister Erica round up horses for the days droving on the long paddock.
Aerial of the Long Paddock between Hay and Wilcannia, western New South Wales.
Working Dogs at dawn at Drover Bill Little selects Working Dogs at a camp, south of Mungindi, NSW.
Drover, Bill Little and his team moving part of a mob of 18000 cattle at Mungindi, Qld. The mob of cattle are heading
south to Uardry at Hay NSW.
One of Peter Clemson's Blue Heeler Working Dogs peeps
at the photographer.
A stock horse at rest under a full moon at Hillston in NSW.
Aerial of a B double livestock transporter with a load of live goats, heading to Ivanhoe, New South Wales. Feral goats
now make up a substantial part of farmers income, as traditional farm incomes shrink, due to drought and global
warming.
The One Tree Hotel sits on the vast almost treeless and totally flat Hay Plain in western New South Wales. Once a
popular watering hole for both livestock and drovers along the long paddock, it now sits forlorly awaiting an uncertain
fate.
Cattle are auctioned off at the Hay Saleyards, where farmers are trying to capitalise on prices before a suspected dry
spell sets in.
Former drover, Loma Marshall sits in the kitchen of her western New South Wales home and reflects on a life spent
raising children in the back of a horse drawn cart, come searing heat or wind and chills.
Drover, Tony Purcell near St George, Qld.
Drover, Bill Little and his team are moving 18000 head of cattle from the Northern Territory down towards Hay, NSW.
There are 9 mobs of about 2000 cattle each, one of the largest movements of stock over land in modern Australian
history.
Drover, Bill Little's 1998 Cattle Drafting championship belt.
Drover Alonna Laing looks out to the horizon at Mungindi during of the largest movements of stock over land in
modern Australian history.
Livestock drover Reg Sutton shows the stains of a life spent in the hot sun.
2000 head cattle join in one of the largest movements of stock over land in modern Australian history. The Cattle
move and graze about 12 kilometers per day.
Drover, Bill Little, bathed in early morning sunlight as he moves part of a mob of 18000 cattle at Mungindi, Qld.
