Speewah

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The Speewah is a mythical Australian station that is the subject of many 'tall tales' told by Australian bushmen. The stories of the Speewah are Australian folktales of unwritten literature of men who never had the opportunity to read books and who became tellers of tales instead. The Speewah is synonymous with hyperbole as many of the tales about the place are used to enhance the storytellers’ masculinity by relating events of extreme hardship and overcoming the dangers of the Australian wilderness. Typically men talk of the Speewah when they are faced with hard labour as a means of making their jobs mentally easier, though it can also be seen as a way of legitimising their bragging. Many men claim to have worked on the Speewah and the following phrases are common among many blue-collar station workers of Australia:

"When I worked on the Speewah..."
"Call this a drought? Why, on the Speewah..."
"Talk about mud! You should have been on the Speewah..."

This sort of talk is used to make light of the situation or re-affirm the speakers masculinity or bush skills to the detriment of others.

Impressions for Golden Summer (1888–89) by Arthur Streeton

1 Flora and Fauna
2 Location
3 Famous Inhabitants
4 International Similarities
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Flora and Fauna

The fauna of the Speewah are usually much larger than the average varieties of Australian wildlife. The Kangaroos of the region are said to be as tall as mountains and the emus laid eggs that men blew and used for houses. These creatures resemble the long extinct megafauna of the Pleistocene era. It is assumed that there are many sheep on the Speewah Station, because shearing is the subject of many of the tales. However, this could vary from region to region, depending on where the stories are being told. Other livestock include cattle and horses.

[edit] Location

The Speewah is an imaginary land and its boundaries have never been defined, however the Speewah can be anywhere that the storyteller wants it to be and tales have it situated anywhere from Cape York to the Otways, from Brisbane to Broome. Or in other words it could be anywhere in Australia. Its location is kept ambiguous and when questioned people from different regions of Australia will give a different answer. 'The men from the Darling Ranges said it was back o'Bourke and the men of Bourke said it was out West and the men of the West pointed to Queensland and in Queensland they told you the Speewah was in the Kimberleys.'

At any rate the territory itself is supposedly very large. When one wanted to close the gate to the station he had to take a weeks rations with him, and a jackeroo who was sent to bring the cows in from the horse paddock was said to be gone for six months, not due to incompetence, for there are no incompetent workers on the Speewah, but simply due to the sheer size of the Speewah.

A portion of land owned by Jim Dillon south-west of Wyndham, Western Australia that was settled at the beginning of the 20th century was named after the mythical land of the Speewah. This property still appears on maps as 'The Speewah' and has caused much debate from the storytelling community as to whether or not this is the original Speewah of legend or whether (which is more likely) it is merely named after the legend in homage. This property is listed by the Australian Government as being 16°26′S 127°57′E.^[1] There is also a "Speewa" on the border of Victoria and New South Wales^[2]^[3] near 35°13′S 143°30′E with a ferry across the Murray River.

[edit] Famous Inhabitants

The men of the Speewah are the very stuff of legend. The common phrase is; 'They were tough men on the Speewah'. The two most famous so called 'Permanents' who worked on the station are Crooked Mick and Big Bill. Of Crooked Mick it was said he would sooner have a fight than a feed and he was so strong that he used Ayers Rock to stone the crows. Big Bill was the strongest man on the Speewah who made his fortune on the Croydon goldfields cutting up mining shafts and selling them for post holes. What makes the men of the Speewah exceptional is that even the weakest of them (Mick) could perform acts of incredible superhuman strength. Many stories relating to the inhabitants have been told, mostly verbally and there are literally hundreds of tales.

[edit] International Similarities

In the American state of Colorado a similar style of folklore arose to coincide with the emerging lumber trade found in that state. The stories of Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyan are similar to those of Crooked Mick and Big Bill, with these men being giants who picked their teeth with the trunk of a spruce tree. However most Australians regard these variations as 'sissies' compared to the home-grown Australian versions, though in reality there is very little separating the two in substance except the fact that the Australians' are not giants and a focus is placed upon the land more than the individual. The stories of Colorado Jack and company reflect the 'frontier mentality' of Frederick Jackson Turner.