Stockman

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This article is about people who work with animals. For the the Finnish company, see Stockmann

Bulls respond well to a good stockman

Stockman, an Australian Stock Horse and Kelpies ready for work on Australian property.

In the Australian lexicon, stockman is the traditional name given to a person who looks after the livestock on a large farming property known as a station and owned by a grazier or a grazing company. They may also be the persons employed at abattoirs, feedlots, on live export ships or with stock and station agencies.

Stockmen traditionally ride horses, use working dogs and a stock whip for stock work and mustering, but motorised vehicles are increasingly used. Sometimes the vehicles that are used are "paddock-bashers", which are often old unregistered utilities. These vehicles may also be modified for bull or buffalo catching.

Station employees, including stockmen, who work at a number of different occupations within their work, are also known as 'station hands'. Trainee stockmen are known as "jackaroos" (trainee stockwomen are known as "jillaroos"). An associated occupation is that of the drover, who, like the shearer may be an itinerant worker, and is employed in tending to livestock while they are travelling on a stock route.

The term "stockman" was previously used in the United States and Canada as a formal term for a person who raised livestock, principally cattle, "stockgrower" being term in more recent use. The meaning differs from the Australian use of the word "stockman".

1 History
2 Cultural depictions of stockmen
3 Famous stockmen
4 See also
5 References

[edit] History

The employment of mounted workers to tend livestock is necessitated in Australia by the large size of the "properties" which may be

Pannikin, quart pot and saddle bag used by stockmen to boil the billy and carry lunch when riding.

called sheep stations or cattle stations, depending upon the type of stock. In the inland regions of most states excluding Victoria and Tasmania, cattle stations may exceed 10 000 km² with the largest being Anna Creek station at 24 000 km² (6 000 000 acres).

Early stockmen were specially selected, highly regarded men owing to the high value and importance of early livestock. All stockmen need to be interested in animals, able to handle them with confidence and patience, able to make accurate observations about them and enjoy working outdoors.

The role of the mounted stockmen came into being early in the 19th century, when in 1813 the Blue Mountains separating the coastal plain of the Sydney region from the interior of the continent was crossed. The town of Bathurst was founded shortly after, and potential farmers moved westward, and settled on the land, many of them as squatters. The rolling country, ideal for sheep and the large, often unfenced, properties necessitated the role of the mounted stockmen.

The Australian Light Horse in Palestine, 1917

Between 1899 and 1902, 16,175 Australians served in the Boer War. These troops, including the NSW Lancers, the Queensland Mounted Infantry and the South Australian Mounted Rifles were collectively known as the "Imperial Bushmen", in honour of their mainly rural origins.

World War I saw a similar mustering of young rural men into Australian Light Horse Regiments, each one providing his own horse, which, sadly for their owners, were not shipped home at the end of the war and became known in England as "Walers" (from New South Wales). Again in World War II, the stockmen and stock horse of Australia played an important part in desert warfare, wearing the distinctive cockade of emu feathers on their hats.

The role of the stockmen has declined in recent years^{[citation needed]} as the Australian rural community has suffered from drought from 2001 to 2007, greatly decreasing the number of livestock. On the larger properties of the outback surveillance of livestock is carried out by light aircraft or helicopters, the latter also being employed for mustering.

A number of equestrian sports are particularly associated with stockmen. These include Campdrafting, Team penning, Tentpegging and Polocrosse, as well as working dog trials. The sports are played in local and state competitions and are often a feature of agricultural shows such as the Sydney Royal Easter Show. Stockman Challenges are also gaining in popularity across the eastern states of Australia. In this event competitors show their skills by whip cracking, packing a packhorse (to be lead around a course), bareback obstacle course, cross country, shoeing and stock handling competing in a single Australian Stock Saddle. The best will compete in a final with a brumby catch and stock saddle buckjump where they have to mark out carrying a stockwhip.

[edit] Cultural depictions of stockmen

As with the cowboy of North America, the role of the stockmen has often been celebrated in various media, though generally in a less glamourised manner, the stockman being generally more highly renowned for his ability to bring down a bullock than an outlaw and for sharp wit rather than sharp shooting.

Two well-known songs commemorate the death of a stockman, the anonymous "Wrap me up with my stockwhip and blanket" and Rolf Harris's "Tie me kangaroo down, Sport".

The Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame is a museum in Longreach, Australia.

Through the 19th and early 20th centuries the writing of balladic poetry was a favoured form of literary expression, and the public recitation of such pieces remains a feature of Australian folk festivals. The majority of the most popular ballads deal with rural subject and many are specifically about stockmen. These works include Adam Lindsay Gordon's "Bush Ballads and Galloping Rhymes" which includes the "Sick Stock Rider", and, most famously, Banjo Paterson's epic poem "The Man from Snowy River".

"The Man from Snowy River" was to become the source of three movies, one in 1920, and another in 1982 to be followed by a sequel. A TV series followed called "Banjo Paterson's The Man from Snowy River". In 2002 the story was shown as live musical theatre called "The Man from Snowy River: Arena Spectacular".

The inspiration for this musical performance came from the Opening Ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, when the performance opened with 121 stockmen and women riding Australian Stock Horses in a "muster", (known in America as a roundup) and symbolising a gathering of people from across the world, in the same way as the stockmen "mustered at the station" in Banjo Paterson's famous poem. The muster took place to music written by Bruce Rowland, who composed a special Olympics version of the main theme for the 1982 movie "The Man from Snowy River".

A further tribute to the stockman derives from the fact that for a number of years the promotions of the Sydney Royal Easter Show have referred to it as "The Great Australian Muster".

In Longreach, Queensland, Australia, a Museum and Memorial called the Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame was established to pay tribute to the pioneers of the Australian Outback.