Going drovin’

Thoughts on curating the new Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame & Outback Heritage Centre.

Well-worn tracks

It’s been just over two years in the making, my own journey one of ‘armchair’ travel to the past and a place, the (in)hospitable interior of Australia known collectively as ‘The Outback’. I went there to listen and learn from the voices of everyday Australians, so that they might guide the way for a present-day understanding of how this great brown land came to be ‘settled’ and ‘worked’, with its wide-open stoney gibber plains, inland rivers, dried-up ocean beds, hot bubbling artesian bores, dust, mud, flies and penetrating sun, and cool nights far beyond the reach of the city. Where those who were game could sit by the fire, drink tea from the billy, recite the bush poets and howl at the moon should they desire. The stars of the Southern Cross, or the great Emu in the sky, have helped Aboriginal peoples traverse this land for some 60,000 years, the same stars helped the first drovers and overlanders find their way from the early 1800s. Traditional Aboriginal pathways for trade and ceremony then competed with the new stock routes that criss-crossed the country and extended like veins on maps, flush with the pounding hooves of cattle, sheep and the horses that carried the ‘pioneers’. 

These large swathes of the country that drovers and overlanders traversed is colloquially known as ‘The Long Paddock’. Livestock needed to travel from remote outback stations to be sold at the city markets or shipped overseas. If conditions were good, cattle and sheep could fatten up on the way to market, with an abundance of native grasses and natural or bore water holes to drink from. Alternatively, during drought, or flood, or extreme heat, many would not make it. It was an often dangerous journey that could take the better part of a year, with so much at stake for all involved — station owners, managers, those in their employ, and the health and wellbeing of the animals. 

Reading more and thinking about these journeys taken by drovers I wanted to, more than anything, convey this sense of ‘going droving’, where time takes on a different quality, a natural rhythm, and is punctuated by nature’s drama, human conflict, haughty beginnings, tiresome middles and exhilarating endings. And there needed to be yarns, plenty of yarns. Working with the team at Art Processors, we devised a format for storytelling that would allow for visitors to roam the exhibition at their leisure, and meet the true characters of The Outback as they go. Their ‘guide’ would be seasoned stockman, famous artist, and founder of The Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre, Hugh Sawrey. 

Visitor’s are onboarded in a recreation of Hugh Sawrey’s bush art studio.

Surveying the land 

When I first visited the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame (aka The Hall) in early 2019, I could see traces of how the existing permanent exhibition had developed over time. Early critics of the Hall saw it as an overly romanticised view of the outback, one that didn’t create space for sharing the experiences of either women or Aboriginal stockworkers. New exhibits had been bolted on here and there to address this gap in representation. Having the chance to start over, I seized the opportunity to weave multiple voices and perspectives together as part of the overall exhibition narrative, so each character has a unique voice but all are in dialogue with each other. It’s there for the visitor to ‘meet’ all the characters they wish to meet, and take away what they want from the experience. 

Back to basics — but not a stuffy museum 

With Hugh Sawrey designated as guide, one of the first tasks was to get a sense of his voice. Thankfully, we were able to spend some time with his son, Anthony Sawrey, who shared campfire sketches, books, newspaper clipping, and stories about Hugh and his mission to celebrate all the mates that he’d met while out on the tracks, the unsung heroes of the bush he called them. It couldn’t be a ‘bloody stuffy museum’ — that quote made it into the script, and created a pretty fine marching order for the work to follow. 

The adult version of the audio guide, with Hugh and other characters geolocated throughout the exhibition.

Women’s work 

The cattle industry is one dominated by the symbolism of strong men in their Akubra hats, jeans and shirt and cowboy boots. Women are often seen as the support act, and if they get a mention at all they’re usually credited as ’the wife’. But in reality they did so much more…including the ‘hard yakka’ of what’s described as ‘men’s work’ or in places that are ’not fit for a woman’.

So we have these incredibly strong and resilient women who appear throughout the exhibition, including:

Eliza Furlong — the strong Scottish matriarch who travelled on foot for 100s of miles across Germany, sleep rough in the countryside, in order to source the finest Merino flock to bring back to Australia and set her boys up for success in the burgeoning Australian wool industry in the 1800s.

Annie Harlow — known affectionately as Granny to the women and children of the bush. She rode side saddle for 100s of miles in the restrictive dress that was fashionable in the early 1900s — the long skirts, boots and corset — to help isolated women safely deliver their babies in the absence of any doctors nearby.

Edna Jessop — the first female boss drover, in her early 20s taking 1000s of bullocks overland through some of Australia’s toughest tracks — her competence in the job exceeding most of the men in her employ.

Eileen Lanagan — a well-educated teacher, who refused to be isolated on a property for 6 months at a time while her husband was off droving. She became the first European woman to take a trip down the Canning Stock Route, and her photographs and notes from her diary are featured in the exhibition.

Aboriginal women significantly contributed to the establishment and continuation of the pastoral industry and performed the roles of stockwomen, boundary riders, head stockwomen and drovers.

Maudie Moore — became Head Stockwoman at Dunham River Station in WA. An expert at mustering, chasing cattle and throwing bullocks well into her 60s. She was fiercely skilled, managed her own team and taught others the tools of the trade.

In order to bring the voices of Aboriginal peoples into the Hall of Fame we formed creative collaborations with a range of talents like Suzanne Thompson, Iningai Custodian who welcomes visitors on to Country, Dr Tauri Simone, a proud Koa woman, stockwoman and academic who has published her PHD on the history of Aboriginal Stockwomen in the pastoral industry. Underpinning the voices in a section dedicated to telling the Aboriginal history of the stock routes, is the haunting soundscape composed by Australia’s pre-eminent didjeridoo player and composer, William Barton.

To bring the other characters to life, I collaborated with Micheal Veitch, who as a performer and writer has a strong interest in telling untold stories, small histories, and knows how to engage an audience through his work on screen and stage.

And a few of the scripts I wrote myself. After researching some of these characters, I felt ‘close enough’ to do them justice.

Bush Poets

There’s a lot of love for bush poets and their words create images and evoke emotions in ways we can only dream of emulating. So it made sense to feature poetry directly throughout the experience. The journey begins with Clancy of The Overflow and ends with a space we call Poets Corner, where visitors can pull up a seat, relax and listen to readings from Henry Lawson, (Drover’s Wife), A Banjo Paterson (Shearing At Castlereagh, Clancy of The Overflow), William James Wye (Rocky Ned). Downstairs in the Pioneers Hut, visitors are treated to an original musical composition by ARIA-award winning country music star, Fanny Lumsden. Her song is a response to the Drover’s Wife, and it’s a real treat. 

The fun times!

It’s not all hard going! When the work is done, there are rodeos, camp drafts, picnic races, dances, films at the cinema and drinks and some grub at the local pub. So it’s fitting that there are characters that uplift and engage our playful side! Keep an ear out for:

Dulcie Mason — the star of the ball! She’d be at every town dance, wearing a custom made dress (never wore the same dress twice), and would stay until late in the night, then go home and milk the cows.

The Skuthorpe Family — Violet Skuthorpe rode outlaws from a young age and performed rope tricks, touring overseas with her husband in a joint act dubbed ’The Australians’’.

Tribute to the baddest of horses and bulls — the outlaws who thrilled crowd like the daring mare Rocky Ned, and Chainsaw the bull.

Kick back in the ‘Pub With Some Beer’

No trip to the outback is complete without dropping into a local, (if only to get stern, dismissive looks from said locals who know you’re blow-in from down South). But joking aside, the Pub features a wall of documentary photos that showcase the social role of the pub in a small community, and there’s a bar to pull up at to enjoy a few more stories. 

There will be times when the Pub With Some Beer will be open to visitors, selling custom brew — the Fire Extinguisher Lager. And there’s some sage advice from outback guide and artist, Jack Absalom about how a ‘couple of tinnies’ (that’s beer cans in Australian) in the car can save a life. For real. 

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This is all just a taste of the extensive storytelling and experiences now on offer at the all new Stockman’s Hall of Fame. It’s such an honour to have worked with everyone involved in this project, I do believe it is one of a kind. If you’re thinking of a road-trip through the heart of Australia, do consider a stop in at the Hall on the way.