BTN: Young drovers: reviving a proud tradition

Posted 20 Jun 2022Mon 20 Jun 2022 at 5:23am, updated 1 Jul 2022Fri 1 Jul 2022 at 5:39am

Indigenous teenagers ride horses — BTN: Young drovers: reviving a proud tradition

Text on screen — 'Viewer Advice. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following media resource may contain images and voices of people who have died.' Black-and-white archival footage of Indigenous stockmen riding horses and herding cattle in the Australian outback.

SARAH LARSEN:

They worked all day in the dust and the heat, driving cattle through unforgiving country. These Indigenous stockmen were heroes of the bush, the backbone of the Aussie cattle industry.

Footage of modern-day Indigenous children on horses, herding cattle in the Australian outback, assisted by some adults.

SARAH LARSEN:

And these are the kids who are riding in their footsteps.

A young Indigenous girl is interviewed at a camp.

GIRL 1:

I want to learn how to be stock girl… and cowboy girl.

SARAH LARSEN:

Sandra and her classmates from Ngukurr School have been learning what it takes to work in the cattle industry. They're driving a herd of cattle about 60km across the dry and dusty Roper Gulf country.

A map of Australia. At the top, east of Darwin and stretching across to and down along the coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria, is an orange-highlighted section.

SARAH LARSEN:

It's here in the Top End of Australia. Up here, cattle stations can stretch for thousands of hectares and cattle have to be moved from place to place for sale or for medical attention or to find water. And while that's a job that's often done by machines, horses still have a role to play. To round up cattle, you have to be a pretty good rider, and trainers like Toby reckon these kids have what it takes.

Shots of the children at work on the cattle station. Interview with stockman trainer Tony.

TONY:

They've just got natural skills and their balance and reflexes are just incredible. If the horse jumps, they're just right with them, doesn't worry them.

Interviews with the Indigenous children.

SANDRA:

I like making my horse know me.

BOY:

Good. It's good fun when you ride a horse.

SARAH LARSEN:

Ngukurr School has its own herd of cattle and yards as well as 15 horses which the kids have to look after.

SANDRA:

We take them to school every Friday. Sometimes some horse fight for feed. When we call them name, they hear us and they run. When I say 'Roper', the horse is running at me and she bump me like that.

BOY:

Brush him, make him have shower and feed him, put the nosebag on him and take them saddle and bridle off.

SARAH LARSEN:

While some of these guys would like to work in the cattle industry, their teachers say all of them are learning skills that they could use in any job.

TOBY:

Once they learn to be able to look after a horse, they can look after anything. Because that's part of what they've got to do when they go and work in the mines or on the council or mechanic, doesn't matter. They'll look after their own tools and look after the truck they're driving. It's teaching them to be responsible, that's what it's all about.

SARAH LARSEN:

It's also pretty significant for a lot of people around here to see kids learning the skills that their grandparents were famous for.

Archival black-and-white footage of Indigenous stockmen.

SONG:

# From little things big things grow… #

SARAH LARSEN:

Indigenous stockmen were known for their skill in the saddle, their knowledge of the bush and their ability to handle the harsh conditions of life on the land. But they weren't properly paid for what they did. They got much less than the white stockmen for doing the same job and, eventually, they demanded better. In the end, protests led to better pay and conditions, but fewer Aboriginal people took jobs as stockmen.

TOBY:

This country was built on the backbone of Aboriginal stockmen in the cattle industry, But they're all gone. They don't do it anymore. But I'd like to see it come back.

The young Indigenous trainees herd cattle across a waterway.

SARAH LARSEN:

Who knows? Maybe these guys are the stockmen and women of tomorrow. But whatever happens, they've proven that they've got what it takes to do a job that helped to shape Australia.

SUBJECTS: History

YEARS: 5–6, 9–10

Did you know that Aboriginal pastoral workers were the backbone of the wealthy Australian cattle industry, but that until 1968 they were never paid an equal wage?

Find out what it took for these stockworkers with valuable work skills to achieve equal pay.

Watch, too, how some Aboriginal students in the Roper Gulf country are now learning the skills for which their grandparents were famous.

Things to think about

1.Imagine learning to ride horses and muster cattle as part of your school day. Then try to imagine doing a tough, dangerous job that requires great skill, knowing that others doing the same job are getting paid much more than you. How would you feel about that, and what might you to try to do about it?
2.What information does the reporter use to justify calling Aboriginal stockworkers 'the backbone of the Aussie cattle industry'? What is unusual about Ngukurr School? What connection do the school's students have with the Aboriginal stockworkers of the 1960s? What does the clip illustrate about the lives of people in this region?
3.The clip shows 1960s footage of Aboriginal stockmen who were getting paid much less than the non-Aboriginal stockmen doing the same job. Why do you think employers were able to get away with this? If only individual Aboriginal stockmen, rather than all affected workers, had protested against their pay and conditions, how effective might their action have been?
4.
Do some research on the 1966 strike of Aboriginal stockworkers in the Northern Territory that happened first at the Newcastle Waters station and then at the Wave Hill cattle station. Research the issues leading to the strike and how what began as a strike became a campaign for Indigenous land rights.

Date of broadcast: 15 Nov 2011

Copyright

^{Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated).}^{Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated).}^{Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners.}^{Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).}

Posted 20 Jun 2022Mon 20 Jun 2022 at 5:23am, updated 1 Jul 2022Fri 1 Jul 2022 at 5:39am

History Education

BTN: Young drovers: reviving a proud tradition

Did you know that Aboriginal pastoral workers were the backbone of the wealthy Australian cattle industry, but that until 1968 they were never paid an equal wage?

Things to think about

Copyright

Related

Catalyst: Indigenous eel farming

Landline: Developing bush tucker into a seed crop

Heywire: To disconnect or not to disconnect?

Footer

Transcript

Did you know that Aboriginal pastoral workers were the backbone of the wealthy Australian cattle industry, but that until 1968 they were never paid an equal wage?

Things to think about

Copyright

Catalyst: Indigenous eel farming

Landline: Developing bush tucker into a seed crop

Heywire: To disconnect or not to disconnect?

Footer