WEST KIMBERLEY PLACE REPORT - Department of Sustainability ...

2003; River Junction Research 2006). As in the Kimberley, Aboriginal people were
the primary labour source for the establishment of pastoral stations in western New
South Wales, north of the Darling River from the mid 1860s; in the Northern
Territory from the 1870s; and the central Barkley Tablelands from the 1890s
(Paterson et. al. 2003). Similarly, in Queensland, Aboriginal worker's performed all
the tasks necessary to run the stations and 'became the backbone of the industry' from
the 1850s (de Plevitz 2010).
As noted by McGrath, Aboriginal peoples' skills were similarly invaluable across the
north of Australia:
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'Aboriginal people's widespread collaboration not only created our northern pastoral
industry, it enabled peaceful relations, wealth and innovation. Aborigines not only
share Australia's pastoral heritage, they shaped it…They incorporated aspects of cattle
culture into their own, combining a bush and station lifestyle not in a partial
'adaptation' but in a creative breakthrough, nurturing new and dynamic cultures to
embrace their present, post-contact time' (McGrath 1997, 9).
* * * *
Aboriginal resistance to pastoral expansion was met with excessive use of fire and
manpower resulting in greater losses of Aboriginal lives (Bird Rose 1991; Jebb 2002;
Allbrook and Jebb 2009; Baker 1999; Riddett 2003). Bird Rose (1991) records for
two Northern Territory Aboriginal communities, Victoria River Downs and Alligator
River, the losses ranged from 86 to 97% (Bird Rose 1991). In the Kimberley the
losses are unquantified (Smith 2000).
In the Northern Territory as in the Kimberley, Aboriginal people performed the full
range of tasks required to build and run the stations, duties as diverse as looking after
the houses and children of the bosses, building and maintaining the station
infrastructure of fences, yards, dams and wells, and managing, mustering and droving
stock (KLC 2010). Aboriginal women in the Kimberley and in the Northern Territory
also undertook stock worker roles (Jebb 2002; Bird Rose 1991; Baker 1997; Marshall
1989).
For Aboriginal people maintaining close contact with traditional land during the wet
season contributed to a similar history across northern Australia. Most people were
able to return to the bush in the annual wet season to take part in ceremonies and other
community activities.
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'This afforded opportunities to pass onto their children skills and knowledge at many
levels, as hunting and gathering was also an expression of spiritual attachment to land
with many complex meanings' (Young and Doohan quoted in Smith 2000, 83).
* * * *
Stock work became and continues to be an important part of Aboriginal identity (Bird
Rose 1991, 93; Jebb 2003; Allbrook and Jebb 2009; Smith 2000).
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