• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Institute of Australian Culture

Heritage, history, and heroes; literature, legends, and larrikins

  • Home
  • Articles
  • Biographies
  • Books and booklets
  • Ephemera
  • Poetry and songs
  • Slang
  • Timeline
  • Topics
    • Anzac Day
    • Australia Day
    • Australian Aborigines
    • Australianism
    • Australian literature
    • The Eureka Rebellion
    • Explorers
    • Significant events and commemorative dates

A kangaroo drive [3 August 1891]

31 March 2019 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: This article was published in The National Advocate, 3 August 1891.]

A kangaroo drive.

Phenomenal tally.

815 animals killed.

Two native dogs.

Some exciting scenes.

The largest and most successful drive which has ever taken place in the district was held last week at “Broombin,” the property of Messrs. Anderson Bros., about 28 miles from Bathurst. A start was made on Wednesday, and the party, which numbered 26 shooters and 10 drivers, did not return home till Saturday evening. Delightful weather prevailed during the greater portion of the time, and the drive proved as successful as it was enjoyable.

The first two days were devoted to wild dogs, known as dingos, two of them being captured. On the remaining two days kangaroo shooting was the sport, and, incredulous as the statement may appear, it is nevertheless true that the total tally numbered 815 kangaroos of all sizes.

The most successful individual scores for one day were — Broady 33, Turner 31, and Green 25. When it is considered that many of the skins will bring as much as 15s., and each of the scalps 2d. each it will be seen that the drive has proved highly remunerative to those who took part in it. Every man obtained whatever he shot, all that the Messrs. Anderson asked being the destruction of the nuisance, which is becoming a cause of serious loss to them.

During the drive some exciting scenes occurred. One of the native dogs was chased a long distance by Mr. H. Anderson, who ultimately secured the animal and took him home alive. Many of the shooters, after rousing the anger of the kangaroos by sundry charges of shot, had to take to trees out of harm’s way, for so numerous were the animals that it was difficult, at times, to keep from stumbling over them.

One of the party, Billy Green, had a stand-up fight with an old man kangaroo. Sparring round for a time and evading the attack of the veteran, he eventually landed him on the chest with a knock-out blow. Severing a joint of the tail, and applying a keen-edged knife to the kangaroo’s throat it wasn’t long before he stretched him out in death — a truly magnificent specimen of the marsupial tribe.



Source:
The National Advocate (Bathurst, NSW), 3 August 1891, p. 2

[Editor: The original text has been separated into paragraphs.]

Filed Under: articles Tagged With: kangaroos, SourceTrove, year1891

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Australian flag, 100hThe Institute of Australian Culture
Heritage, history, and heroes. Literature, legends, and larrikins. Stories, songs, and sages.

Featured books

The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, by Banjo Paterson A Book for Kids, by C. J. Dennis  The Bulletin Reciter: A Collection of Verses for Recitation from The Bulletin The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, by C. J. Dennis The Complete Inner History of the Kelly Gang and Their Pursuers, by J. J. Kenneally The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen The Australian Crisis, by C. H. Kirmess Such Is Life, by Joseph Furphy
More books (full text)

Featured lists

Timeline of Australian history and culture
A list of significant Australiana
Significant events and commemorative dates
Australian slang
Books (full text)
Australian literature
Rock music and pop music (videos)
Folk music and bush music (videos)
Early music (videos)
Recommended poetry
Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
Australian explorers
Topics
Links

Featured posts

Advance Australia Fair: How the song became the Australian national anthem
Brian Cadd [music videos and biography]
Ned Kelly: Australian bushranger
Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]

Some Australian authors

E. J. Brady
John Le Gay Brereton
C. J. Dennis
Mary Hannay Foott
Joseph Furphy
Mary Gilmore
Charles Harpur
Grant Hervey
Lucy Everett Homfray
Rex Ingamells
Henry Kendall
“Kookaburra”
Henry Lawson
Jack Moses
“Dryblower” Murphy
John Shaw Neilson
John O’Brien (Patrick Joseph Hartigan)
“Banjo” Paterson
Marie E. J. Pitt
A. G. Stephens
P. R. Stephensen
Agnes L. Storrie (Agnes L. Kettlewell)

Recent Posts

  • Mercenary Mum, by Neryl Joyce [book review]
  • The Year of the Angry Rabbit, by Russell Braddon [book review]
  • Western bush fire: Several crops burnt [5 January 1906]
  • Buy “Australian-Made” [by W. R. Bagnall, 22 June 1928]
  • The Bad Boy [poem regarding Henry Parkes, 12 May 1877]

Top Posts & Pages

  • The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • The Man from Snowy River [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • The drover’s wife [by Henry Lawson]
  • Said Hanrahan [poem by John O’Brien]
  • Australian slang

Categories

Archives

Posts of note

The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]
A Book for Kids [by C. J. Dennis, 1921]
Click Go the Shears [traditional Australian song, 1890s]
Core of My Heart [“My Country”, poem by Dorothea Mackellar, 24 October 1908]
Freedom on the Wallaby [poem by Henry Lawson, 16 May 1891]
The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
Nationality [poem by Mary Gilmore, 12 May 1942]
The Newcastle song [music video, sung by Bob Hudson]
No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
Our pipes [short story by Henry Lawson]
Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
Shooting the moon [short story by Henry Lawson]

Search this site



For Australia


Copyright © 2022 · Log in