- Bullocky
A bullocky is an
Australian English term for the driver of a bullock team. Bullock drivers were also known asteamster s or carriers.Carriers were an integral part of the rural economy during the 19th century; they transported wool and supplies by
dray s drawn by teams ofdraft animal s (eitherbullock s orhorse s). They travelled constantly across the landscape, servicing the pastoralstations and settlements a long way from regional transport hubs and urban centres.Early references
The following reference is from the "
The Australasian " (newspaper) of 17 July 1869 (page 17): “"Cornstalk" and "gumsucker" are both of colonial growth, and so, I think, is… "bullocky" (a teamster)”.Percy Clarke’s "‘New Chum’ in Australia" (1886) has the following reference (page 137): “I knew a ‘bullockie’ (as these men are dubbed) who had a team of twelve beasts under his command which obeyed his every word and never received a word, which a ‘high-born ladie’ might not have listened to”. [Ramson, W.S. (ed.), "The Australian National Dictionary: A Dictionary of Australianisms on Historical Principles",
Oxford University Press , 1988, p. 105.]References
ee also
*
Bullock cart
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