Tom Cusack interviewed by Bruce Simpson and Bill Gammage in the Drovers oral history project [sound recording]
- Bib ID:
- 1975629
- Format:
- Audio
- Author:
- Cusack, Tom, 1932-, interviewee
- Online Version:
- National Library of Australia digitised item
- Access Conditions:
- Access open for research, personal copies and public use.
- Description:
-
- 2000, July 09
- 1 digital audio tape (43 min.)
- Series:
- Drovers oral history project.
- Summary:
-
Folkloric recording. Tom Cusack, born Boondall, Qld. talks about growing up on family farm; his siblings; his first droving trip, Queensland to South Australia and back; his second droving trip down the Birdsville Track, travelling conditions, water holes, return trip; Springvale bullocks; working in stock camps; a droving trip (1958) from Bull Creek Station to South Australia, crossing Sturt Stony Desert; numbers of brumbies and rabbits around Kunji Waterhole on the Diamantina River, return trip with stock from Mount Lambert Station; droving trip (1962-63) with Paddy Fogarty down Strzelecki Track, crossing Fowler Creek System and Strzelecki River in the wet season; holidays; droving trip from Mt Leonard to Clifton Hills; racing floodwaters at Birdsville, hazards; droving plant; a train trip to Alice Springs; droving trip from Mount Doreen across Northern Territory, visiting Balgo Mission; mustering methods; Indigenous stockmen; bores along the stock route; long hours monitoring fresh cattle; transporting cattle by truck and train; mustering and then droving from Billiluna to Mount Riddoch; tracking lost cattle alone after a rush; caring for horses in desert conditions; phantom rain; Jack and Stan Fogerty; the opening up of the Tanami Stock Route; his current employment as boundary rider on Mittiebah Station at age 67; his future plans and his interest in going prospecting in the desert.
- Biography/History:
-
Tom Cusack, a foundation member of the Drovers Camp Association that is seeking to establish a permanent Drovers' Hall in Camooweal, is one of the few remaining desert drovers who walked cattle from Queensland's Channel Country to South Australia and from the W.A. Kimberley to southern stations in the Northern Territory. Tom, who began droving as a 17 year old and now works on Mittiebah Station on the Barkly Tableland, did three trips down the Strzelecki Trail and two down the Birdsville Track, as well as one from Halls Creek to Mt. Riddock Station near Alice Springs. His last "big" trip was in 1963.
- Notes:
-
- Documentation includes a paper (26 leaves) written by Tom Cusack entitled: On the stockroutes of North West Australia.
- Recorded on July 9, 2000 at Camooweal, Qld.
- Also available online http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-221244815
- Index/Finding Aid Note:
- Timed summary (2 p.) and uncorrected transcript (typescript, 29 leaves)
- Subject:
- Occupation:
- Drovers
- Other authors/contributors:
- Related Records:
-
This belongs to the Drovers oral history project.
This collection contains 147 records. - Copyright:
-
In Copyright
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- Reason for copyright status:
- Until 2070 [Created/Published Date + 70 Years]
Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Sound Recording
- Published status:
- Unpublished
- Creation date:
- 2000
Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply. For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.
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