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A stock route, also known as travelling stock route (TSR), is an authorised thoroughfare for the walking of domestic
livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...
such as sheep or cattle from one location to another in Australia. The stock routes across the country are colloquially known as The Long Paddock or Long Paddock. A travelling stock route may often be distinguished from an ordinary country road by the fact that the grassy verges on either side of the road are very much wider, and the property fences being set back much further from the roadside than is usual, or open stretches of unfenced land. The reason for this is so that the livestock may feed on the vegetation that grows on the verges as they travel, especially in times of drought. The rugged remote stock route that follows the
Guy Fawkes River Guy Fawkes River, a perennial stream that is part of the Clarence River catchment, is in the New England and Northern Tablelands districts of New South Wales, Australia. Course and features Guy Fawkes River rises below Majors Point, on the no ...
through
Guy Fawkes River National Park Guy Fawkes River National Park, a national park comprising , is located on the eastern edge of the New England Tablelands and the western edge of the Dorrigo Plateau, in north eastern New South Wales, Australia. Access to the national park via ...
is part of the
Bicentennial National Trail The Bicentennial National Trail (BNT), originally known as the National Horse Trail, is one of the longest multi-use, non-motorised, self-reliant trails in the world, stretching 5,330 kilometres from Cooktown, Queensland, through New South Wa ...
.


Usage

By law, the travelling stock must travel "six miles a day" (approximately 10 kilometres per day). This is to avoid all the roadside grass from being cleared in a particular area by an individual mob. Bores, equipped with windmills and troughs, may also be located at regular intervals to provide water in regions where there are no other reliable water sources. A Travelling Stock Reserve is a fenced paddock set aside at strategic distances to allow overnight watering and camping of stock. Reserves may also be located on many roadways that are not the typical wide TSRs. The travelling stock are driven by a drover and stockmen using
Australian Stock Horse The Australian Stock Horse (or Stockhorse), has been especially bred for Australian conditions. It is a hardy breed of horse noted for endurance, agility, and good temperament. Its ancestry dates to the arrival of the first horses in Aus ...
s or
vehicle A vehicle (from la, vehiculum) is a machine that transports people or cargo. Vehicles include wagons, bicycles, motor vehicles (motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses, mobility scooters for disabled people), railed vehicles (trains, trams), wa ...
s. Other
working animals A working animal is an animal, usually domesticated, that is kept by humans and trained to perform tasks instead of being slaughtered to harvest animal products. Some are used for their physical strength (e.g. oxen and draft horses) or for ...
include working dogs such as Kelpies, or their crosses which have been bred for working sheep and cattle. The stockman may also be accompanied by a packhorse, carrying supplies and equipment, or a wagon with supplies might follow the stock. More recently travelling stock has been accompanied by
four-wheel drive Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...
vehicles and
mobile homes A mobile home (also known as a house trailer, park home, trailer, or trailer home) is a prefabricated structure, built in a factory on a permanently attached chassis before being transported to site (either by being towed or on a trailer). Us ...
. The purpose of "droving" livestock on such a journey might be to move the stock to different pastures. It was also the only way that most livestock producers had of getting their product to the markets of the towns and cities. The beef cattle were transported to a rail siding or abattoirs "on the hoof". The rigors of the journey, the availability of feed and water and the reliability of those "droving" the stock were all factors in the condition of the livestock when it was slaughtered.


History

An early stock route, the Snowy TSR, was pioneered during the drought of 1828, when the supply of water and fodder failed around
Lake George (New South Wales) Lake George (or Weereewa in the Ngunnawal language) is an Endorheic basin, endorheic lake in south-eastern New South Wales, Australia. It is approximately north-east of Canberra located adjacent to the Federal Highway (Australia), Federal Highwa ...
, near
Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
. The local Aboriginals, realising the plight of the stock, led the stock and their owners into the country now known as
Berridale Berridale is a small town in New South Wales. At the it had a population of 1,300. It was the administrative centre of the Snowy River Shire until in 2016 that shire merged with two others to form the Snowy Monaro Regional Council, one of Austr ...
. Colonial explorers and overlanders pioneered many of the present-day stock routes along corridors that followed river systems, indigenous trade routes and trails. Before the railways were extended cattle were often driven up to on the main stock routes. These early drovers sometimes had to contend with crocodile-infested rivers,
drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D.  Jiang, A.  Khan, W.  Pokam Mba, D.  Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
s, dust storms, floods,
poisonous plants Plants that produce toxins are referred to as poisonous plants. Plants that cause irritation on contact are also described as "poisonous". The toxins in poisonous plants affect herbivores, and deter them from consuming the plants. Plants cannot ...
and hostile Aboriginals. These established routes were recognised and dedicated as roads between the 1860s and 1890s. From the early 1900s the state Governments established a program to develop stock route water facilities throughout the stock route network. Most stock routes now have designated watering points, each located the distance of a droving day apart. With the establishment of railways in country areas from the 1880s onwards, livestock usually reached the major destinations in
cattle wagon A cattle wagon or a livestock wagon is a type of railway vehicle designed to carry livestock. Within the classification system of the International Union of Railways they fall under Class H - special covered wagons - which, in turn are part of th ...
s. There were stock-yards and livestock ramps at nearly all rural railway stations to facilitate this transportation, meaning that it was only necessary to drove stock to the nearest
rail transport Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...
depot. Travelling stock routes and reserves have generally been administered by Rural Lands Protection Boards, since 1902. There are about 600,000 hectares of travelling stock reserves in NSW and 2.6 million hectares running for 72,000 kilometres across Queensland. Between 1906 and 1910
Alfred Canning Alfred Wernam Canning (21 February 1860 – 22 May 1936) was a Western Australian government surveyor. Born at Campbellfield north of Melbourne, he started work in New South Wales as a cadet surveyor and in 1893 joined the Western Austral ...
opened up the Canning Stock Route, one of the most famous overland routes in the world. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
good highways were constructed in the
Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...
where the railway had not been extended. After the war the road transport of cattle proved very successful with trucks carrying 80 head of fat cattle on each trip. Droving though, was continued until well into the 1950s as these units required sealed roads. From about 1980 the road transport of livestock by
road train A road train, land train or long combination vehicle (LCV) is a trucking vehicle used to move road freight more efficiently than semi-trailer trucks. It consists of two or more trailers or semi-trailers hauled by a prime mover. History Early ...
s became increasingly common and has virtually replaced the transport of stock either by foot or by rail. But the days of the travelling stock route are not past. In times of extreme
drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D.  Jiang, A.  Khan, W.  Pokam Mba, D.  Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
, when paddocks lack feed and/or water, stockowners have been forced to reduce their livestock numbers radically or take the remaining beasts to travel their six miles a day, along the stock routes, surviving on the roadside grass. Uses of Travelling Stock Reserves include emergency refuge during floods and drought, as well as some local agistment. Today, TSRs are valued as corridors for native vegetation ecosystems and providing a habitat for flora and fauna. During 1997, 125 head of cattle died after eating '' Kalanchoe delagoensis'' (mother-of-millions) on a travelling stock reserve near
Moree, New South Wales Moree is a town in Moree Plains Shire in northern New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the banks of the Mehi River, in the centre of the rich black-soil plains. The town is located at the junction of the Newell Highway and Gwydir Highway ...
.


Notable travelling stock routes

The
Strzelecki Track Strzelecki Track is a mostly unsealed outback track in South Australia, linking Innamincka to Lyndhurst. History The track was pioneered by stockman, drover and cattle thief. Harry Readford, iin 1870, who stole drove 1,000 head of c ...
, from Lyndhurst in the south to
Innamincka, South Australia Innamincka, formerly Hopetoun, is a township and locality in north-east South Australia with a population of 44 people as of the . By air it is north-east of the state capital, Adelaide, and north-east of the closest town, Lyndhurst. It is ...
and beyond in the north used to be one of the driest and loneliest tracks to transport mobs of fat cattle to the Adelaide market. It was
Captain Starlight Frank Pearson (1837–22 December 1899) was an Australian bushranger, operating under the pseudonym ''Captain Starlight.'' Pearson claimed he was the inspiration for a fictional figure of the same pseudonym: the character Captain Starlight in ...
, of
Robbery Under Arms ''Robbery Under Arms'' is a bushranger novel by Thomas Alexander Browne, published under his pen name Rolf Boldrewood. It was first published in serialised form by ''The Sydney Mail'' between July 1882 and August 1883, then in three volumes i ...
fame, who gave the track notoriety. In 1870 Henry Arthur Readford, better known as
Harry Redford Henry Arthur "Harry" Readford (sometimes spelt Redford) (December 1841 – 12 March 1901), was an Australian stockman, drover and cattle thief. Although Readford himself never used, and had never been associated with the moniker, Rolf Bol ...
, or Starlight, drove a thousand head of stolen cattle from Queensland, down the Barcoo and
Cooper Cooper, Cooper's, Coopers and similar may refer to: * Cooper (profession), a maker of wooden casks and other staved vessels Arts and entertainment * Cooper (producers), alias of Dutch producers Klubbheads * Cooper (video game character), in ...
past Mount Hopeless, to Blanchewater where he sold them for $10,000. Although he was caught and went on trial for his crime, he was found not guilty by a jury largely impressed with his audacious feat of blazing a new cattle stock route, making him one of the greatest drovers in Australian history. The Murranji Track in the Northern Territory, also known as the ''Ghost Road of the Drovers'', was pioneered by the famous overlander
Nathaniel Buchanan Nathaniel Buchanan (1826 – 23 September 1901) was an Australian pioneer pastoralist, drover and explorer. Early life Buchanan was born near Dublin, and was of Scottish descent the son of Lieutenant Charles Henry Buchanan, and his wif ...
in 1881, when he drove large mobs of cattle along it. When Buchanan travelled the Murranji Track the Murranji Waterhole was one of the vital sources of water. If it was dry the cattle and horses faced a 110-mile 'dry stage' before reaching the next water. This route was considered the worst stock route of all. In one horrendous trip across this Track in 1905 one man died, all but two stockmen deserted the drover, 800 cattle and 11 horses died. Evidence has been found that five or six persons definitely died around the Murranji Waterhole and about 12 on the whole track, while trying to negotiate it. The
Birdsville Track The Birdsville Track is a notable outback road in Australia. The track runs between Birdsville in south-western Queensland and Marree, a small town in the north-eastern part of South Australia. It traverses three deserts along the route, the St ...
is also a notorious stock route. The 520 km Birdsville Track was developed in the 1880s and runs across desert in some seasons, from
Birdsville, Queensland Birdsville is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Diamantina, Queensland, Australia. In the the locality of Birdsville had a population of 110 people. It is a popular tourist destination with many people using it as a starting point acro ...
to Marree just north of the
Flinders Ranges The Flinders Ranges are the largest mountain range in South Australia, which starts about north of Adelaide. The ranges stretch for over from Port Pirie to Lake Callabonna. The Adnyamathanha people are the Aboriginal group who have inhabi ...
in South Australia. The remote track skirts the
Simpson Desert The Simpson Desert is a large area of dry, red sandy plain and dunes in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland in central Australia. It is the fourth-largest Australian desert, with an area of . The desert is underlain by the ...
and the Sturt Stony Desert and drovers relied on government provided artesian bores to water their stock along the route. On several occasions during the early years there were big losses of stock on this route. In 1901 Jack Clarke left Warenda Station, Queensland with 500 fat bullocks but only had 72 when he reached Marree. Stock is now transported on trucks and the track is mostly used by tourists. The Canning Stock Route was regarded as the loneliest and one of the most difficult routes. Crossing the Great Sandy Desert, the Little Sandy Desert and large portions of the
Gibson Desert The Gibson Desert is a large desert in Western Australia, largely in an almost "pristine" state. It is about in size, making it the fifth largest desert in Australia, after the Great Victoria, Great Sandy, Tanami and Simpson deserts. The ...
, it is almost 2,000 km long. It is a place of living history - the longest heritage trail in Australia. A series of wells, first dug between March 1908 and April 1910 by a party under the leadership of surveyor
Alfred Canning Alfred Wernam Canning (21 February 1860 – 22 May 1936) was a Western Australian government surveyor. Born at Campbellfield north of Melbourne, he started work in New South Wales as a cadet surveyor and in 1893 joined the Western Austral ...
, connect the stock route. These wells are generally situated on or near native water sources ( soaks). In the early years of the stock route, several drovers were killed by
Aboriginal people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
defending their land and water sources. The
Tanami Road __NOTOC__ The Tanami Road, also known as the Tanami Track, Tanami Highway, and the McGuire Track, is a road in Australia that runs between the Stuart Highway in the Northern Territory and the Great Northern Highway in Western Australia. It is a ...
or Tanami Track follows a cattle
droving Droving is the practice of walking livestock over long distances. It is a type of herding. Droving stock to market—usually on foot and often with the aid of dogs—has a very long history in the Old World. An owner might entrust an agent to deli ...
route northwest from the
MacDonnell Ranges The MacDonnell Ranges, or Tjoritja in Arrernte, is a mountain range located in southern Northern Territory. MacDonnell Ranges is also the name given to an interim Australian bioregion broadly encompassing the mountain range, with an area of .< ...
just north of
Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...
to
Halls Creek Halls is a plural of the word hall. Halls may also refer to: People * Walter Halls (1871–1953), British trade unionist and politician * Ethel May Halls (1882–1967), American actress * Julian Halls (born 1967), British field hockey player * ...
. The Barkly Stock Route in the Northern Territory was also pioneered by Nat Buchanan and known for the epic cattle drives of the past that passed through the area en route to Queensland. Today this is a road known as the Overlander's Way (
Barkly Highway The Barkly Highway is a national highway of both Queensland and the Northern Territory in Australia. It is the only sealed road between Queensland and the Northern Territory. Description The highway runs between Cloncurry and the junction wi ...
) and is used by great road trains and visitors. The
Cobb Highway Cobb Highway is a state highway in the western Riverina and the far western regions of New South Wales, with a short section in Victoria, Australia, designated part of route B75. Initially an amalgam of stock routes, the highway extends from ...
is part of a very significant Travelling Stock Routes network that traverses New South Wales. The Bradfield Highway, which passes over the
Sydney Harbour Bridge The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge in Sydney, spanning Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour from the Sydney central business district, central business district (CBD) to the North Shore (Sydney), North Shore. The view of the bridg ...
is a designated Travelling Stock Route.


Current situation

Although their original transport purpose has been mostly superseded, stock routes also sustain non-pastoral industries, including
bee keeping Beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in man-made beehives. Honey bees in the genus '' Apis'' are the most-commonly-kept species but other honey-producing bees such as '' Melipona'' stingless bees are also kept. ...
,
forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. Th ...
,
fossicking In Australia, New Zealand and Cornwall, fossicking is prospecting, especially when carried out as a recreational activity. This can be for gold, precious stones, fossils, etc. by sifting through a prospective area. In Australian English and New ...
, mineral exploration and
quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envi ...
ing. Travelling stock routes also provide crucial habitat and connectivity for many endangered species and
ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...
s. Their length and density mean that they provide a comprehensive sample of the landscape and biodiversity of eastern Australia. Most predate the late Victorian gazetting of conservation reserves, and thus provide substantial protection to highly cleared ecosystems that were targeted for agricultural clearing in the preceding colonial period, and are therefore under-represented in the national park system (e.g., the flat land west of the
Great Dividing Range The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills, that runs rough ...
). The entire network is publicly owned, and therefore represents the best remaining opportunity for conservationists to protect large amounts of threatened biodiversity. Further, the Travelling Stock Routes provide a serendipitous solution to the problem of biodiversity connectivity in the face of climate change. As temperature and rainfall patterns begin to change, the stock routes represent a set of corridors that organisms can safely transverse to reach appropriate climatic conditions. A government review has recommended the Rural Lands Protection Board no longer manage the stock routes and "that travelling stock routes should be ceded back to the Department of Lands unless the local boards can provide a business case for their retention, which means they have to be profitable". A group of more than 450 scientists recently petitioned the Premiers of
New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...
and
Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...
, asking them to intervene, to protect both the heritage and environmental values represented by the stock routes (the "Long Paddock Statement"). The Stock Routes Coalition is a group of organisations who have come together to have the NSW and Queensland Stock Routes declared 'Protected Corridors for Travelling Stock and Biodiversity', managed by the current managers and adequately resourced with supplements from public funds. It is a unique grouping of conservation organisations, scientists and drovers. * Applied Environmental Decision Analysis (UQ) * Birds Australia (BANQ, BAC, BASQ, BANN, BASNA) * Bird Observation & Conservation Australia (BrisBOCA) * Birds Queensland * Chinchilla Field Naturalists Club * Citizens Wildlife Corridors Armidale * Droving and Stock Routes Association * North Burnett Landcare * National Parks Association of NSW * National Parks Association of Qld *
Nature Conservation Council of NSW Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are p ...
* Qld Naturalists Club * Ravensbourne and District Landcare * South West NRM Ltd * Tamworth Birdwatchers * Toowoomba Field Naturalists Club * Wildlife Preservation Society of Australia * Wildlife Preservation Society of Qld * WWF- Australia In January 2009 Travelling Stock Routes came under the control of the new Livestock Health and Pest Authorities (LHPA) which replaced the Rural Lands Protection Board. The new LHPA has stated "that TSRs to be ceded back to the Department of Lands where they place an unreasonable financial burden on authorities (latter part of 2009)".LHPA, ''Important information for ratepayers''


Other roadside grazing

Shire councils often permit livestock to graze a designated stretch along a rural road during times of drought. A fee is paid to the council on a per head of livestock basis and the stock owner is permitted to use the selected strip to the exclusion of others. In Australia many thousands of kilometres of roads are unfenced and this includes some highways. These roads usually pass through forests or private property.


See also

*
Drought in Australia Drought in Australia is defined by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology as rainfall over a three-month period being in the lowest decile of what has been recorded for that region in the past. This definition takes into account that drought is a ...
*
Drovers' road A drovers' road, drove ''roador droveway is a route for droving livestock on foot from one place to another, such as to market or between summer and winter pasture (see transhumance). Many drovers' roads were ancient routes of unknown age; ot ...
* Long acre (road verge) *
Barwon Highway The Barwon Highway is one of the shorter state highways of Queensland, Australia. It starts at the Carnarvon Highway in Nindigully, 44 kilometres south of St George, and travels east for about 155 kilometres until it reaches Goondiwindi, wher ...


References


External links


The Queensland Stock Route Network

Map of New South Wales Stock Routes, Watering Tanks, and Trucking Stations (1888)


{{DEFAULTSORT:Stock Route Livestock in Australia Droving roads