bullocks

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A cloud of dust on the long white road ; And the teams go creeping on, Inch by inch with the weary load ; And by the power of the green-hide goad The distant goal is won. With eyes half-shut from the blinding dust, And necks to the yokes bent low, The beasts are pulling as bullocks must, Till the shining rims of the tire-rings rust ; While the spokes are turning slow. The Teams is a poem by Australian writer and poet Henry Lawson. It was first published in the Australian Town and Country Journal on 21 December 1889.[1] It was later published in the poet's poetry collection In the Days When the World Was Wide and Other Verses in 1896. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Teams

Timber getters and their bullock teams are long gone. However, they played a major role in the development of early North Coast settlements. Bullock teams hauled logs to a waterway, or in the steep country to chutes, where the logs could be launched. Bullock teams hauled the timber out of the forests to the sawmills, the railway stations and also to the wharves for the journey to Brisbane. There were often several bullock teams in and around railway yards at one time. A bullock team consists of 12 to 24 desexed bulls (they can be of any breed) that are paired to perform heavy work. Bullocks were named and answered to their name. The pairs were generally named with alliteration – Ringer and Ranger, Tom and Tiger, or Sam and Sonny. The key to operating the team was creating a bond between the working pair and training an excellent pair as leaders. The bullocks who made up the team behind the leaders were called the polers. A good team could pull a load of up to ten tons of weight. With strong necks, they were then yoked together, which transferred their power through a pole or chain to pull the heavy load – either timber or other agricultural loads. Source; www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/ringer-and-ranger-tom-and-tiger-n...