bullocks

A bullocky is an Australian English term for the driver of a bullock team. The American term is bullwhacker. Bullock drivers were also known as teamsters or carriers. Prior to the gold rushes in Australia, in the mid-19th century, bullock drays carried essential food and station supplies to isolated country areas. On return trips, they transported wheat, wool, sugar cane, and timber by drays drawn by teams of draught animals (either bullocks or horses) to shipping ports before the advent of rail. They travelled constantly across the landscape, servicing the pastoral stations and settlements far from regional transport hubs and urban centers. Some of the larger stations maintained their own teams for local use when harvesting and transporting wool. Both bullock and horse wagons carried heavy loads of wool and wheat which was the main produce transported over long distances, plus chaff and hay. A bullock wagon could only travel approximately three miles an hour (depending on the load and terrain) therefore it was slower than a horse team. Bullock drivers were typically skilled tough men who often faced extreme difficulties during their job. Bullockies were also colorful characters, often noted for their strong language. Some did not swear though, relying solely on gesture, talking, and whip movements as persuasion for the team’s job at hand. A typical bullocky wore a cabbage tree hat, a twill shirt of that period, moleskin trousers, and blucher boots, and carried a long bullock whip which in many instances he had made. During the early years, the bullock tracks were very rough with narrow, steep "pinches", plus dangerous river and creek crossings. Many roads still follow the tracks made by bullock teams as they negotiated their way up or down hills via a winding course to make haulage easier. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullocky

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BULLOCK teams were once a common sight across Australia. Working at a slow, steady pace, the yoked cattle hauled supplies for early explorers, ploughed fields, threshed grain, pulled logs for the timber industry and were a` key method of transport for the wool sector. Source: Heavy-hauling bullock teams are a tradition slowly passinghttps://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au › news-story

According to Mr Lockwood, bullocks are far more intelligent than most people give them credit for, and while verbal commands are important, much of the communication between him and the bullock team is unspoken. "Yoking up is pretty hard and they are big boys. They knock you around a little bit," he said. "They are not dangerous but they are heavy, so you have to be fairly staunch to be working around them. "You can have all the knowledge in the world, but honestly it's in your heart. "There's verbal commands, but even my persona around the bullocks, the way I stand, it's a reflection of everything that goes together, so it's pretty personal." Source: www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-09/bullock-teams-keep-alive-a...