COMMUNITY HEALTH DATES TO REMEMBER ... - Platypus Country

Soon after their return from World War 1, Colin Hume ofWulgulmerang and Keith Rogers of Black Mountainwere given the job of delivering a boat to DuncanMcKellar on the Snowy.The Shires of Tambo and Orbost paid McKellar to live onthe Snowy, about one kilometre upstream from wherethe bridge is now situated, on the eastern side. His jobwas to ferry people, travelling the old Gippsland track,across the river in his boat. People travelling from westto east, when nearing the river, would yell out and cracktheir whips to attract his attention whereupon he wouldrow across to pick them up. He would them row themover the river with their horses swimming behind theboat.However, a flash flood in the Snowy took his boat, hencethe need for a new one. The new boat was brought toWulgulmerang by bullock wagon. It was then Colin andKeith’s job to take it from there onto the Snowy.The boat was loaded onto a spring cart pulled by horseswhich was driven to Wheeler’s Saddle. At that time,there was a road suitable for horse drawn vehicles downto Royal’s Camp. At Wheeler’s Saddle, they unloadedthe boat from the cart and put it on a sledge, which Ibelieve must have been made on the spot out of aforked tree. After securing the boat to the sledge andyoking the horses to it, they snigged it along the ridgefrom Wheeler’s Saddle then down the very steep, rockyspur to the river.How they got it down in one piece without it tippingover and rolling down the side, taking the horses with it,I don’t know!I presume they then took the horses back up toWheeler’s Saddle, harnessed up the cart and drovehome. “Job completed.”Spirit of the SnowyDelivering a boat—Buff RogersCrossing sheep over theSnowy—Buff RogersDuncan McKellar had his punt and the water was quieterand slower. There they would build rough wings in the formof a “V” going into the river. The wings would be built out offallen trees, limbs, scrub etc. Occasionally hessian was usedas some sheep drovers carried hessian on their packhorsesfor holding their sheep at night. The sheep would then beforced into this “V”. Whoever was a good strong swimmerwould strip off, grab a sheep, tie a dog chain around its neckand pull it into the river. The strong swimmer would thentow this animal across the river. Hopefully, with muchpushing and urging from both men and dogs, the rest of themob would plunge in and follow. However, thois processhad to be repeated many times as sheep are notorious forringing in the middle of the river and coming back on thewrong side! The sheep that did cross, of course, had to beheld on the western side by somebody until the whole mobcrossed over.Crossing mobs of sheep was a long difficult job that requiredmany hands. A large mob would take a couple of days tocross. When this task was completed, the sheep would thenbe driven up the long , steep spur to Wheeler’s Saddle andthen onto Wulgulmerang.Occasionally a mob of sheep that had been walked downfrom Bombala or Delegate would arrive at the Snowy only tofind it was too high to cross. In this situation, the sheepwould have to be shepherded about for a few days or up toa week until the water level dropped to allow safe crossing.What a blessing the new bridge must have been!These stories are taken from Spirit of the Snowy, a shortstory collection to mark a Snowy River Journey, 1st to 3rdNovember 2002. A copy of this publication, edited by G.Enders and published by the NSW Premier’s Department onbehalf of the organisers of the inaugural Snowy RiverJourney, November 2002.During the years after the first world war until the secondbridge was built across the Snowy River at McKillopsCrossing in the 1930s, my family was involved in crossingmobs of sheep over the river. These sheep were bought onthe southern Monaro and w3alked to the family propertiesat Wulgulmerang and Black Mountain, or continued downto be resold in Gippsland.I believe there is a photo of my father, who was a verymodest man, standing on the bank of the Snowy, starknaked except for a dog chain hanging around his neck.What has this got to do with crossing sheep you may ask?This is how it worked: the sheep, which would be in mobsof between two to four thousand, would be crossed overthe Deddick River and taken up the Snowy to whereBuilding the Snowy River Bridge—1932. From Sandy Cameron’sphotograph collection.