Where The Snowy Mountain Stockmen Used To Ride
A photographic journey into the mountains, this project explores a world beyond the comfort and complexity of the modern world, offering a glimpse into a vanishing legacy horsemanship in Australia’s High Country.
“Not that poem…”
The title of this project is taken from a poem by Snowy Mountain stockman and pioneer descendant Boyd Mould. I came across the poem in the early stages of my research for the project and was moved by the simple sense of connection in the poem. It perfectly captured something I was struggling to articulate and quickly became my cornerstone.
Well, my memory is fading now I'm getting on in years,
There are fragments of my life I can't recall
Many little things remind me of the years I've left behind me
But one vision lingers clearest of them all.
I see how the country changes as the plains merge with the ranges.
And the foothills reach up to the great divide,
I see mountains and clear streams most folk only see in dreams,
Up where the Snowy Mountains stockmen used to ride.
From ‘The Snowy Mountain Stockmen’, By Boyd Mould
The heritage and traditions of mountain horsemanship are etched in Australian folklore. The tradition of horse and rider at home and self reliant in the harsh Australian high country has captivated imagination of Australians and been immortalised in the pages of art and history.
Though numbers may be few, there are still those for whom the mountains are a way of life. Those who know the secrets and stories of the mountains, and are the custodians of an unmarked network of tracks that have been used by horsemen in the high country for over a century.
This project celebrates this legacy. offering an extraordinary glimpse of an unbroken legacy of mountain horsemanship and bushcraft in Australia’s high country, a living history with a profound significance for a nation that still looks to the legends of the bush in defining its identity.
The Tracks
It is important to note that in most cases the word track is somewhat misleading. They are a route, providing a way through seemingly impenetrable bush and impassable terrain. A route offering water and safe passage in a landscape that can easily deny all. Knowledge of these routes has passed in an unbroken chain of custody stretching as far European settlement and sometimes even further. For the first pioneers and drovers into the mountains often followed pathways shown to them by aboriginal people.
COLLECTIONS
The Crossing
Fields Of Gold
The Bushman
Coming Soon
Wildflowers & Blue Skies
Coming Soon
Winter
Coming Soon
The tracks: It is important to note that in most cases the word track is somewhat misleading. They are a route, providing a way through seemingly impenetrable bush and impassable terrain. A route offering water, shelter and safe passage in a landscape that can easily deny all. Knowledge of these routes has passed in an unbroken chain of custody stretching as far European settlement and sometimes even further. For the first pioneers and drovers into the mountains often followed pathways shown to them by aboriginal people.