Thursday, Jan 02, 2020 at 10:08
Hi Macca
When I was told about these type of shepherds outposts , I originally thought I was having my leg pulled, but then the farmer went into detail.
Back in the mid 1800’s, there were usually a main
homestead, and from there stockman were then go off, usually by themselves with supplies packed on a stock horse. In today’s terms, they were not that far away from the main
homestead, but a days travel on horseback could have been anything up to 20 kilometres .
You also got the very small properties that were
well out from their nearest town and like the shepherds huts, were still a days help away. Many to most areas in South Australia usually had a good relationship with the local Aboriginals and got on
well, but in some areas where there were hostilities, a lonely hut was an easy pickings.
The area around
Kapunda had mixed relationships with local Aboriginals, but in 1861, a shepherd was out working and when he came
home that night, his wife and 2
young children had vanished. The nearest town was
Kapunda, still less than 20 kilometres away. Search parties were sent out and late the next day, the naked body of his wife was found stuffed into a wombats hole, along with the two bodies of the
young murdered children. The end result was 6 aboriginal men arrested and charged with the rape and murder of the lady and 2
young children. 2 of the Aboriginal men were acquitted and the remaining 4 were hung in
Adelaide Goal.
If you can get hold of a book on the Rainbird Murders, it will fill you in on the full details.
So you can see that these type of lonely shepherds huts did exist and with no windows, and gun slots, they were able to defend themselves if a situation did ever arise.
I know that I will now be looking a lot harder when out and about, as I have been told there are quite a few similar huts all around the
Kapunda area.
A very Happy New Year and safe travels for 2020
Stephen
FollowupID:
904074