76 Australian GeographicA three-year-old desert brumby, he’s steady and surefooted, with
just the right amount of spunk to test new riding skills; he’s also
the unlikely poster boy for a unique learning program.
“Before we started offering the Certificate II in rural operations,
most of these kids didn’t have a good attendance record,” says
horseman and mentor Chris Barr, a teacher at the Ntaria School
in Central Australia. “Now it’s up by 500 per cent and the horses
are a big part of that.”
Twice a week the class travels to the remote outstation of
Ipolera, south-west of Ntaria (Hermannsburg), which Chris aims
to make as much like a working environment as possible. The
students catch and gently break in wild horses, build fences, sleep
out in swags and learn how to make saddles and bridles. One
student was recently offered a job on an indigenous-run cattle
station to the north, and several others see a future on horseback.
“It’s wonderful seeing the growth in these young people as they
work with the horses and learn from them,” Chris says.
Their ambitions were fuelled in April 2015 by a nine-day,
120km ride to Alice Springs to take part in the 100th anniversary
ANZAC commemorations. Emulating their historical forebears,
six students atop obliging mounts proudly wore Light Horse
uniforms. “Half the horses had only been ridden for three months,
but they all performed fantastically and the success of the ride
entirely turned around community attitudes,” Chris says.
It gave traditional owners a renewed appreciation of the wild
horses that roam their rugged backyard – so much so that several
communities are now working with the Central Land Council
(CLC) to develop feral-horse management plans, which include
mustering horses for sale as part of small-scale local enterprises.
Before that, steeds that make up one of the largest wild populations
in Australia were often left to die of thirst or starvation in the
summer heat each year.T
HERE’S NO SUCH problem in Kosciuszko National Park,
where cooler year-round temperatures and summer
snowmelt sustain lush grassy plains and whispering creeks
within the headwaters of the Snowy, Murray and Murrumbidgee
river systems. Here, wild mobs now estimated at 4000–8000
horses provide a thrilling sight for horse trekkers threading their
way with Peter Cochran through shadowy forests of black sallee
and mountain gums.
To Peter, a High Country cattleman with heritage dating back
to European settlement, former member of Parliament and ardent
brumby advocate, there’s a spiritual connection between families
such as his and the Snowy Mountains brumby. “It’s a deep bond
between the animal, the land and the people, and we are very
protective of the brumbies,” he says.To see a sleek black stallion shepherd his mares and offspring
to safety – whinnying defiantly as he canters away, head held high,
mane and nostrils flaring – is to witness something truly free. Wild
horses are deeply embedded in our national psyche and roam the
landscapes of our imagination, made famous by writers such as
Elyne Mitchell (The Silver Brumby) and Banjo Paterson (notably
The Man from Snowy River and Brumby’s Run). An introduced
species first brought with European settlers, they are said to carry
the bloodlines of horses exported to the British Army in India
and the loyal beasts that carried our Australian Light Horse Brigade
to success in the great cavalry charge at Beersheba in 1917.
Now numbering at least 1 million, our national herd – the
world’s largest wild population – can grow at a rate of up to 20
per cent a year in good conditions. With few known predators,
numbers fluctuate with the seasons. Our largest populations today
are in the rocky ranges and arid plains of the Northern Territory
and tropical grasslands of Queensland. They also favour the tem-
perate ranges of New South Wales, subalpine and alpine areas of
both NSW and Victoria, and the arid northern pastoral zone and
Coffin Bay in South Australia. In Western Australia they are found
in the Kimberley, east Pilbara and the northern goldfields.
But are they wild horses or feral pests? Galloping across our
continent, they polarise opinion like few other introduced animals.
Even to describe them as a feral animal, instead of a brumby, raises
the hackles of supporters such as Peter Cochran. “We would
like to see the state government acknowledge that the Snowy
Mountains brumby has a permanent place in the park and to
legislate to protect it. The horses symbolise freedom and are a
part of Australia’s cultural identity,” he says.
However, for the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service
(NPWS), brumbies are a major management challenge.All the Aboriginal students perched on the
steel fence around the dust y arena want
to ride a piebald horse called Allan.
Australia’s 1 million
feral horses have
adapted to a range of
landscapes, many to
the north. Populations
can grow at a rate of
up to 20 per cent a
year in a good season.Brumby
distribution