Anonymous, edited by Maurie Foun, Corryong Courier
A thousand head of ‘forward steers’ are listed for the sale – cold country reared, good doers, to go forward without fail.
So runs the stock advertisement and buyers from the plains are on their way to Corryong to beat the winter rains.
Away in far-off Groggin and out near Buenbar, the mountain lads are mustering the cattle, near and far.
High up around The Big Gibbs sides and in the gorge below, the stock whips wake the echoes and toss them to and fro.
And out along The Far Cascade and on The Pilot, blue and in The Buckwongs pheasant scrub you’ll hear the ruckus too.
From up on Kosciuszko’s flank, through belts of snow-gums thick, across The Leather Barrel and over Little Mick.
The long-horned Herefords crashing through dogwood scrub and hops, are coming down to Groggin from out along the tops.
And off the tops of Pinnibar and towering Granuale the men and dogs are toiling with ‘forwards’ for the sale.
With the mob now carefully drafted, it’s up through Grassy Plain and o’er the range to Geehi they’re stringing in the rain.
Through dripping fernclad gullies, through hopscrub dense and tall and in the tangled blanket-leaf, they take the Geehi fall.
The rock-bound river, rising fast, will be a risky swim, the riders working frantically to steer the cattle in.
Where greasy boulders hide beneath, the stream with foam is white, the mountain men are battling to keep the leaders right.
They blunder on the rounded rocks, while with them, flank to flank, hip deep, the men are crowding them, to see they crest the bank.
Next morn, the bellbirds by the creek, affrightened, cease their calls as twice five hundred groggin steers start up the Geehi Walls.
Around the greasy sidlings where scarce a goat could stop, the mountain riders head them off and point them to the top.
With many a heeler hard at work and many a stinging thong, the leaders climb among the scrub and take the mob along.
So now they’re on the summit, it’s down Black Creek to go, dismounted men light up their pipes and give their hacks a blow.
Then it’s down into Khancoban and over Towong Plains, the ‘Autumn Draft’ For Corryong is in before the rains.
See, round the yard they’re stringing now, these steers for ‘special sale’, cold-country reared, good doers, they’re forward, without fail.
Anonymous
Edited by Maurie Foun, March, 2024
This article appeared in the Corryong Courier, 11 April 2024.
