Thursday, November 15, 2012

ODE TO THE TIMOR PONY


Monarch of  Mount Ramelau ,  a  fine  stallion  in Timor-Leste. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Through Banjo Paterson’s poem - The Man From Snowy River- the noble Timor Pony became part of Australia’s folklore. Remember the  brave rider who turned  those  wild mountain horses was  astride  small and weedy  beast , three parts  thoroughbred , with  a  touch of  Timor Pony.

Darwin agronomist and longtime East Timor supporter , Rob Wesley-Smith, admires these  noble  beasts of burden. The sturdy animals, he points out , were used by Australian troops in Timor during WW11 . About 25 years ago , Wes was asked to name a new Timor Pony for Barry Lemcke who has been involved in livestock and pasture research in the Territory for more than 40 years.

The name he came up with was Tatoli–meaning something like swift, or despatch, deliver , pass on, to send a message , which sounds like a mount in the famous Wild West Pony Express days.

Wes took Shirley Shackleton, widow of reporter  Greg Shackleton,one of the Balibo Five , killed by the Indonesian invading forces , to see Tatoli when she expressed the desire to write a book  about East Timor’s struggle for freedom . It was suggested a small boy and a pony could feature in the story.
Over the years Wes has photographed Timor ponies , some carrying” horrendous loads”. Boys are seen above   with a pony loaded with  corn. In 1999 ,Wes was driving a truck on the  island with a load of supplies for Aileu and noticed that many people had to walk down a long mountain road to pick up a bag of rice, possibly weighing 50kg , and struggle back up. Being Wes, he  had firm words with World Vision about  altering their rice  distribution system .
"I used to fill my truck with people and goods on the way back, and one old man gave me all the load off his half- starved Timor Pony, to be collected back up at the top of the mountain ," Wes recalls ." I was relieved it was just the load- not also the pony!"

 About 2000 or  2001 ,  a resident raised the possibility of importing  Australian ponies  as part of  a program to  strengthen the Timor Pony.  An  unexpected  link to The Man From Snowy River came to light when researching aspects of  the life of author Jean Devanny , which included involvement with Territory people.  Mention was  made of Devanny having attended a meeting of the Fellowship of Australian Writers , Sydney ,where guests included Bill Harney and Jessie Litchfield of the NT, for a lecture delivered by Michael Sawtell, who had spent time in the Territory.

At one stage Sawtell urged the nation never to forget the poet Barcroft Boake , found hanging by the neck from a stockwhip at Middle Harbour, Sydney , eight days after he disappeared on May 2, 1892. It has been suggested that Boake committed suicide during the Depression of 1891-93 because he could not find work and his unrequited love for a girl , a sister of  horseman , Charlie McKeahnie, one of  a number of men said to have inspired  The Man From Snowy River .

Boake had worked as a boundary rider in NSW and Queensland and then as a surveyor; several poems  he wrote appeared  in The Bulletin . When living in the Snowy country  in l887, Barcroft spent much time with the McKeahnie family , riding with Charlie,  becoming  fond of  his sisters, May and Jean .

In 1891 Boake wrote a poem for The Bulletin - On the Range- which told of McKeahnie chasing a wild brumby stallion. His poems were published posthumously in 1897 by A.G. Stephens in a collection titled Where the Dead Men Lie and Other Poems; the most famous poem -Where the Dead Men Lie- described the tragedies Australians faced in the 1891-93 Depression.

During that period , his father , Barcroft Capel  Boake , involved in a substantial number of photography businesses in NSW and Victoria , experienced financial difficulties .The above  business card  is  for  one of the Sydney  studios .  Soon after receiving a letter that a  McKeahnie girl was to be married, Boake disappeared and was later found dead , the  end  of   the stockwhip around his  neck.

Historian Neville Locker gathered extensive information about Charlie McKeahnie and mounted a display at  Locker’s Happy Valley , in the Alpine Way country, near Adaminaby , supporting  the  proposition that  McKeahnie, who died of  injuries received when his horse slipped ,  inspired Banjo Paterson to write the nation’s best  known poem.  The  display  included material about Barcroft  Boake .

Another  person  said  to have been the model for The Man From Snowy River was Jack Riley , described as a hermit stockman, who is frequently  mentioned in tourist promotion for  the area . The Northern Territory  also had a character , fond of a drop of rum, who claimed he had been The Man From Snowy River.      (Pony  photographs  by  Rob Wesley-Smith .)