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Edward Bowers Bennett, son of Englishman Edward Bennett and Aboriginal woman Elizabeth Woods, was born at Pilliga in about 1882. He married Mary Ann Goulding, daughter of Irishman Michael Goulding and Aboriginal woman Mary Ann Hall at Coonabarabran in 1903. The couple raised three daughters and a step-son who was sadly killed on the Western Front in World War I....
Learn More ►Information about Monty Tickle’s origins are sketchy, but according to his death certificate he was born in about 1900 at Cloncurry, Queensland, to Friday Tickle and Topsy. It is not known when he came to NSW, but by 1921 he was the tracker at Orange in the central-west of NSW. In August of that year he investigated the illegal slaughter...
Learn More ►Harry Doolan, a Gamilaraay man, was born at Pilliga in 1855 to Bob Doolan and Tincan [ref]DC of Harry Doolan 1917/012607.[/ref]. He began tracking at Wee Waa in April 1891 where he remained for the next two years. His next tracking assignment was at Baradine for the first three months of 1898. He was also the tracker at Cumnock in...
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This website explores the history of Aboriginal trackers in NSW from 1862 when the current NSW Police Force was established through to 1973 when the last tracker, Norman Walford, retired. You can read about the lives of individual trackers and some of the incredible tracking feats they...
There were over 200 NSW police stations that employed Aboriginal trackers between 1862 and 1973. Many were concentrated in the central-west and north-west of the state, the agricultural and pastoral heartland of NSW. This is because one of the main jobs of trackers was to pursue sheep, cattle and horse thieves. Trackers sometimes lived in small huts out the back...
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Pathfinders book Pathfinders, A history of Aboriginal trackers in NSW, written by Dr Michael Bennett and published by NewSouth, is now available from all good bookstores. Click on the link below to order your copy. https://www.abbeys.com.au/book/pathfinders-a-history-of-aboriginal-trackers-in-nsw.do Early History Since the beginning of the colony, government agencies, explorers, surveyors and members of the general public called upon the tracking...
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