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An Aboriginal man named Tommy was the tracker at Broken Hill from the early 1890s through to 1910. Unfortunately, little is known about his personal details. His surname was not recorded in official documents or in the press. He participated in numerous investigations in the Broken Hill district, including the pursuit of robbers who stole a safe from the Commercial...
Learn More ►Aboriginal trackers worked at Silverton police station from January 1884 until October 1890. They were initially based in a small timber and iron structure that also served as the gaol. The more substantial police station and gaol shown in the photograph were completed in 1889, only one year before the last tracker departed Silverton. The gaol itself was only used...
Learn More ►Sam Hall (also known as Sam Hull) was born in Gowen County (between Gilgandra and Coonabarabran) in about 1845. Little is known about his life personally or professionally. It is likely he was a tracker in the Coonamble district although his name is yet to be found in official records. In later years, he lived on the Aboriginal reserve at...
Learn More ►Alexander Ward (also known as Alexander King) was born at Bingebah Station on the western fringe of the Pilliga Scrub on 5 September 1887. He was the son of William King, an Aboriginal stockman born at Coonamble, and Jane Ward of Windsor in western Sydney. He married Stella Duncan of Coonamble at Burra Bee Dee Aboriginal Station in July 1916. ...
Learn More ►Billy Dargin was born on the Bogan River in about 1843. Nothing is known about his parents, but it was recorded at the time of his death in 1865 that he obtained his surname through working for Peter Dargin, a squatter who owned land in the Bathurst district and further west. Dargin is common Aboriginal surname from the Bogan River...
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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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