Loading map...
Trackers were employed at Byrock Police Station from 1884 to at least 1938. The career of the first Byrock tracker, Jack Todhunter, was tragically short. He contracted typhoid fever two months after starting the job. He was transferred to Dubbo Hospital when his condition deteriorated and he passed away there on 10 March 1885. Little is known about Todhunter. He...
Learn More ►Billy Bogan, also known as William Field, was born on the Bogan River to the north of Nyngan in 1862, possibly at Billybingbone, another name he was known by. Employed as a tracker at Warren in 1882, he witnessed Charles Robertson stealing forage from the police station. Robertson was released on bail and he soon attempted to bribe Bogan with...
Learn More ►A contemporary of Alex Riley, Frank Williams was a tracker who also received numerous accolades throughout his career. Williams was born in the country between Gundabooka and Toorale in the 1870s to Edward Williams and an Aboriginal woman named Fanny Hippi. He is associated with the Ngemba speaking peoples south of Bourke. After working as a labourer, he was appointed...
Learn More ►
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...
Learn More ►
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...
Learn More ►
