NSW Aboriginal Trackers

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 performed. There is also information about the police stations where they worked and lived, the traditional language groups to which some of the trackers belonged.

The skills of trackers were drawn from the traditional bush and hunting knowledge of Aboriginal groups throughout NSW. A good tracker could pick up the smallest change in the landscape and quickly work out in which direction a person or animal was moving. Although trackers are no longer employed by the police, the skills and knowledge are still retained by many Aboriginal people throughout NSW.

You can read more in Pathfinders, A History of Aboriginal trackers in NSW by Dr Michael Bennett and published by NewSouth. Click on the following links to order your copy now:

NSW Aboriginal Trackers

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Police Stations

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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A General History

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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