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Jack Cave was born in Wiradjuri country in the Bathurst district in about 1865. He grew up on local properties and learned the skills of a horse breaker. Around the turn of the century he moved to the Walgett district and took up the job of tracker at Mogil Mogil in 1900. He was later the tracker at Glencoe from 1904 to 1907. A talented jockey, he once rode five winners at a Walgett race meeting. He later tracked at Bathurst and in 1925 saved two valuable racehorses from a fierce stable fire. As noted by Percy Gresser, Cave was greatly interested in native animals and took a job at a wildlife reserve at Balwyn, Victoria. He later moved to Coolangatta, Queensland, and worked at Coolangatta Zoo before passing away in the 1950s.[ref]The Aborigines of the Bathurst District (Historical Sketch) by Percy Gresser (AIATSIS MS 21/3/6); The Age 03/03/1925: 12; Police Salary Registers 1900-1903 (SRNSW 3/2993 Reel 1973), 1903-1907 (SRNSW 11/16337 Reel 1971); photograph courtesy of Blayney Library[/ref]
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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