• Where Camels and Brumbies Run Wild
    Awake!—2001 | April 8

    • What Is a Brumby?

      The first fleet of English ships unloaded its burden of prisoners, soldiers, and horses on Australian shores in 1788. The history of the horse in this country, like that of its human companions, is both romantic and tragic.

      Vital in the quest to tame the new frontier, horses carried early pioneers to the four corners of the continent. Strays and runaways soon established feral, or wild, herds, and these horses became known as brumbies. The word “brumby” may have come from the Queensland Aboriginal word baroomby, meaning “wild.”

      The wild, free spirit of the brumby fired the imagination of poets like A. B. (Banjo) Paterson, and his ballad “The Man From Snowy River” secured the brumby’s place in the hearts of many Australians. The brumby’s ranks gained in number after World War I when demand for the Waler—a horse bred specifically for the Australian Light Horse Brigade and used by the Indian army—declined and the mounts were set free. Now an estimated 300,000 feral horses roam the continent.

      As they roam, their hooves pound the fragile topsoil like a blacksmith’s hammer and tear at the banks of watering holes. When drought strikes, they starve or die of thirst. In a land already straining under the weight of its cattle herds, these brumbies have become an intolerable burden. Thus, thousands are culled each year. Some are processed for human consumption; others, sold as pet food.