THE TEAMS 

by Henry Lawson (1867 - 1922)

A cloud of dust on the long white road,

   And the teams go creeping on

Inch by inch with the weary load;

And by the power of the greenhide goad

   The distant goal is won.

With eyes half-shut to the blinding dust,

   And necks to the yokes bent low,

The beasts are pulling as bullocks must;

And the shining tires might almost rust

   While the spokes are turning slow.

With face half-hid 'neath a broad-brimmed hat

   That shades from the heat's white waves,

And shouldered whip with its greenhide plait,

The driver plods with a gait like that

   Of his weary, patient slaves.

He wipes his brow, for the day is hot,

   And spits to the left with spite;

He shouts at "Bally", and flicks at "Scot",

And raises dust from the back of "Spot",

   And spits to the dusty right.

He'll sometimes pause as a thing of form

   In front of a settler's door,

And ask for a drink, and remark, "It's warm,"

Or say, "There's signs of a thunderstorm;"

   But he seldom utters more.

But the rains are heavy on roads like these;

   And, fronting his lonely home,

For weeks together the settler sees

The teams bogged down to the axletrees,

   Or ploughing the sodden loam.

And then when the roads are at their worst,

   The bushman's children hear

The cruel blows of the whips reversed

While bullocks pull as their hearts would burst,

   And bellow with pain and fear.

And thus with little joy or rest

   Are the long, long journeys done;

And thus - 'tis a cruel war at best -

Is distance fought in the mighty West,

  And the lonely battles won.

Some years after settling in the Binda area Alexander (Snr) Fraser bought a team of bullocks and started a carrier business.

Teamsters were frequent victims of the bushrangers.

“Prized for their enormous strength and endurance and for their ability to pull steadily, rather than jerk a load as horses were prone to do, teams of bullocks, yolked together in pairs or fours, pulled wagons and drays along the rugged tracks that passed as roads in the early colonies.

Capable of covering up to 20 kilometres per day, depending on the state of the road and the weight of the load, the teams carted out supplies in exchange for wool, agricultural products and minerals.”

 ~ Exploring the Mysterious South by Valmai Phillips, Patricia Cobern and Ann Howard. Bay Books 1986.

On Boxing Day 1864, the bushrangers Ben Hall, John Gilbert, and John Dunn, rode into the town of Binda with three local girls. Together with the girls the gang robbed a shop owned by Edward Morriss.They locked all the local people into the Flag Hotel and made everyone dance to celebrate Boxing Day. Morriss got out of the hotel through a back window at 2.00 a.m. and set off to tell the police. Gilbert fired several shots at him. Hall got angry and so he set fire to Morriss's shop and burned it down. The gang and the girls left the town. The girls were later arrested for helping the bushrangers and were sent to Sydney for trial. Morriss joined the police force.