Canning Stock Route - Aboriginal Perspective

Aboriginal Perspective

The history of the Canning Stock Route has been well documented from the colonial perspective – accounts of European explorers, drovers, prospectors and law enforcers – but increasingly the Aboriginal history of the track is also being recognised, and Aboriginal people are keen to have their story told:

We wanna tell you fellas 'bout things been happening in the past that hasn't been recorded, what old people had in their head. No pencil and paper. The white man history has been told and it's today in the book. But our history is not there properly. We've got to tell 'em through our paintings. — Clifford Brooks, Wiluna, 2006

Archaeologists now believe that the Western Desert has been occupied for around 30,000 years. For Aboriginal people, the history of the stock route is therefore part of a much older story. They have 'recorded' this story, including the changes brought about by the construction of the stock route, through oral and artistic traditions.

The building of the stock route impacted on the cultural and social life of the more than 15 Aboriginal language groups that have a "cultural, familial or historical connection to the route and its custodians, or to sites along the major Dreaming tracks or songlines". Some Dreaming tracks exist within the Country of a single language group, but others cross the territory of many groups and the major Dreaming tracks often mark the territorial boundaries of the Countries they cross. The stock route, and the people and stock it brought with it, inevitably interrupted traditional patterns of movement and connection to Country.

While many Aboriginal people made a determined effort to avoid contact with the people the stock route brought into their Country, the route became a path out of the desert for others. At different times, and for different reasons, people moved away to the outskirts of towns, to pastoral stations and church missions. Many found work with the drovers using the stock route and successful droves relied on the skill of these Aboriginal stockmen and women. Others left looking for more reliable sources of food and water, especially in times of drought, while some were drawn to the changes taking place around the edges of the desert or motivated by a desire to join family already living elsewhere.