Argus (Melbourne, Vic.

: 1848 - 1957), Saturday 23 February 1946, page 7

AUSTRALIANA.

Indian Hawkers Helped

Pioneer Victoria
Their Visits Were Welcomed by Outback Settlers

BERT J. T. STONE
By
NO PART OF THE HISTORY the conditions and the type of round.
But most of the early Indian hawkers
of early Victorian settlement singly.
operated While many oper-
can be reviewed without the ated a circular beat, most of them
inclusion of the part played by seemed to cut a straight course
those veritable walking drapery across country, visiting every farm

the Indian hawker--- who house and settlement en route and

shops--- returning by a parallel route some
tramped the outback tracks to ply 30 or 40 miles distant.
their waresto outlying settlers.
Practically all of them did quite
In the days when supplies had to well at the game; some even set up
be brought long distances by bullock big drapery stores of their own in
Melbourne and country towns. What
dray and occasional coach trans-
these white-turbaned men used to
port, a hawker who was able to
pack into their bundles and carry
overcome the obstacles of the out- around the their
countryside on
back and present required wares to heads would put the modern space
both welcome packer to shame.
distant pioneers was a

visitor and a helpful and essential ARRIVAL AT A SETTLER'S

component in the then great task of ON CAMP farmhouse, the unfold-
or

colonisation. Not all of these ing of these huge bundles revealed an

hawkers, however, survived the
alarming array of drapery and other
ordeals of their journeys. Many,
merchandise, and the settler's wife
unfortunately, were waylaid by
immi-
often wondered how the hawker could
unscrupulous, unsuccessful
grants; sometimes when setting out ever manage to rewrap them all so

with their tightly packed bundles of compactly again. But one favourable
drapery, sometimes when returning aspect of the problem was that each
to Melbourne with their takings. time the toiling Indian unwrapped
his great bundles he knew that
In the very beginning of hawking
there would be less to rewrap for
in Victoria, men of many nation-
alities participated
the next stage of the journey.
in this type of
business, but somehow the wiry The goods they hawked were
Indian hawker seemed to predomi- usually of the highest standard, and
nate. the Indians knew from experience
just what the country people wanted
Occasionally they organised and
in the way of clothes. The require-
brought large stocks of drapery by ments of the pioneer settler were
bullock transport from Melbourne to
far better known to the Indian
a central point inland and retailed
hawkers than to any of the big
it to individual hawkers who would
Melbourne or country shopkeepers.
cover distinct areas, making two or
three trips each year, according to Usually their wares were tied
tightly in small there
the conditions and the type of round. packages;

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Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Saturday 23 February 1946, page 7 (2)

in small packages; there Another method of trading was the

would be a separate package for
shirts, one
order system. After first establish-
for dungaree trousers, one
for flannel shirts,
ing themselves on a round, they
and so on. The would take list
a of requirements
whole would be encompassed in a from settlers' wives and return with
huge calico sheet with a rainproof the specified goods. With the pass-
ing of the years, both hawker and
covering. This bundle would be settler developed a good will far
carried balanced on the head. A deeper than is usually experienced
second package of personal require- between the local housewife and
ments was carried either on top of tradesman of the present day.
the bundle of goods or slung across In many districts when droughts
the back. Not infrequently many of prevailed older-established hawkers
them packed their merchandise into extende'd yearly credit to struggling
a large tin trunk, which was carried cockies who had been good customers
on the head. in better times.
Rooh-Rah-Singh. an old Indian As the country developed and net-
hawker who worked the Goulburn works of roads sprang up, many
Valley and North-Eastern districts Indians turned to horse-drawn vans.
regularly for some 30 years, carried The usual type of transport was a
his wares in this manner. But, as large four-wheeled van drawn by a
well, he carried a large bundle on
pair of horses, but some vans were
top of the trunk. His dilly-bag of drawn by two pairs of horses. One
cooking gear and other personal Indian hawker who worked the
accoutrements was slung across his Northern Mallee operated with two
back. exceptionally large vans, each drawn
This fellow became a familiar with four horses.
figure in these districts, and his re- Later, with the advent
of the
liability and good nature over a long motor-car, some turned
to motor
period of hawking endeared him vans, but the majority retained the
greatly to the people of the extended horse-drawn vehicle. A few pre-
string of outback holdings which he ferred to continue hawking their
served. It was said that when he goods around on their heads. As re-
finally exchanged the long, dusty cently as 10 years ago a head-carry-
bush tracks of the north-east for ing Indian hawker was to be seen
the sanctity of his beloved India, in the Murray Valley.
many farmers' wives did their first
shopping in country towns.
ARRIVAL OF AN INDIAN
THE
HAWKER always a fascinat-
was

ing experience in the outback, particu-

larly with the children. At night they
would sit at a prescribed distance and
watch the man of India prepare his
Johnny-cakes and curried fowl. The
unrolling of his bundles always was
looked upon great thrill. One
as a

never quite knew, apart from the

regular merchandise, just what
might be there each time. As well
as clothing,they carried miscel-
laneous items, including boot laces,
fly nets, camphor, matches, dark
plug tobacco, fishing lines, Indian
curry, belts, pocket knives, mirrors,
razors, buttons, and a variety of
odds and ends that are all so very
necessary by someone at some time
or other.

Another method of was the

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