Curio

State Library of New South Wales
Riding crops, 1800 – 1900s

Riding crops, 1800 – 1900s

Carved wood

Bequest of Sir William Dixson, 1952

DR 67


Aboriginal people played a key role in the development of the cattle industry in the Australian outback. They were highly valued and respected workers who provided the essential labour for its growth. Many of the great pastoral empires would not have survived without Aboriginal labour.

Some of these stockwhip handles have designs typical of the Wiradjuri people of central New South Wales and were probably carved by Aboriginal stockmen. It is possible that they were carved in the traditional method using a possum tooth implement.


For side-saddle riders, the crop was a utilitarian component of the riding habit.


These riding crops were described as stockwhip handles in the 1952 list of Sir William Dixson's collection.


It is considered very bad form for a rider or horse trainer to actually use a crop, a whip, or a quirt on a horse with force (the application of a crop to the race horse being the exception), especially as an instrument of punishment. 


When a crop or a whip are applied to a riding horse, it’s usually more of a ‘tap’ and intended to be a cue to do something. 


Women riding side-saddle often relied on the tap of crop on the offside (right side) to give the horse certain signals.