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.


Pictorial records of the horse in Australia

By Lisa Loader, Equinity, 2007

Pictorial records [from Australia] featuring the horse can be found from as early as 1804 … Horses featured in almost every aspect of nineteenth century life and appear within narrative artworks depicting scenes of exploration, trade, and bush and city life …


Autumn origins of Flemington racing

By http://www.flemington.com.au/about-us/our-history

The first Melbourne races were run annually in the autumn.

In 1854, the Victoria Turf Club (VTC) decided to run a spring meeting as well, when the countryside was at its best and the weather the most dramatic. The VTC conceived the idea of the Melbourne Cup, a handicap race over two miles with a rich prize. This was first run in November 1861 and attracted top inter-colonial horses, including the winner, Archer, from New South Wales.

The newly formed Victoria Racing Club (VRC) took over the race in time for its fourth running, in 1864, and has run it at Flemington every spring since that time.


Melbourne Cup becomes ‘the race that stops a nation’

By http://www.flemington.com.au/about-us/our-history

Melbourne's great wealth and growth from the gold rush era of the 1850s to the land boom of the 1880s made the city the most dynamic in Australia. The Melbourne Cup rose to fame as a social and fashion event as well as the national sporting highlight of the year.

By the 1880s Flemington was attracting crowds estimated at 100,000 for Cup Day. Melbourne Cup Day on the first Tuesday in November has been a public holiday for the city since 1875, and is celebrated as a special day around the country.


Crops

A crop usually consists of a long shaft of cane or which is covered in leather or fabric. The rod of a crop thickens at one end to form a handle, and terminates in a thin, flexible tress, or a flap-like leather tongue (sometimes called a popper). The handle may have a loop of leather to help secure the grip. The length of a crop is designed to allow for tip to be applied to the horse with a controlled flick of the wrist. Thus, a true crop is relatively short. Crops are designed to back up the natural aids (leg, seat, and voice) of a rider. The famous English equestrian and courtesan, Catherine ‘Skittles’ Walters, is said to have popularized the crop as an elegant accessory to riding habits in the 1860s.