Monarch of Mount Ramelau , a fine stallion in Timor-Leste. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Through Banjo Paterson’s poem - The Man From Snowy River- the noble Timor Pony became part of Australia’s folklore. Remember the brave rider who turned those wild mountain horses was astride a small and weedy beast , three parts thoroughbred , with a touch of Timor Pony.
Darwin agronomist and longtime East Timor supporter , Rob Wesley-Smith, admires these noble beasts of burden. The sturdy animals, he points out , were used by Australian troops in Timor during WW11 . About 25 years ago , Wes was asked to name a new Timor Pony for Barry Lemcke who has been involved in livestock and pasture research in the Territory for more than 40 years.
The name he came up with was Tatoli–meaning something like swift, or despatch, deliver , pass on, to send a message , which sounds like a mount in the famous Wild West Pony Express days.
Wes took Shirley Shackleton, widow of reporter Greg Shackleton,one of the Balibo Five , killed by the Indonesian invading forces , to see Tatoli when she expressed the desire to write a book about East Timor’s struggle for freedom . It was suggested a small boy and a pony could feature in the story.
Over the years Wes has photographed Timor ponies , some carrying” horrendous loads”. Boys are seen above with a pony loaded with corn. In 1999 ,Wes was driving a truck on the island with a load of supplies for Aileu and noticed that many people had to walk down a long mountain road to pick up a bag of rice, possibly weighing 50kg , and struggle back up. Being Wes, he had firm words with World Vision about altering their rice distribution system .
"I used to fill my truck with people and goods on the way back, and one old man gave me all the load off his half- starved Timor Pony, to be collected back up at the top of the mountain ," Wes recalls ." I was relieved it was just the load- not also the pony!"
About 2000 or 2001 , a resident raised the possibility of importing Australian ponies as part of a program to strengthen the Timor Pony. An unexpected link to The Man From Snowy River came to light when researching aspects of the life of author Jean Devanny , which included involvement with Territory people. Mention was made of Devanny having attended a meeting of the Fellowship of Australian Writers , Sydney ,where guests included Bill Harney and Jessie Litchfield of the NT, for a lecture delivered by Michael Sawtell, who had spent time in the Territory.
At one stage Sawtell urged the nation never to forget the poet Barcroft Boake , found hanging by the neck from a stockwhip at Middle Harbour, Sydney , eight days after he disappeared on May 2, 1892. It has been suggested that Boake committed suicide during the Depression of 1891-93 because he could not find work and his unrequited love for a girl , a sister of horseman , Charlie McKeahnie, one of a number of men said to have inspired The Man From Snowy River .
Boake had worked as a boundary rider in NSW and Queensland and then as a surveyor; several poems he wrote appeared in The Bulletin . When living in the Snowy country in l887, Barcroft spent much time with the McKeahnie family , riding with Charlie, becoming fond of his sisters, May and Jean .
In 1891 Boake wrote a poem for The Bulletin - On the Range- which told of McKeahnie chasing a wild brumby stallion. His poems were published posthumously in 1897 by A.G. Stephens in a collection titled Where the Dead Men Lie and Other Poems; the most famous poem -Where the Dead Men Lie- described the tragedies Australians faced in the 1891-93 Depression.
During that period , his father , Barcroft Capel Boake , involved in a substantial number of photography businesses in NSW and Victoria , experienced financial difficulties .The above business card is for one of the Sydney studios . Soon after receiving a letter that a McKeahnie girl was to be married, Boake disappeared and was later found dead , the end of the stockwhip around his neck.
Historian Neville Locker gathered extensive information about Charlie McKeahnie and mounted a display at Locker’s Happy Valley , in the Alpine Way country, near Adaminaby , supporting the proposition that McKeahnie, who died of injuries received when his horse slipped , inspired Banjo Paterson to write the nation’s best known poem. The display included material about Barcroft Boake .
Another person said to have been the model for The Man From Snowy River was Jack Riley , described as a hermit stockman, who is frequently mentioned in tourist promotion for the area . The Northern Territory also had a character , fond of a drop of rum, who claimed he had been The Man From Snowy River. (Pony photographs by Rob Wesley-Smith .)
