Life among the Buffalo Shooters
In most years from 1885 to 1940 there were about a dozen buffalo shooting camps operating across the coastal plains, between Humpty Doo and Oenpelli. Each camp worked over a defined area which was granted to the shooters under short term leases.On average about 10,000 hides per year were exported, making buffalo shooting one of the Top End's few consistently viable primary industries.
Joseph Bradshaw in 1905 described the buffalo shooting based on Lawrie's Humpty Doo station, then the only station occupied in the locality -
"But these buffalo hunters cannot be classed as permanent settlers. They lead a nomadic life, camping for a few weeks at one spot until the animals are shot out, then migrating to another camp, where fresh herds are to be found. A buffalo hunting party usually consists of one or two white men, a Chinese or Malay cook, who is also camp sergeant, and any number of blackfellows ..."
White men usually did the shooting, Aboriginal men skinned the buffalo, and the Aboriginal women dressed and cured the hides. It was an industry which depended heavily on Aboriginal labour, and the industry suited the Aborigines. After all, it was only a small refinement of the traditional hunting and gathering land use on the Northern Territory's coastal plains - nomadic, and operated only in the dry season.
Aborigines flocked into the shooters' camps from hundreds of miles around. They were attracted by the abundant food - buffalo meat was there for the taking and it was good tucker. The usual wage was tobacco, and perhaps some grog, on occasions. .
There was real hardship among Aborigines when buffalo shooting stopped during the war years - overseas markets were closed off, and ammunition was hard to get.
However, shooting quickly revived after the war. Buffalo numbers had increased with the lull in shooting, and shooters took advantage of cheap war surplus four wheel drive vehicles and ammunition.
Exports of hides ran at about 12,000 per year for the first decade after the war, but prices fell disastrously in 1955 and 1956. As a result of the price fall, the old time shooters hung up their rifles and turned out their horses.
Just when it seemed that the buffalo industry was doomed, a new demand arose for the animals, first for pet meat and game meat for human consumption, then for live exports to countries as far field as Cuba. In many overseas places, the Australian buffalo was regarded as a genetically superior animal to the local beast.
Over the last twenty years the big herds of buffalo have been shot out, as part of programs to control livestock diseases. Nowadays, the occasional buffalo which can be seen on a drive through Litchfield Shire remind us of the industry which was one of our most colourful.