You do not have permission to edit this page, for the following reasons:

This IP address has been blocked from editing Wikipedia.
This does not affect your ability to read Wikipedia pages.
Most people who see this message have done nothing wrong. Some kinds of blocks restrict editing from specific service providers or telecom companies in response to recent abuse or vandalism, and can sometimes affect other users who are unrelated to that abuse. Review the information below for assistance if you do not believe that you have done anything wrong.

The IP address or range 18.214.0.0/16 has been blocked (disabled) by ‪Blablubbs‬ for the following reason(s):

The IP address that you are currently using has been blocked because it is believed to be a web host provider or colocation provider. To prevent abuse, web hosts and colocation providers may be blocked from editing Wikipedia.
You will not be able to edit Wikipedia using a web host or colocation provider because it hides your IP address, much like a proxy or VPN.
We recommend that you attempt to use another connection to edit. For example, if you use a proxy or VPN to connect to the internet, turn it off when editing Wikipedia. If you edit using a mobile connection, try using a Wi-Fi connection, and vice versa. If you are using a corporate internet connection, switch to a different Wi-Fi network. If you have a Wikipedia account, please log in.
If you do not have any other way to edit Wikipedia, you will need to request an IP block exemption.

How to appeal if you are confident that your connection does not use a colocation provider's IP address:
If you are confident that you are not using a web host, you may appeal this block by adding the following text on your talk page: ((unblock|reason=Caught by a colocation web host block but this host or IP is not a web host. My IP address is _______. Place any further information here. ~~~~)). You must fill in the blank with your IP address for this block to be investigated. Your IP address can be determined here. Alternatively, if you wish to keep your IP address private you can use the unblock ticket request system. There are several reasons you might be editing using the IP address of a web host or colocation provider (such as if you are using VPN software or a business network); please use this method of appeal only if you think your IP address is in fact not a web host or colocation provider.

Administrators: The IP block exemption user right should only be applied to allow users to edit using web host in exceptional circumstances, and requests should usually be directed to the functionaries team via email. If you intend to give the IPBE user right, a CheckUser needs to take a look at the account. This can be requested most easily at SPI Quick Checkuser Requests. Unblocking an IP or IP range with this template is highly discouraged without at least contacting the blocking administrator.

This block will expire on 10:52, 20 August 2024.

Even when blocked, you will usually still be able to edit your user talk page, as well as email administrators and other editors.

For information on how to proceed, please read the FAQ for blocked users and the guideline on block appeals. The guide to appealing blocks may also be helpful.

Other useful links: Blocking policy · Help:I have been blocked
Your IP address is in a range that has been blocked on all Wikimedia Foundation wikis. The block was made by ‪Jon Kolbert‬. The reason given is Open proxy/Webhost: See the help page if you are affected .
- Start of block: 18:26, 12 November 2023
- Expiry of block: 18:26, 12 November 2028
Your current IP address is 18.214.15.149. The blocked range is 18.214.0.0/16. Please include all above details in any queries you make. If you believe you were blocked by mistake, you can find additional information and instructions in the No open proxies global policy. Otherwise, to discuss the block please post a request for review on Meta-Wiki. You could also send an email to the stewards VRT queue at stewards@wikimedia.org including all above details.

You can view and copy the source of this page:

((Globalize|Article|Australia|date=January 2024))
((Use dmy dates|date=April 2021))
((Use Australian English|date=April 2021))
[[File:Cattle trough.jpg|thumb|300px|A cattle trough and windmill on a Travelling Stock Route]]
A '''stock route''', also known as '''travelling stock route''' ('''TSR'''), is an authorised thoroughfare for the walking of domestic [[livestock]] such as sheep or cattle from one location to another in Australia. The stock routes across the country are colloquially known as '''The Long Paddock''' or '''Long Paddock'''.<ref name=lp>((cite web|url=http://www.thelongpaddock.com.au/touring-route/|title=Touring route|website=The Long Paddock|access-date=18 November 2019))</ref><ref>[http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2008/s2396087.htm 7.30 Report - Unlikely alliance to save the Long Paddock] Retrieved on 2009-8-30</ref>

A travelling stock route may often be distinguished from an ordinary country road by the fact that the grassy verges on either side of the road are very much wider, and the property fences being set back much further from the roadside than is usual, or open stretches of unfenced land. The reason for this is so that the livestock may feed on the vegetation that grows on the verges as they travel, especially in times of drought.<ref name=lp/>

The rugged remote stock route that follows the [[Guy Fawkes River]] through [[Guy Fawkes River National Park]] is part of the [[Bicentennial National Trail]].<ref>((cite web |title=NSW Wilderness Red Index |url=http://www.colongwilderness.org.au/RedIndex/NSW/guy2.htm |date=September 1999 |publisher=The Wilderness Society |access-date=8 December 2008 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720130925/http://www.colongwilderness.org.au/RedIndex/NSW/guy2.htm |archivedate=20 July 2008))</ref>

==Usage==
[[File:AU-Qld-Weengallon-stock route-2021.jpg|thumb|Stock route sign, Barwon Highway, Weengallon, Goondiwindi region, Queensland (2021).]]
By law, the travelling stock must travel "six miles a day" (approximately 10 kilometres per day). This is to avoid all the roadside grass from being cleared in a particular area by an individual mob.  [[Water well|Bores]], equipped with windmills and troughs, may also be located at regular intervals to provide water in regions where there are no other reliable water sources. A '''Travelling Stock Reserve''' is a fenced paddock set aside at strategic distances to allow overnight watering and camping of stock. Reserves may also be located on many roadways that are not the typical wide TSRs.

The travelling stock are driven by a [[Drover (Australian)|drover]] and [[Stockman (Australia)|stockmen]] using [[Australian Stock Horse]]s or [[vehicle]]s.  Other [[working animals]] include working dogs such as [[Australian Kelpie|Kelpies]], or their crosses which have been bred for working sheep and cattle. The stockman may also be accompanied by a [[packhorse]], carrying supplies and equipment, or a wagon with supplies might follow the stock. More recently travelling stock has been accompanied by [[four-wheel drive]] vehicles and [[Recreational vehicle|mobile homes]].

The purpose of "droving" livestock on such a journey might be to move the stock to different pastures. It was also the only way that most livestock producers had of getting their product to the markets of the towns and cities. The beef cattle were transported to a rail siding or abattoirs "on the hoof". The rigors of the journey, the availability of feed and water and the reliability of those "droving" the stock were all factors in the condition of the livestock when it was [[Animal slaughter|slaughtered]].

==History==
[[File:Canning stock route.PNG|thumb|Canning Stock Route in Western Australia.]]
An early stock route, the Snowy TSR, was pioneered during the drought of 1828, when the supply of water and fodder failed around [[Lake George (New South Wales)]], near [[Canberra]].  The local [[Aboriginal Australians|Aboriginals]], realising the plight of the stock, led the stock and their owners into the country now known as [[Berridale, New South Wales|Berridale]].<ref>((cite web | title=The Battle for Broken Cart | url=http://www.sosnews.org/news/sept20th.htm | date=20 September 2006 |publisher=SOS-NEWS | access-date=31 July 2009))</ref>

Colonial explorers and [[Drover (Australian)|overlander]]s pioneered many of the present-day stock routes along corridors that followed river systems, indigenous trade routes and trails. Before the railways were extended cattle were often driven up to ((convert|3220|km|mi)) on the main stock routes. These early drovers sometimes had to contend with crocodile-infested rivers, [[Drought in Australia|drought]]s, dust storms, floods, [[List of poisonous plants|poisonous plants]] and hostile [[Aboriginal Australians|Aboriginals]]. These established routes were recognised and dedicated as roads between the 1860s and 1890s. From the early 1900s the state Governments established a program to develop stock route water facilities throughout the stock route network. Most stock routes now have designated watering points, each located the distance of a droving day apart.

With the establishment of railways in country areas from the 1880s onwards, livestock usually reached the major destinations in [[cattle wagon]]s. There were stock-yards and livestock ramps at nearly all rural railway stations to facilitate this transportation, meaning that it was only necessary to drove stock to the nearest [[rail transport]] depot. Travelling stock routes and reserves have generally been administered by Rural Lands Protection Boards, since 1902. There are about 600,000 hectares of travelling stock reserves in NSW and 2.6 million hectares running for 72,000 kilometres across Queensland.<ref>Dunn, John; ''Saving the Stock Routes'', p. 56, Outback Magazine, June/July 2009</ref>

Between 1906 and 1910 [[Alfred Canning]] opened up the [[Canning Stock Route]], one of the most famous overland routes in the world.<ref>((cite book | title=Canning, Alfred Wernam (1860 - 1936)| url=http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A070563b.htm| year=1979 |publisher=Australian Dictionary of Biography | access-date= 26 February 2009))</ref>

During [[World War II]] good highways were constructed in the [[Northern Territory]] where the railway had not been extended. After the war the road transport of cattle proved very successful with trucks carrying 80 head of fat cattle on each trip. Droving though, was continued until well into the 1950s as these units required sealed roads. From about 1980 the road transport of livestock by [[road train]]s became increasingly common and has virtually replaced the transport of stock either by foot or by rail. 
  
But the days of the travelling stock route are not past. In times of extreme [[Drought in Australia|drought]], when paddocks lack feed and/or water, stockowners have been forced to reduce their livestock numbers radically or take the remaining beasts to travel their six miles a day, along the stock routes, surviving on the roadside grass.<ref>((cite web |title=Uncertain future for drovers as drought continues |url=http://www.abc.net.au/landline/stories/s709119.htm |date=27 October 2002 |publisher=Landline |access-date=31 July 2009))</ref> Uses of Travelling Stock Reserves include emergency refuge during floods and drought, as well as some local agistment. Today, TSRs are valued as corridors for native vegetation ecosystems and providing a habitat for flora and fauna.
[[File:Cattle poison.jpg|thumb|280px|Australia, 1907: Cattlemen survey 700 carcasses of cattle that were killed overnight by a poisonous plant]]
During 1997, 125 head of cattle died after eating ''[[Kalanchoe delagoensis]]'' (mother-of-millions) on a travelling stock reserve near [[Moree, New South Wales]].<ref>((cite web|title=Mother-of-millions|url=http://www.northwestweeds.nsw.gov.au/mother_of_millions.htm|date=January 2009|publisher=North West Weeds|access-date=31 July 2009|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130213050009/http://www.northwestweeds.nsw.gov.au/mother_of_millions.htm|archivedate=13 February 2013))</ref>

==Notable travelling stock routes==
The [[Strzelecki Track]], from [[Lyndhurst, South Australia|Lyndhurst]] in the south to [[Innamincka, South Australia]] and beyond in the north used to be one of the driest and loneliest tracks to transport mobs of fat cattle to the Adelaide market. It was [[Captain Starlight]], of [[Robbery Under Arms]] fame, who gave the track notoriety. In 1870 Henry Arthur Readford, better known as [[Harry Redford]], or Starlight, drove a thousand head of stolen cattle from Queensland, down the [[Barcoo River|Barcoo]] and [[Cooper Creek|Cooper]] past [[Mount Hopeless (South Australia)|Mount Hopeless]], to [[Blanchewater Station|Blanchewater]] where he sold them for $10,000.  Although he was caught and went on trial for his crime, he was found not guilty by a jury largely impressed with his audacious feat of blazing a new cattle stock route, making him one of the greatest drovers in Australian history.
[[File:Stock on murranji stock route after being dipped at lake nash.png|thumb|Stock on Murranji track after being dipped at [[Lake Nash Station|Lake Nash]] (1953).]]
The [[Murranji Track]] in the Northern Territory, also known as the ''Ghost Road of the Drovers'', was pioneered by the famous overlander [[Nathaniel Buchanan]] in 1881, when he drove large mobs of cattle along it. When Buchanan travelled the Murranji Track the Murranji Waterhole was one of the vital sources of water. If it was dry the cattle and horses faced a 110-mile 'dry stage' before reaching the next water. This route was considered the worst stock route of all. In one horrendous trip across this Track in 1905 one man died, all but two stockmen deserted the drover, 800 cattle and 11 horses died.<ref>((cite encyclopedia
  | title = Chisholm, Alec H.
  | encyclopedia = The Australian Encyclopaedia
  | volume = 2
  | pages = 290
  | publisher = Halstead Press
  | location = Sydney
  | year = 1963
  | id = Cattle Droving
  ))
</ref> 
Evidence has been found that five or six persons definitely died around the Murranji Waterhole and about 12 on the whole track, while trying to negotiate it.<ref>[http://www.abc.net.au/rural/nt/content/200806/s2287012.htm ABC Rural - The Murranji Track] Retrieved on 2009-6-10</ref>
[[File:LittleSandyDesert CanningStockRoute.jpg|thumb|200px|Little Sandy Desert as seen from the Canning Stock Route]]

The [[Birdsville Track]] is also a notorious stock route. The 520&nbsp;km Birdsville Track was developed in the 1880s and runs across desert in some seasons, from [[Birdsville, Queensland]] to [[Marree, South Australia|Marree]] just north of the [[Flinders Ranges]] in South Australia. The remote track skirts the [[Simpson Desert]] and the [[Sturt Stony Desert]] and drovers relied on government provided artesian bores to water their stock along the route. On several occasions during the early years there were big losses of stock on this route. In 1901 Jack Clarke left Warenda Station, Queensland with 500 fat bullocks but only had 72 when he reached Marree. Stock is now transported on trucks and the track is mostly used by tourists.

The [[Canning Stock Route]] was regarded as the loneliest and one of the most difficult routes. Crossing the [[Great Sandy Desert]], the [[Little Sandy Desert]] and large portions of the [[Gibson Desert]], it is almost 2,000&nbsp;km long. It is a place of living history - the longest heritage trail in Australia. A series of wells, first dug between March 1908 and April 1910 by a party under the leadership of surveyor [[Alfred Canning]], connect the stock route. These wells are generally situated on or near native water sources ([[Soakage (source of water)|soaks]]).<ref>[http://www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions/yiwarra_kuju/of_mining_and_meat/questionable_methods Questionable methods – Of mining and meat: The story of the Canning Stock Route, National Museum of Australia. Retrieved 27 February 2012]</ref> In the early years of the stock route, several drovers were killed by [[Indigenous Australians|Aboriginal people]] defending their land and water sources.<ref>[http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/canning-stock-route Australian Stories: The Canning Stock Route] ((webarchive | url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160808210536/http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/canning-stock-route | date=8 August 2016 ))</ref>

The [[Tanami Road]] or Tanami Track follows a cattle [[droving]] route northwest from the [[MacDonnell Ranges]] just north of [[Alice Springs, Northern Territory|Alice Springs]] to [[Halls Creek, Western Australia|Halls Creek]].

The Barkly Stock Route in the Northern Territory was also pioneered by Nat Buchanan and known for the epic cattle drives of the past that passed through the area en route to Queensland. Today this is a road known as the Overlander's Way ([[Barkly Highway]]) and is used by great road trains and visitors.<ref>[http://www.smh.com.au/news/Northern-Territory/Newcastle-Waters/2005/02/17/1108500201649.html SMH - Newcastle Waters] Retrieved on 2009-6-10</ref>

The [[Cobb Highway]] is part of a very significant Travelling Stock Routes network that traverses New South Wales. The [[Bradfield Highway, Sydney|Bradfield Highway]], which passes over the [[Sydney Harbour Bridge]] is a designated Travelling Stock Route.<ref>[http://www.wilderness.org.au/articles/nsw-drovers-rally-to-save-historic-travelling The Wilderness Society] ((webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091112032048/http://www.wilderness.org.au/articles/nsw-drovers-rally-to-save-historic-travelling |date=12 November 2009 )) Retrieved on 2009-7-5</ref>

==Current situation==
((More citations needed|date=April 2021))
[[File:Two styles of cattle droving.JPG|thumb|250px|Modern droving on a Travelling Stock Route, [[Walgett, New South Wales]]]]
Although their original transport purpose has been mostly superseded, stock routes also sustain non-pastoral industries, including [[bee keeping]], [[forestry]], [[fossicking]], mineral exploration and [[quarry]]ing.

Travelling stock routes also provide crucial habitat and connectivity for many endangered species and [[ecosystem]]s. Their length and density mean that they provide a comprehensive sample of the landscape and biodiversity of eastern Australia.<ref>Sutherst, B, Szabo, J and Cleland, E (2007) "The stock routes and road network: strengthening the biodiversity links". P. 23 in Olsen, P. The State of Australia's Birds 2007: Birds in a Changing Climate. Supplement to Wingspan 17(4)</ref> Most predate the late Victorian gazetting of [[National park|conservation reserves]], and thus provide substantial protection to highly cleared ecosystems that were targeted for agricultural clearing in the preceding colonial period,<ref>Spooner, P. G. (2005). "On squatters, settlers and early surveyors: historical development of road reserves in southern New South Wales". ''[[Australian Geographer]]'' 36, 55-73</ref> and are therefore under-represented in the national park system (e.g., the flat land west of the [[Great Dividing Range]]). The entire network is publicly owned, and therefore represents the best remaining opportunity for conservationists to protect large amounts of threatened biodiversity. Further, the Travelling Stock Routes provide a serendipitous solution to the problem of biodiversity connectivity in the face of climate change.<ref>Hoegh-Guldberg, O., Hughes, L., McIntyre, S., Lindenmayer, D.B., Parmesan, C., Possingham, H.P. and Thomas, C.D. (2008) "Assisted colonization and rapid climate change. Science" 321:345-346.</ref> As temperature and rainfall patterns begin to change, the stock routes represent a set of corridors that organisms can safely transverse to reach appropriate climatic conditions.

A government review has recommended the Rural Lands Protection Board no longer manage the stock routes and "that travelling stock routes should be ceded back to the Department of Lands unless the local boards can provide a business case for their retention, which means they have to be profitable".<ref>((cite web |title=Drovers meet to save long paddock |url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24249551-26103,00.html |date=27 August 2008 |publisher=The Australian |access-date=29 July 2009))</ref> A group of more than 450 scientists recently petitioned the Premiers of [[New South Wales]] and [[Queensland]], asking them to intervene, to protect both the heritage and environmental values represented by the stock routes (the "Long Paddock Statement").<ref>((Cite web |url=http://www.basq.org.au/stockroutes/Scientists.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=7 January 2014 |archive-date=14 September 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090914033159/http://www.basq.org.au/stockroutes/Scientists.pdf |url-status=dead ))</ref>

The Stock Routes Coalition is a group of organisations who have come together to have the NSW and Queensland Stock Routes declared 'Protected Corridors for Travelling Stock and Biodiversity', managed by the current managers and adequately resourced with supplements from public funds. It is a unique grouping of conservation organisations, scientists and drovers.<ref>[http://stockroutes.info/portal/index.php Stock Routes Coalition] Retrieved on 1 November 2008</ref>

* Applied Environmental Decision Analysis (UQ)
* Birds Australia (BANQ, BAC, BASQ, BANN, BASNA)
* Bird Observation & Conservation Australia (BrisBOCA)
* Birds Queensland
* Chinchilla Field Naturalists Club
* Citizens Wildlife Corridors Armidale
* Droving and Stock Routes Association
* North Burnett Landcare
* National Parks Association of NSW
* National Parks Association of Qld
* [[Nature Conservation Council of NSW]]
* Qld Naturalists Club
* Ravensbourne and District Landcare
* South West NRM Ltd
* Tamworth Birdwatchers
* Toowoomba Field Naturalists Club
* Wildlife Preservation Society of Australia
* Wildlife Preservation Society of Qld
* WWF- Australia
[[File:Oxley Hwy.JPG|thumb|200px|Unfenced road sign, [[Oxley Highway]], NSW]]

In January 2009 Travelling Stock Routes came under the control of the new Livestock Health and Pest Authorities (LHPA) which replaced the Rural Lands Protection Board. The new LHPA has stated "that TSRs to be ceded back to the Department of Lands where they place an unreasonable financial burden on authorities (latter part of 2009)".<ref>LHPA, ''Important information for ratepayers''</ref>

==Other roadside grazing==
Shire councils often permit livestock to graze a designated stretch along a rural road during times of drought.  A fee is paid to the council on a per head of livestock basis and the stock owner is permitted to use the selected strip to the exclusion of others.

In Australia many thousands of kilometres of roads are unfenced and this includes some highways. These roads usually pass through forests or private property.

==See also==
* [[Drought in Australia]]
* [[Drovers' road]]
* [[Barwon Highway]]

==References==
((Reflist))

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110406130444/http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/land/stockroutes/index.html The Queensland Stock Route Network]
* [https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-232204514/view Map of New South Wales Stock Routes, Watering Tanks, and Trucking Stations (1888)]
* [http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/RJ10009.htm Origins of Travelling Stock Routes]

((DEFAULTSORT:Stock Route))
[[Category:Livestock in Australia]]
[[Category:Droving roads]]

Pages transcluded onto the current version of this page (help):

Stock route (edit)
Template:Ambox (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Cite book (view source) (protected)
Template:Cite encyclopedia (view source) (protected)
Template:Cite web (view source) (protected)
Template:Convert (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:DMCA (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Dated maintenance category (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Dated maintenance category (articles) (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:FULLROOTPAGENAME (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Find sources mainspace (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Globalize (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Globalize/name (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Main other (view source) (protected)
Template:More citations needed (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Ns has subpages (view source) (protected)
Template:Reflist (view source) (protected)
Template:Reflist/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Template:Use Australian English (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Use dmy dates (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Webarchive (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Arguments (view source) (protected)
Module:Category handler (view source) (protected)
Module:Category handler/blacklist (view source) (protected)
Module:Category handler/config (view source) (protected)
Module:Category handler/data (view source) (protected)
Module:Category handler/shared (view source) (protected)
Module:Check for unknown parameters (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1 (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/COinS (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Date validation (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Identifiers (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Utilities (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Whitelist (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Module:Convert (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Convert/data (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Convert/text (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Find sources (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Find sources/config (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Find sources/links (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Find sources/templates/Find sources mainspace (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Message box (view source) (protected)
Module:Message box/ambox.css (view source) (protected)
Module:Message box/configuration (view source) (protected)
Module:Namespace detect/config (view source) (protected)
Module:Namespace detect/data (view source) (protected)
Module:Ns has subpages (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Unsubst (view source) (protected)
Module:Webarchive (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Webarchive/data (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Yesno (view source) (protected)

Return to Stock route.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_route"