Sepia Saturday this week includes the word TRANSPORT for which The Oxford Dictionary says
Take or carry (people or goods) from one place to another by means of a vehicle, aircraft, or ship:
That’s interesting. Does that mean if you were to deliver a parcel by horseback you are not transporting that parcel. It needs to be delivered in conjunction with a vehicle, aircraft or ship.
So I have looked at how my family have used horses for transport with the help of a WAGON.
The first photo is of my grandmother’s uncle, Bullocky Bob, ie Robert Telford (1871-1940) and his bullock wagon. He only had one eye as the result of an accident. You’ll notice his dog trotting along at the back of the wagon. There is no train line to Apollo Bay so everything came in by boat or bullock wagon.
It’s a very large wagon and we can’t see what he is carting as it has a cover over it. He lived at Apollo Bay and until 1930 the Electoral Rolls described him as a grazier. After that he and his wife were storekeepers at Duverney.
The next photo is probably early to mid 1920s on the Fricke dairy farm, Glen Avon, at Apollo Bay in south-western Victoria. The wagon is being used for a family outing, perhaps they are heading into town on market day.
It is not a very clear photo but you can see the back of the house and the pole for holding up the clothes line. From here the track to the road winds around the back of the house and down the small hill. This wagon has the front wheels smaller than the back wheels and I believe this is because the steering is controlled by the front wheels and these smaller wheels give a smaller turning circle. I think the wagon is being driven by the eldest daughter of the house, my Aunt Enid.
The wagon is also used for bringing in the hay. Here it is in the paddock at the front of the house and once again you can get a glimpse of the clothes line with its load of flapping washing.
I think it is my father, Charles Fricke Jr. who is helping with the hay when home for the holidays. This is possibly mid to late 1920s and the smaller head of the other person sitting on the wagon is possibly his younger brother Alan, born 1920.
Later there was to be a quite nice garden at the front of the house with bushes sculpted into shapes.
Another photo was taken in the front paddock that day but this time it is facing away from the house and across the valley, with Charles standing up and someone possibly tossing the hay up from the ground.
I have scans of these events thanks to kind relatives.
Other suggestions from this week’s Sepia Saturday image include coach rides, old transport, roof-racks, luggage, waiting, animated discussion, clowning, and cab drivers, so there will be plenty of variety waiting in the links on —–
Bound for Australia 
I’m glad you explained the different size wheels although had you not, I probably would not have noticed them at all. Are those oxen pulling the bullock wagon or are they being driven somewhere?
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The bullock team is pulling the wagon. They were calmer, and cheaper to buy and use than horses.
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I love to see old photographs of rural occupations now long gone. There’s something romantically nostalgic about gathering the hay, but we know that in reality it was very hard work
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Whatever was in the wagon in the first photo must have been very heavy – owing to the number of oxen needed to pull it. It also needed a special enlarged ‘box’ to transport it in. You’ll likely never know what it was, but I’ll bet you wonder whenever you see the picture. 🙂
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The front wheels of stagecoaches are smaller too, but I didn’t know the reason.
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The ever-present washing line! shame the photographs have deteriorated but at least now you can preserve them digitally.
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Loading wagons by means of a pitchfork took me back to farm work during summer holidays from school – no horses then however just battered Fordson tractor and trailer.
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I had no idea about the wheels either. It’s surprising in a way how long horses and wagons were used and isn’t it great to have images of their day-to-day lives.
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It’s taken me this many Sepia Saturday posts before I remembered that I used to love playing with a beautiful little horse (white) and wagon as a child. The wagon was made of green metal with red spokes on the wheel as I remember. I wonder if I’ve still got it somewhere.
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One of my photos features loose grass as well. How on earth did they keep the stack in shape? There’s so much I don’t know.
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Oh those loads always appear so heavy for the horses. They sure were hard workers! So happy that isn’t so much the case for them any more!
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Great wagon pictures linked with your own family history,
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Wagons were once such a normal vehicle, people of the past probably would not think much about them. But horses would have been worth a remark on their merits.
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Hi, I love the old photos, the last one reminds me of a snap of my father at about the same age – he too is bringing in the hay.
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