BUSH SIGNALS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1066, 2 September 1930, Page 14

BUSH SIGNALS

CODES OF AUSTRALIA'S BACKLANDS SOME STRANGE METHODS In the wildnesses of the mountains of Victoria a party of detectives, guided by an old bushman, is searching for several thousand sheep, which have mysteriously disappeared, says a Melbourne correspondent of “The Observer.”

The searchers have already made an unavailing search for weeks. Old Peter, the bushman, impressed on the party to keep a look-out for the Post Office, the “Post Office of Cattlemen and Sheepmen." He told them how to decipher messages, queer ways which the sheepmen and the cattlemen in the mountains of Victoria have figured out to tell their fellow men how things are faring. And this is how Old Peter put it;

After the snow has melted from the ground, the cattle that have been wintered in the lowlands return to the mountains for the summer fodder that grows in abundance. When they have been drafted to their respective feeding grounds, a meeting is held between the cattlemen who are to remain out with the cattle for the remainder of the year at a pre-arranged spot. The meeting places are generally chosen as near to the boundaries of the different leaseholds as possible, and at the junction of a maze of cattle tracks. Each of the riders is allotted a tree in a clear spot, and during the time when these men are out, the trees act as their telegraph stations. After the first station is established, another one is arranged at the other end of the run, until practically the whole of the 400 miles of uninhabited country has its bush telegraph that flashes out a message only understood by the men directly concerned in the workings of the mountains.

Each man has a camp made for him and in the most cases a rough fence surrounds it and acts as a horse field. When a stranger approaches the hut, it appears to be deserted, but the man who knows the country and the habits of the occupier knows the following signs: A piece of string tied around the latch of the door denotes that the man is away and the number of knots coincide with the number of days he will be absent. If a friend uses the hut while he is away the string is cut and tied neatly on the wall nearby. Should a stranger use tho hut the string is generally broken and left lying on the ground. His tracks are picked up at once and he is follewed

until the men in the country are satisfied who he is. A piece of barbed wire around the gate shows that a move has been made to another hut, and an innocent-looking stick points in the direction of the one that is to be occupied. It may be twenty miles away. A stockwhip hanging on the wall means, “I will not be away long,” and the number of coils can be worked out in hours. At the junction of the cattle tracks a small stick across the tracks with a pointed stick across it tells the cattlemen clearly what track

has been taken. It is at the bush telegraph office that most of the messages are left. A piece of twisted wire at the foot of the tree means that the man who has been allotted that tree has left for provisions and the mail. The number of twists in the wire represents the number of days before he will return. A match let into the bark of a tree reads, "Everything all right In my section.” A stone at the butt of each tree means, “Your cattle have broken into my country.” A piece of leather, or in most cases % strip of kangaroo hide, is a danger signal. There are also dozens of other signals known to Old Peter and his kind. On account of the hills, smoke signals are never used in the country.