Cattle
Drover Jack Hodgson
courtesy of Shirley Bootten
Jack Hodgson, the
no-legged cattle drover of the 1920s may be long dead but his memory
refuses to go away.
Jack was a handicapped
drover on South Island, New Zealand, who used to drive cattle to the
Burnside sale yards every week, but "handicapped" may not
be the right word. Jack was born legless so he never walked. He used
his horse to work and get to town. He had to be helped up but he would
dismount unaided by sliding down the horse's leg.
Jack lived a full
and active life. When he died in the 1950s he left six or seven children
and numerous grandchildren. He lived at Sawyer's Bay, and was, as one
neighbour put it, "a grand man to live next door to". He got
on with life and made the best of it, never complaining about his condition.
Once it seems,
he was called to court for some alleged minor offence. As usual, he
rode his white horse into town and up to the court building, whereupon
he used a stock whip to knock on the court door. When the court staff
saw him the charge was dropped. Jack always used his whip in that fashion
to summon help at shops and the like.
Once in the 1930s
when two cattle beasts broke loose from the Burnside works, a call went
out for Jack Hodgson to retrieve the second steer but someone claimed
that Jack had given up the droving game. Don't worry, someone else said,
his daughter's just as good. She successfully drove the errant beast
all the way up and over the hill, through Kaikorai Valley and back to
Burnside.
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