A saddlemaker is more than a tradesman: he is an artist.’
These words, attributed to saddler Charles Grant Halliday in 1939, are an appropriate opening to Wild Ride: The story of the Australian stock saddle.
The saddles featured in this fascinating book, mostly from the collection of businessman Michael Drapac, are, in their own way, works of art; proudly utilitarian on the one hand and yet objects of great beauty on the other. They are the material memories of an Australian way of life that has largely passed and deserves to be remembered.
Wild Ride features the saddlers, the men and women who crafted these objects and those who used them; the bushrangers and horse breakers, soldiers and explorers, stockmen and squatters. Profusely illustrated throughout with paintings, drawings, photographs and ephemera, the book is beautifully produced. It has the look and feel of a much larger coffee table book in a compact size, that does nothing to diminish the presentation.
The book is divided into three parts: Part 1: The Colonial Years; Part 2: The Big Station Years; and Part 3: The Saddles of The Drapac Collection. It could be read cover to cover but there is something to be said for ‘dipping in’ as no matter the page there is some fascinating historical titbit to be gleaned. For example, despite the combined impacts of the 20th century’s urban drift, increasing mechanisation on the land and, later, an influx of mass-produced imports, I was surprised to learn that the Grace Bros department store in Sydney’s Broadway had an in-store saddlery service that survived until the late 1950s.
Then there are the stories of the saddlers themselves: the legendary James Patrick (J.P.) Talty who started making saddles in Sydney in the 1890s was also an avid collector of Ancient Greek manuscripts and rare books; the Holden family from South Australia, who went from making saddles to manufacturing upholstery and carriages and eventually to making the Holden motor car in 1948; and, of course, the story of George Woolnough, immortalised in the song ‘Tenterfield Saddler’ by his grandson, Peter Richard Woolnough, better known as the entertainer Peter Allen.
Inspirational stories abound, including that of Dave Rogan of Casino NSW. Left paraplegic after a buckjumping accident in 1982 he continued, with his wife Kym’s help, to make saddles and is ‘considered one of the best decorative toolers in the trade’.
This exquisite book is far more than a homage to the humble stock saddle, it is an exceptionally well written and beautifully illustrated record of the artefacts and the industry. The final pictorial section, featuring the saddles of the Drapac Collection and mini-bios of the saddlers who made them is a gem and there’s a comprehensive glossary of terms as well.
As Michael Drapac says in his introduction, ‘Every saddle has a story.’ And what a story it is.
Reviewed by Jack Francis
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Fiona Carruthers is the author of The Horse in Australia. As a journalist, she has worked for News Limited, the ABC and most recently as senior feature writer on the Australian Financial Review magazine.
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