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Greymouth Evening Star, 4 February 1939, Page 8

Chain stores, mail order purchasing, and the advent of the motor, have killed the hawking trade in the Australian bush (says the Melbourne “Age”). During the last 15 years, the trade has been confined entirely to a few struggling Afghans, who, with horse and covered wagon, have eked out an existence travelling the back lanes and distant stations. But even these can no longer carry on. Headed by the three well-known Sing brothers, with their headquarters at Natya, seven Afghan hawkers were to sail as deck passengers on the British-India steamer. Itinda. for Bay of Bengal ports to return home, mostly after an absence of more than 30 years. Moreover, they were to be joined in Sydney by six more of their countrymen from the Broken Hill district, with their goods and chattels,, who are also on the way home to their native land. Thus the days when the picturesque covered wagon pulled up at the horseyard and its turbaned owner charmed the homestead folk as he displayed his colourful cloths on the nearby rails, are already, like so many other phases of Australian bush life, a part of a bygone era.