"SALTBUSH BILL"

Colonist, Volume L, Issue 12157, 4 February 1908, Page 2

"SALTBUSH BILL"

. '-Saltbush Bill," who states his Sunday name is William Mills, was born m Gippsland (Victoria), is sixteen stone, tall, broad, deep-chested, tanned, and is a distinguished personage in his red shirt .and top boots, especially when seen with his great stock-whip coil on hia forei arm like a sleeping boa constrictor. !Ho learnt to ride, he says, "when a litUii Ukldv by riding steers.' 1 Of course ton steers did not take kindly to the game, and bucked and hounded like indiarubber things. Aft?r a few tumbles Bill and his mates became prolicient, and they stuck their knees into the sides of the beasts. arH • nly got off when they wanted ti>. Ao children they made stock-whips, plaiting the hide themselves, and they eventually' hecanio so proficient, in the use of the whip that the wildest and maddest mob began to have a regard for them. "A stock-whip, 11 says Bill, "is to cattle what a liberal education is to a man. and to handle cattle sucessfully you must have a stock-wbip, and know how to use it" Bill has passed through some thrilling experiences while driving cattle for weeks through the Never-Never. He says the blacks in North Queensland will spear you with equal impartiality as they do cattle, and a watch" must always be on duty when camping for the night. Bill is a true lover- of nature, and is very fond of walking, particularly in the mornings., when he loves a ramble over the hills. He once had a severe sunstroke. His mates got some leeches from a water-hole, and stuck them on his neck and the back of nis head. Bill declares the blood the leecbeg drew out of him was the color oi Ink; He got' ail right again". ' Bill hasVn aver been'a drinker, and ho speaks with compas sion of the victims of the drink crave he has seen. He baa seea a sheerer arrive with .£IOO and two pack horses, and in a week that shearer has departed wir,h only the clotbe3 he stood in. and a black eye. Rill used to drive for the late Mr Tyson, the cattle king. One joke Mr Tyson used to enjoy. He carried a rum bottle, duly labelled. When a swagsmun or busbie was met, the bottle was produced, and an invitation to. take a nip was accepted with alacrity. "Then that millionaire's features would relax into something resembling a grin, when the disgusted recipient spet out a quantity of cold tea, accompanied frequently with warm language. The biggest stock-whip Bill has e?er cracked was 52 feet long and thick in proportion. While! others used both bands, 'Bill cracked the monster with one hand. Bill intends to visit England and America/ aod then return to, cattle driving "in 7 Australia, which is a life with many charms for him.