“Swaggers” And Their Hobbies

Taranaki Daily News, 8 September 1934, Page 15 (Supplement)

“Swaggers” And Their Hobbies

COLLECTION OF POCKET-KNIVES : CHAIN FROM BROOM-HANDLE

A MAN on the track has to do something in order to pass away the time, otherwise the life would get on his nerves! Most “Swaggies,” therefore, have a hobby of some kind, and while some simply indulge in it to pass away the long, weary hours, others make a little pocket money out of their particular pastime (writes a correspondent in an exchange). One man I passed along the road to Dubbo actually collected old pocket-knives! He stopped and searched about old camps and huts in the hope of finding any knife that may have been left behind. He carried these knives in a spare billycan. When I saw him the can was almost full of the most varied collection of knives I have ever seen. They must have taken a long time to collect.

On the same route I passed a man who made pipes and sold them to anyone who cared to buy. He selected bits of wood in the bush, arid as he walked along the road he fashioned the pipes into shape with a pocket-knife, small file and bits of sandpaper. Some of the pipes he made were, indeed, works of art. They were shaped like horses’ heads, women’s legs and various other designs. He had no difficulty in selling all the pipes he could make. It was slow work, though, with that crude kit of tools.

Five years ago I met a man who carried an old broom stick, out of which he was carving an endless chain! The links were aIL cut out of the broom-handle, without any joins in them. It was tedious work, that required a good deal of patience. Time and again he would I get the chain half finished, when a slip of the knife would case him to spilt a link; then the whole thing had to

be thrown away and the job started over again with another broomhandle! I met this old chap a month ago, and he was still working on a broom-handle —though he confessed he hadn’t yet completed the task of using the whole of a broomhandle without breaking the chain. A few years ago many swagmen made fair money plaiting whips and selling them to teamsters, drovers, and coach-drivers. But the motorcar has hit this occupation hard, and a man would find it very difficult to make a living by manufacturing and selling hand-plaited whips.' The Travelling Watchmaker of the past spent most of his time looking in rubbish tips for old clocks and watches, and by taking pieces from various specimens he managed to repair one good clock out of about half a dozen old ones. As well as his swag he carried a big bag full of bits of watches and clocks. These were used for repairing the watches and clock of people in small towns and settlements far away from a' watchmaker.

He was not a tradesman, but still he learnt enough about watches and clocks by pulling them to pieces to fix up most ordinary repairs. Travelling tailors and travelling tinkers were once fairly common, and even to-day they are to be seen in the outback. Still, they consider themselves tradesmen, and their work is hardly ,to be called a hobby. One old prospector carried with him a bag of specimens, taken from, various mines. Each specimen was labelled, and the swagman knew by heart the history of the mine from which each came. It was indeed interesting to listen to him telling the stor.y of the various mines in Australia, and indulging in this rather unusual historical hobby.