Tinkers, Swagmen, Rovers or Travellers?

Text published Memories Magazine Issue 92 October / November 2011.
Additional photos added.

     Swaggers who walked the roads in the early days were not usually considered beggars, but travellers searching for work.  However, there were a few who arrived at properties just before sundown to avoid working for their bed and “tucker”. These men were fed and rested then, disappeared. Such itinerants were nicknamed “sundowners”. Some of the very first travellers journeyed in search of gold, others were station hands, looking for new employment, or perhaps tinkers trying to eke out a living while on their journey. Men of all ages walked the road, many of them immigrants or indigenous people.

     Barney Winter travelled in the lower foothills of Canterbury, through the Mackenzie Country and on to North Otago. He took his white performing mice, rats and puppet dolls. Barney carried the props and animals from station to station, where the troop entertained occupants during the evening at a charge of  adults threepence, children a penny.

Barney Winter. Sketch courtesy of Otago Witness 1904. 

    Ned Slatter, ( a well known swagger) was an expert step dancer. For forty years he received top placings at the Caledonian Society Games competitions. Crowds of people gathered each year to enjoy his amusing movements and intricate steps.

Photo of Ned Slatter.

    Many of these swaggers went by the name " Jack ": " Jack the

Bear ", Canterbury Jack, Dublin Jack, Fisty Jack, Spring - heeled

Jack, Russian Jack and Hellfire Jack.   

Rassian Jack,. Photo, courtesy of the Palmerston City Library, New Zealand: A175/307

 
    Each tinker  or swagman concealed his secret as why he roamed the country. Nomads from all clases - some were university educated, others used the skills of their trade to mend wagon wheels or work on more specific tasks. Tinkers were competent tinsmiths and repaired pots and pans, as well as
offering a scissor and knife sharpening service. But almost all could turn their hand to fix tin roofs, fences, barns, chop wood, help in the garden or milk cows. 
    

" Man mending pot; Charles E. Wildbore, who was a tinker, photographer, beekeeper - "Jack - of all trades".
Left: Kathleen, Cntre: Mana, Right: Sylvia. Date unknown.
 Courtesy Palmerston City Library New Zealand. Ref 20111V-Pg35-006046 

    These travelers often wore layers of newspaper or brown paper

greased with fat. This was put under hats, in boots or over chest to keep the cold out. Russian Jack is known to have tramped around the Manawatu and Wairarapa with wads of greasy brown paper stuffed in his ears to block out insects. The men were usually clad in flannel shirts, moleskin trousers and boots speckled with repairs from odd pieces of leather or bits of car tyre. They usually carried a swag or sugar sack with blankets, spare clothing and a towel and, if fortune was smiling, the swagger could count a slice of bread and dripping amongst his meagre collection. A billycan was essential to brew the tea. Many of these folklore characters smoked a pipe and carried an old stick or a cane.

Man with pack at the entrance to the Manawatu Gorge New Zealand. Date 1800s ?.
 Courtesy Alexander Turnbull Library. Ref: 37909 1/2.

    The people of the road could be clannish in nature and, when circumstances brought them together, they would sometimes share a meal . The gatherings were often under a bridge or in an abandoned building. Yarns were rife and coulourful, and some of the gatherings carried small musical instruments such as a harmonica to add music and cheer to the celebration. Over the years, their folklore ballads, songs and tales were recorded to become a fascinating statement of the past. Like long lost kin, a brotherhood developed among these men. News was brought to gatherings from other parts of the country and shared at the homes they visited.  

Photo courtesy of powerhouse - museum collection 2363534490 Australia 

     Over the years, their folklore ballads, songs and tales were recorded and have become a fascinating statement of the past. Like long lost kin, a brotherhood developed among these men. News was brought to gatherings from other parts of the country and shared at the homes they visited.

     

Russian Jack outside improvised accomodation. Photo courtesy of Dominion news paper Friday September 20, 1968
Held at Palmerston City Library New Zealand.

    
    Often said to be like flies in the air; when the snow or storms came , the travellers, swaggers, tinkers or rovers - whatever name you prefer to remember them by - disappeared. Some built their own small shelters out of branches, old pices of tin, sacking or other derelict objects.

Swagger leaning against a hut, possibly at Waipito Bay. c1910
Alexander Turnbull Library

Above, a hollow tree typical of the type Swageman? slept in, Manawatu gorge track, Fagan Collection.

     Huts slept in for the night would generally be left clean, so that a chance return visit would be welcomed. When they stayed at properties overnight, it was seldom to sleep in the main house, as a blanket in a haybarn, shearers' quarters or shed was generally preferred. One swagger was reported to have slept in a bathtub on a back porch. Upon departing, signals were left to inform other travellers if the occupants of a property were generous and worth visiting. A stone, left on a fence post, a letterbox or in the metal at the side of the road, was a bad omen.   

Untitled

Two swagmen received comfortable shakedowns for the night.The following morning Mr  _________ was sent for by the sundowners, whom he found seated at breakfast in his kitchen. “Look, ’ere, sir,” said one of them, pointing to a dish of steaming chops,  “we’re bloomin’ full of mutting; hain’t yer got no ’am and eggs.”

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XXII, 3184,19 October 1894 Page 2.

    When the depression occurred in the 1870s a sixteen bed bunkhouse was available on Waikakahi Estate. Tinkers and swaggers were able to receive an evening meal and breakfast the next day, before they went on to another destination. One year, six hundred travelers were provided for at Tripp of Orari Gorge Station. These roving people continually migrated to more opportune places where seasonal work was plentiful. Shearing season was one particular time for many to congregate near woolsheds.

                                             A swagman walking the roads in Australia

Photo courtesy of the  Melbourne Victoria Immigration Museum Australia.
Reg No MM 046

                     .                                           

James Fagan

Palmerston North

New Zealand

                         A different type of traveller  

A  horse drawn wagon that Peter Kerouse traveled around  on in the Manawatu area. New Zealand. 
 Photo: Taken at the Couch House Museum Feilding, New Zealand.

The above photo shows one side of the wagon, and the side flap that was lifted to reveal Peter Kerouses  salable wares. Photo taken at the Couch House Museum Feilding, New Zealand. 

    The above wagon was pulled by a single horse and is entered from the back through two canvas flaps. Down the center is a  narrow passage where Peter Kerouse slept. Both sides of the wagon has flaps that open to reveal shelves that held goods for sale.

    The wagon was built in wellington in 1900 and was used by Peter Kerouse or ( Kerouz ) until 1957. He traveled the roads of the Manawatu and possible to other near by region of New Zealand.