Queensland Pioneers and their Goats

NOWADAYS we tend to hear only bad news about the menace of feral goats. But from the 1870s to the 1960s it was totally different story. As the pioneers and settlers made their historic treks to the furthermost corners of vast Queens land, they were always accompanied by herds of goats. Goats provided the fresh milk and meat that ensured survival in the harsh interior. As the settlement towns grew in the north and the west, so too did each town's resident herd of goats.

Goats became inextricably linked with the daily rituals of country life. They became much loved family pets and sometimes much hated community pests. They were adventurous, curious, invasive and indomitable. They took over school verandahs and playgrounds. Harnessed to home-made goat carts, they were children's loyal workmates, hauling water and wood for the family. Harnessed to speedy gigs with child jockeys they became the celebrated racing and jumping champions of a whole state.

In this book hundreds of people from every corner of Queens land remember the goats of their childhood with undying love. Through their goats they are in fact telling us the social history of our state. Nowadays goat breeders proudly display their pedigree saanen, angora and kashmiri champions every year at the Ekka.