Page 21 - eMuse Vol.9 No.11

was accosting a young girl. Putting inactive on-lookers to
shame, Agnes took her bullock whip and thrashed him sober.
In her later years, Agnes was described as a “big rough
looking woman, eccentrically dressed in short skirts, long
Ladies leather leggings, thick blucher boots, and a loose jumper
adorned by a bright neckerchief”. Her style of clothing clearly
suited her working life. It protected her on many occasions
of the including a time when she was caught in a bushfire. Ac-
cording to The Herald she had “strong, heavy-set, almost
Road masculine features, her clear, intense eyes being her most
marked attribute”.

Agnes had a favoured accessory. She smoked an old,
black, plug pipe. And, of course, one should mention the pair
of pistols in her belt. No doubt they had potential to defuse
Agnes Buntine situations should the need arise.
Pastoralist,
bullocky and When hugh died, Agnes continued to run her business
matriarch interests. On 17 February 1873, she remarried to Michael
Dawe Hallett, an English farmer who was aged 29 at the time
of their marriage. From this time until her death, she lived at
Flynns Creek and farmed there with her new husband.
Many of her children and stepchildren became settlers in
the Gippsland district. Her grandson, William Buntine was
know as “Talone Ordell”, actor and writer.
Bullockies and bushrangers were a tough breed of men
ꟷthey say. But that is not always true because some of them She died on 29 February 1896 at the age of seventy-four.
were not men. They were women. When it comes to nation Wally
building, most of us are guilty of overlooking the many invalu-
able contributions made by women. Republished with additions from eMuse July 2013.
Eighteen year old Scottish immigrant, Agnes Davidson mar-
ried widower Hugh Buntine in the rites of the Presbyterian faith
in 1840. They settled in Gippsland. Agnes became instant
step-mother to Hugh’s five children. The first of Agnes’s own
children is said to be the first white child born Gippsland. She
and Hugh had six children together.
The Buntine family tried their hand at several businesses
including a cattle station, a dairy farm and a small inn. Agnes
acquired a bullock team to transport stores to their Inn and the
surrounding district.
The Victorian gold rush provided Agnes with plenty of op-
portunities for her bullock team. When Hugh fell ill and she
became family bread winner as well as mother to eleven kids. Skewiff Corner
Skewiff Corner
Her success in the business often hinged on her willing-
ness to accept jobs men wouldn’t do and her competitive
spirit placed her first on the scene of many a new run. She
was the first person to transport supplies to Walhalla, Victoria
when gold was discovered there.
Agnes’s do-what-ever-it-takes approach even saw her
slaughter bullocks to provide meat for hungry miners. Yes,
she did the slaughtering and butchering herself.
Agnes’ expertise as a bullock driver was unparalleled. In
one newspaper article by a fellow bullocky after her death,
he describes a trip where a driver of a team was accidentally
shot. Mother Buntine bandaged the wound, lifted the injured
man up on a horse and sent him off to find a doctor. Then she
drove the two bullock teams to their required destination at My Friend Mr Lawson.
once. This was a feat that was virtually unheard of.
Well known and respected, “Mother Buntine” knew how to There’s a spot in my Garden - a TREE,
protect herself and other women in wild frontier regions. In- Where you’ll find me - The place where I’ll be,
solent men got their ears boxed and necks twisted. She was I’ll be reading aloud, as if to a crowd,
often known to put men to shame. On one occasion a drunk But there’s no-one - Just Henry and Me.

November 2020 eMuse 21