Some designs are more than clothing. They carry a story.
This design was created in honour of our old Aboriginal stockmen and stockwomen—people like my grandparents on my mum's side, my father, and his two brothers. They were among the many Aboriginal men and women who helped build Australia's cattle industry, often under some of the toughest conditions imaginable.
Long before modern machinery and sealed highways, they rode horses across vast stations, broke in cattle, repaired fences, camped under the stars and worked from sunrise until sunset. Their knowledge of Country, horsemanship and resilience became the backbone of the northern pastoral industry.
Yet for many, that hard work was never fairly rewarded.
For decades, Aboriginal workers across Queensland and much of northern Australia were paid little or nothing at all. Many were forced to work simply for rations—flour, tea, sugar, tobacco and basic supplies—instead of proper wages. Others had their wages controlled or withheld by government authorities under laws that denied them control over their own earnings. (National Museum of Australia)
The injustice became known as the Stolen Wages.
Queensland established a reparations scheme in the 2000s, but many families believed it did not fully recognise what had been taken. In 2019, after a class action led by Hans Pearson, the Queensland Government agreed to a $190 million settlement for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people whose wages had been withheld between 1939 and 1972. Payments to eligible claimants and their families followed in the years after the settlement was approved. (ABC News)
No amount of money can replace a lifetime of hard work, missed opportunities or the dignity that was taken from so many.
When I look at this longhorn design, I don't just see a skull.
I see strength.
I see resilience.
I see the generations before us who refused to give up, despite the hardships they endured. I think about my grandparents, my father and my uncles, and the pride they carried as Aboriginal people working on Country.
This design is my way of acknowledging them—and every Aboriginal stockman and stockwoman whose story deserves to be remembered.
It is built from history.
Built from pride.
Built from Country.
May we never forget the people who helped build this nation, often without receiving the recognition or the wages they deserved.
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