The Long Paddock

Pioneer Australian grazier Earnest J. Glenn drove his Border Leicester sheep along a NSW stock route known as The Long Paddock. The trail stretches from the southern border country of the Murray River more than 600km along the Cobb Highway to Wilcannia. Graeme Sedgwick took his new SWM Superdual for a first-hand look at Glenn’s legacy.

- Graeme Sedgwick

To orient myself with the country of Glenn’s life and begin the journey of discovery I visited his final place of rest under the gums at Mathoura’s Pioneer Cemetery.

Mathoura is a small township on the Cobb Highway, site of one of the country’s largest redgum forests, home to congregations of cockatiel, and marked by Yellow and Eastern Rosellas chattering and flying about. Glenn’s resting place is next to another belonging to a fellow called ‘Bewglass’, who they say passed away without family. Such was Glenn’s care for others that before his own passing he decided he’d lay Bewglass to rest alongside so he’d have eternal companionship.

The country’s conditions, whether stinking-hot, saturated or reflective of a pallet of seasonal colourations, was peaceful, especially if a rider paused to absorb the panoramic landscapes.

The sprawling geography, paddocks and station homesteads in southern-central New South Wales are awe-inspiring no matter how you choose to slice or dice the offerings. They’re complemented by a diversity of human characters, story-telling and attitudes that make some urban dwellers truly underwhelming by comparison.

Air time

Inspired, I headed west from Mathoura in search of Yarree, today a shadow of its former big-wool-clip and sheep-stud days under Glenn’s leadership. As the kilometres passed people raised their hands as if to say “G’day,” as they went about their business across the shallow undulations of the landscape. It was a relaxing ride experience over what, at first, seemed isolated expanses of bitumen mixed with a never-ending, almost grid-like, supply of unsealed choices. But sometimes the unexpected does throw a spanner in the works, and on this occasion my ‘unexpected’ presented as a complete loss of rear-tyre pressure.