A jackaroo or jackeroo is a young man (feminine equivalent jillaroo or jilleroo) working on a
sheep or cattle station to gain practical experience in the skills needed to become an owner, overseer, manager, etc. The word originated in
Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
, Australia, in the 19th century and is still in use in Australia and New Zealand in the 21st century. ''
Nutall Encyclopedia'' (1909, 1920) says "name given in Australia to a greenhorn from England inexperience with bush life".
Etymology
Jackaroo
The word ''jackaroo'', also formerly spelled ''jackeroo'', has been used in Australia since at least the mid 19th century and passed into common usage in New Zealand. Its use in both countries continues into the 21st century. The origin of the word is unknown, but its first documented use was in Queensland. Several possibilities have been suggested:
*Another suggestion (1895) was for an origin from an Aboriginal word for a
pied currawong, a garrulous bird, which the strange-sounding language of the white settlers reminded them of. Meston explained his position in a newspaper in 1919.
*By 1906, immigrants into Australia were often called Johnny Raws. From that it became Jacky Raw.
*By 1925, it was said that the term jackeroo originated from the fact that "one of the earliest
..was named 'Jack Carew'."
*A '
Jack of all Trades
"Jack of all trades, master of none" is a figure of speech used in reference to a person who has dabbled in many skills, rather than gaining expertise by focusing on only one.
The original version, "a jack of all trades", is often used as a com ...
in Australia' (
Jack +
kangaroo
Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...
), has popular support. The ''
Brisbane Courier
''The Courier-Mail'' is an Australian newspaper published in Brisbane. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner norther ...
'' newspaper of
Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
, on 5 July 1929, page 16, stated in answer to a question from a reader 'POMMY' of
Toowong
Toowong ( ) is a riverside Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Toowong had a population of 12,556 people with a median weekly household income of $1,927.
Geography
Toowong is ...
:
*The ''Encyclopaedia of Australia'' stated in 1968 that it is "most probably a coined Australian-sounding word based on a
erson'Jacky Raw'" Jackaroos (Jacky + Raw) were often young men from Britain or from city backgrounds in Australia, which would explain the
pejorative
A pejorative word, phrase, slur, or derogatory term is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hosti ...
use of 'raw' in the sense of 'inexperienced'.
*Arguably the most authoritative voice in 2010 was that of the Australian National Dictionary Centre of the Research School of the Humanities at the
Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...
, which provides for
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
for their Australian dictionaries. They have explained their reasons for making no final judgment, and raise the possibility that 'jackeroo' is derived from an aboriginal word for 'stranger' rather than for a 'pied crow shrike'.
* The spellings ''jackaroo'' and ''jackeroo'' were both used from about 1880 to at least 1981. In 2010, the more commonly used spelling was 'jackaroo'. However, between the years 1970 and 1981, a sample of Australian newspapers referred to 'jackeroo' 18 times and 'jackaroo' 29 times.
Jillaroo
The word ''jillaroo'' for a female landworker was coined in the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and persisted into the 21st century. During the war, it was necessary for women to take on all the occupations followed traditionally only by men.
''Jack and Jill'' is a widely known
nursery rhyme
A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and other European countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes.
Fr ...
, and suggests the derivation of Jillaroo from Jackaroo.
History
19th century
An early reference to jackaroos can be found in ''Tibb's popular song book'', published between 1800 and 1899. This book begins by describing itself as: "Containing the latest hits on Busy in town, Australia's carsman, The Chinese and federation, Squatters' defeat, Australia's happy land, The Jackaroo, &c., &c.,"
In 1867, ''
Temple Bar'' magazine featured an essay, "Reminiscences of Bush Life in Queensland," in which the anonymous author calls himself a "Jackaroo" due to his inexperience (the story takes place in 1863).
In 1878, 'Ironbark' stated "Young gentlemen getting their 'colonial experience' in the bush are called 'jackeroos' by the
station-hands. The term is seldom heard except in the remote 'back-blocks' of the interior."
Colonial experience is a term, commonly used in the 19th and early 20th centuries for the acquisition of skills and experience in Australia by young English gentlemen, in the expectation of preferential treatment back in England when applying for a position with possibility of advancement, such as a clerk in a large mercantile establishment. The jackaroo's employment may have been made by agreement between his father and the wealthy squatter through some connection, with the son working for a year in a variety of roles for his board and lodging. This was often seen as a great advantage to the squatter, who gained an intelligent and subservient worker at minimal expense.
Early 20th century
In 1933, A. J. Cotton stated that "today, the Arbitration Court (
Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration
The Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration was an Australian court that operated from 1904 to 1956 with jurisdiction to hear and arbitrate interstate industrial disputes, and to make awards. It also had the judicial functions of i ...
)
[Elford, Ross G. (12 December 2002)]
Commonwealth Court of Conciliation & Arbitration (1904–1956)
. Australian Trade Union Archives
Australian Trade Union Archives is an online resource for archived and present-day material related to industrial organisations in Australia.
It went online in 2002.
It is a joint project of the Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre ...
. Retrieved 30 May 2011. says that a jackeroo must be paid 25/-
hillingsper week. If an ordinary jackeroo paid the station 25
shillings
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence ...
per week for the first twelve months, he would not compensate them for the damage he does (just through want of experience), no matter how willing he may be. It just happens that way, and all the Arbitration Courts, the curse of Australia, won't alter it."
:Cotton was a
self-made man
A self-made man is a person whose success is of their own making.
Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, has been described as the greatest exemplar of the self-made man. Inspired by Franklin's autobiography, Fr ...
and landowner (at Hidden Vale), who had left home at 14 to become a seaman. Later he became a member of the Queensland Club and included a thank you letter from the
Governor of Queensland
The governor of Queensland is the representative of the monarch, currently King Charles III, in the state of Queensland. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia, governor-general at the national level, the governor Governors of ...
,
John Goodwin, in the introduction to his own autobiography
Bill Harney states that there was no division of rank in the outlying camps, "all ate around the same fire and slept in the open. But at the
head-station a change came over all this. The
social strata
Social stratification refers to a society's categorization of its people into groups based on socioeconomic factors like wealth, income, race, education, ethnicity, gender, occupation, social status, or derived power (social and political). It ...
of station life, reading from top to bottom, was bosses, jackaroos, men and blacks. This was a carry-over from the early days, when a rigid caste system ruled the land."
This was most clearly evident in the segregated eating arrangements, "The boss and the jackaroos ate meals in the 'big' or 'government' house.
..The men – that is, the stockmen, teamsters, blacksmiths, etc. – ate their
tucker
Tucker may refer to:
Places United States
* Tucker, Arkansas
* Tucker, Georgia
* Tucker, Mississippi
* Tucker, Missouri
* Tucker, Utah, ghost town
* Tucker County, West Virginia
Outer space
* Tucker (crater), a small lunar impact crater in ...
in the kitchen and slept in the huts, while the
Aborigines were given a hand-out from the door of the kitchen and ate it on the woodheap
irewood"
"And strangely enough, this division of
caste
A caste is a Essentialism, fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (en ...
had caste bells which called us to our meals – a tinkling bell for government house, a horse bell for the kitchen men, and a
triangle
A triangle is a polygon with three corners and three sides, one of the basic shapes in geometry. The corners, also called ''vertices'', are zero-dimensional points while the sides connecting them, also called ''edges'', are one-dimension ...
for the blacks on the wood-heaps." ... "In keeping with this system, the bush towns maintained a social tradition of coffee rooms for the
gentry
Gentry (from Old French , from ) are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. ''Gentry'', in its widest connotation, refers to people of good social position connected to Landed property, landed es ...
and dining rooms for the workers."
By 1936 Vigars said "A jackeroo may be called upon to do all manner of work on a station, such as clerical work, boundary riding,
mustering
Muster may refer to:
Military terminology
* Muster (military), a process or event for the accounting for members in a military unit
* Muster list, list of the functions for team members
* A mustering, in military terminology, is a specialised ...
sheep and cattle, fencing
epairing fences and generally any work there may be about the place, so that he not only needs a fair education, but intelligence and adaptability". Vigars continues, "A jackeroo is a title signifying a youth under training for the
pastoral
The pastoral genre of literature, art, or music depicts an idealised form of the shepherd's lifestyle – herding livestock around open areas of land according to the seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. The target au ...
profession, and corresponding to the
midshipman
A midshipman is an officer of the lowest Military rank#Subordinate/student officer, rank in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Royal Cana ...
on a
warship
A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is used for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the navy branch of the armed forces of a nation, though they have also been operated by individuals, cooperatives and corporations. As well as b ...
– an
apprentice
Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in ...
in the
Mercantile Marine Service – or in a
commercial house – an
articled clerk
Articled clerk is a title used in Commonwealth countries for one who is studying to be an accountant or a lawyer. In doing so, they are put under the supervision of someone already in the profession, now usually for two years, but previously three ...
in a
solicitor's office, and so on."
Late 20th century
The traditional method for training young men for practical occupations had been the
apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...
, and this began to be replaced by programs of formal schooling. The jackaroo, as a form of apprenticeship, followed the trend.
Changes in Australian agricultural society
975
Year 975 ( CMLXXV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* Arab–Byzantine War: Emperor John I raids Mesopotamia and invades Syria, using the Byzantine base at Antioch to pres ...
– Michael Thornton wrote a small book hoping to contribute "to the memories of what might well become a dying avenue of Australian tradition".
Dissatisfaction with the existing practices began to be expressed:
978– "Jackaroos are, or were, sweated labour. The legend is that they are social equals with the station owners, and are virtually treated as belonging to the family. Because of this, they receive only about half the pay of a station hand, and are liable for duty at any time."
Most jillaroos returned to the cities after the
1939–45 War ended. But during the '70s, as a consequence of
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
thinking, a new source of jillaroos began to appear. Susan Cottam, an English woman, described her experiences in Western Queensland from 3 March 1966 to 3 March 1968, in the form of a journal.
21st century
Dubbo
Dubbo (; ) is a city in the Orana (New South Wales), Orana Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre in the Orana region, with a population of 43,516 at June 2021.
The city is located at the intersection of the ...
and
Kimberley
Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to:
Places and historical events
Australia
Queensland
* Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas
South Australia
* County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia
Ta ...
Technical and further education
Technical and further education or simply TAFE () is the common name in Australia for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational courses. Colloquially also known ...
(TAFE) centres provide a certificate course of practical experiences for people who want to work as jackaroos or jillaroos on rural properties. The course covers practical aspects of farm work at an introductory level.
See also
*
Cowboy
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the ''vaquero'' ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackaroo
Australian English
Livestock in Australia
Animal husbandry occupations