Tom Rawlinson

[Corowa]

Name: Tom Rawlinson
Gender: Male
Age: 34 years

Appearance: Tom Rawlinson is rough and weathered as some of the country he rides through. His hands are calloused from work, and his legs are bowed from long hours in the saddle. He is a man used to hard work, and is physically quite strong, able to brand and move one-hundred head of cattle, and still ride the bucks out of a recalcitrant brumby.

Tom’s broad shoulders and strong upper arms make him look tough as ironbark. He sometimes spends up to twelve hours in the saddle, and his skin is brown and lined as jerky. He walks with a sort of stiff grace, having had his leg crushed when a sour old plug bucked up against the stockyard fence. He is clean-shaven, with light brown hair and a steely gaze.

He wears the usual stockman’s attire of moleskins, blundstones and akubra. Since as a hired cattleman he spends hours mustering, his clothes are often dusty, stained and full of holes.

Personality: Tom is a man of few words. He doesn’t have many friends amongst the stockmen, but is always there to lend a hand to a cobber in need. He is a hard man to impress, and he doesn’t care much for them pompous folk that think they’re stockmen. Most are greeted with a harsh word or a curt nod, and his patience with the other stockmen is often short.

Tom prefers his own company, and is often seen riding out alone with just his dog and stockhorse. He is a hard and precise worker, and takes his responsibilities as a hired cattleman, very seriously. Tom has a dry sense of humour, and can be somewhat racist. But he isn’t a coward, and has been known to jump in with some of the meanest bulls this side of the mountains, and to shoot the head clean off a brown snake.

Most of the other hired cattlemen wouldn’t call him their mate, but his work ethic and sheer ballsiness have earned him their grudging respect.

History: I’m going to work on this

Extra Comments: Tom is Clint Eastwood from the movie ‘Hang em High’



Hut Stuff
Hut to Join: Cascades Creek Hut
Occupation: Cattleman



Animal Stuff
Name: Jack
Gender: Gelding
Age: 7 years old
Species: Horse
Breed: Australian Stock Horse

Appearance: Jack is much better bred than Bill, with well-rounded hindquarters, a broad chest and sloping shoulder. He stands at around 15.2HH, and is a bay with a wide blaze. He is a good, solid jumper, and is really able to sit back on his haunches and work on cutting cattle from the main mob. He does need to be shod, because his hooves have not hardened up enough to go over such rough country. But his conformation makes him a comfortable ride, and he has the speed and stamina needed for a mustering horse.

Personality: Jack is an honest and forgiving horse. He is only young, but has had a thorough breaking and training by Tom. While he is not as quiet a horse as Bill, he still has learned the basics of what makes a good horse, and even if he is more interested in the bush brumbies than he should be, he would never leave the safety of the stockyard. He is very fond of Bill, and will follow the older horse around, snatching mouthfuls of his chaff and generally being a pest until he gets a hard nip and told to go off and eat some snowgrass somewhere else.

Extra Comments: Was bred down at Taparoo, on a homestead by the Snowy River.




Animal Stuff
Name: Bill
Gender: Gelding
Age: 12 years old
Species: Horse
Breed: Australian Stock Horse

Appearance: Bill is lean and narrow as a Thoroughbred. He stands at 15HH and with his plain head, ewe-neck and windgalls, is more like a brumby than a stockhorse. Even so, he is tough, with strong, clean joints, deep chest and short back. Bill has never been lame in his life, not even over some of the roughest country this side of the mountains. He is light bay, and the only markings are a stripe and some patches of white hairs on his shoulder.

Personality: Bill is quiet and dependable. He has been used as Tom’s pack horse for years, and knows the High Country as well as any brumby. He is a plodder, and Tom sometimes uses him when he’s got a colt or two in for training. Bill is equally patient whether he has to stand ground-tied for two hours, or have a noisy calf shoved up on his back. While placid, he will go anywhere and do anything that Tom asks of him, and has been through some of the roughest country and down some of the steepest tracks in the High Country.

Extra Comments: Only ever used as a pack horse



Animal Stuff
Name: Banjo
Gender: Male
Age: 2 years old
Species: Dog
Breed: Kelpie

Appearance: Banjo is a black and tan kelpie. He was the runt of the litter and would have been shot if Tom hadn’t taken him. He is now growing like a weed, and even for all the curse words and boots thrown at him, has a tail that never seems to stop wagging.

Personality: Banjo is a stupid dog. He is still only a pup, and is often so excitable Tom will have to strap his front paw into his collar to burn off some of his energy and get him to think. He spends most of his time rolling in cow poo, eating Tom’s lunch and chasing the cattle round in circles. Even so, when he listens he is a good working dog, and is nippy and quick enough to take on some of the most ornery cattle.

Extra Comments: Sometimes goes by ‘Git behind you mangy mongrel!’