Speewah
Encyclopedia
The Speewah is a mythical Australian station
that is the subject of many 'tall tales
' told by Australian bushmen
. The stories of the Speewah are Australian folktales of unwritten literature of men who never had the opportunity to read books and who became tellers of tales instead. The Speewah is synonymous with hyperbole
as many of the tales about the place are used to enhance the storytellers’ masculinity by relating events of extreme hardship and overcoming the dangers of the Australian wilderness.
Typically men talk of the Speewah when they are faced with hard labour as a means of making their jobs mentally easier, though it can also be seen as a way of legitimising their bragging.
Speech of this sort is used to make light of the situation or to re-affirm the speakers' masculinity or bush skills to the detriment of others.
to the Otways, from Brisbane
to Broome
— anywhere in Australia. Its location is kept ambiguous and when questioned people from different regions of Australia will give a different answer. 'The men from the Darling Ranges said it was back o' Bourke and the men of Bourke said it was out West and the men of the West pointed to Queensland
and in Queensland they told you the Speewah was in the Kimberleys.'
At any rate the territory itself is supposedly very large. When one wanted to close the gate to the station he had to take a week's rations with him, and a jackeroo who was sent to bring the cows in from the horse paddock was said to be gone for six months, not due to incompetence, for there are no incompetent workers on the Speewah, but simply due to the sheer size of the Speewah. When the cook was frying up bacon and eggs for the men, he needed a motorbike to get around the frying pan. The dust storms were so thick that the rabbits dug warrens in them. The boundary riders had to make sure that their watches were changed for each separate time zone.
, Western Australia
that was settled at the beginning of the 20th century was named after the mythical land of the Speewah. This property still appears on maps as 'The Speewah' and has caused much debate from the storytelling community as to whether or not this is the original Speewah of legend or whether (which is more likely) it is merely named after the legend in homage
. This property is listed by the Australian Government as being 16°26′S 127°57′E. There is also a "Speewa" on the border of Victoria
and New South Wales
near 35°13′S 143°30′E with a ferry across
the Murray River
.
Speewah is also a real place in Far North Queensland
. It is about 10 kilometres west of Cairns
- a few kilometres south of the tourist town of Kuranda
. It could be described as a bushland residential area.
. A sort of Aussie
Paul Bunyan
, he is almost ubiqitious with the equally fantastic Speewah; there are Speewah tales without Crooked Mick, but there are no Crooked Mick tales not set in the Speewah.
Crooked Mick, like his American Wild West counterparts
, is a giant of a man and skilled in many trades. Hard-working, hard-playing, Made Of Iron and with an appetite to match his size, Crooked Mick is regarded as the quintessential bushman
. Nothing was beyond his capabilities; he could lift huge weights, shear massive amounts of sheep in no time flat, cook pies so light that a gust of wind would carry them, kick crocodiles to the moon, move mountains, and generally do anything that everyone else could do, but 100 times better than anyone else could do.
The reason behind the "Crooked" in his name, while always a physical feature, varied from story to story. Some described him as having one eye higher than the other. Some said it was because his nose was all twisted
due to having been bitten by a crocodile that tried to yank it off and then gave up. Others proclaimed it was because his habit of wolfing down two whole sheep for every meal and tearing their skins off with his teeth left his teeth twisted and gnarled. Most commonly, it's because he walks crooked; sometimes it's just a limp
from being ringbarked when he was a teenager, more often it's because one hot day he stuck one leg into a trough to cool it off and then took it out to place the other one in, but it buckled under his weight when he tried to stand on it alone, leaving him with a bent leg for the rest of his life.
Unlike many of the Wild West legends he resembled, Crooked Mick was said to have died, but again the stories vary. A fairly common story has the teller describe how they heard several others give their explanations for Crooked Mick's death (like a duststorm causing him to throttle himself with his own giant beard), only to then hear the real truth — like how Crooked Mick became The Man In The Moon
when he built his own pogo stick
and bounced all the way from earth to the moon.
Station (Australian agriculture)
Station is the term for a large Australian landholding used for livestock production. It corresponds to the North American term ranch or South American estancia...
that is the subject of many 'tall tales
Tall Tales
Tall Tales may refer to:* Tall Tales , 2004* Tall Tales , by American band The Hot Club of Cowtown* "Tall Tales" , an episode of the television series Supernatural-See also:...
' told by Australian bushmen
Swagman
A swagman is an old Australian and New Zealand term describing an underclass of transient temporary workers, who travelled by foot from farm to farm carrying the traditional swag...
. The stories of the Speewah are Australian folktales of unwritten literature of men who never had the opportunity to read books and who became tellers of tales instead. The Speewah is synonymous with hyperbole
Hyperbole
Hyperbole is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is not meant to be taken literally....
as many of the tales about the place are used to enhance the storytellers’ masculinity by relating events of extreme hardship and overcoming the dangers of the Australian wilderness.
Typically men talk of the Speewah when they are faced with hard labour as a means of making their jobs mentally easier, though it can also be seen as a way of legitimising their bragging.
Speech of this sort is used to make light of the situation or to re-affirm the speakers' masculinity or bush skills to the detriment of others.
Location in legend
The Speewah is an imaginary land and its boundaries have never been defined: the Speewah can be anywhere that the storyteller wants it to be, and tales have it situated anywhere from Cape YorkCape York Peninsula
Cape York Peninsula is a large remote peninsula located in Far North Queensland at the tip of the state of Queensland, Australia, the largest unspoilt wilderness in northern Australia and one of the last remaining wilderness areas on Earth...
to the Otways, from Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
to Broome
Broome, Western Australia
Broome is a pearling and tourist town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, north of Perth. The year round population is approximately 14,436, growing to more than 45,000 per month during the tourist season...
— anywhere in Australia. Its location is kept ambiguous and when questioned people from different regions of Australia will give a different answer. 'The men from the Darling Ranges said it was back o' Bourke and the men of Bourke said it was out West and the men of the West pointed to Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
and in Queensland they told you the Speewah was in the Kimberleys.'
At any rate the territory itself is supposedly very large. When one wanted to close the gate to the station he had to take a week's rations with him, and a jackeroo who was sent to bring the cows in from the horse paddock was said to be gone for six months, not due to incompetence, for there are no incompetent workers on the Speewah, but simply due to the sheer size of the Speewah. When the cook was frying up bacon and eggs for the men, he needed a motorbike to get around the frying pan. The dust storms were so thick that the rabbits dug warrens in them. The boundary riders had to make sure that their watches were changed for each separate time zone.
Locations adopting the name
A portion of land owned by Jim Dillon south-west of WyndhamWyndham, Western Australia
Wyndham is the oldest and northernmost town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, located on the Great Northern Highway, northeast of Perth. It was established in 1885 as a result of a gold rush at Halls Creek, and it is now a port and service centre for the east Kimberley with a...
, Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
that was settled at the beginning of the 20th century was named after the mythical land of the Speewah. This property still appears on maps as 'The Speewah' and has caused much debate from the storytelling community as to whether or not this is the original Speewah of legend or whether (which is more likely) it is merely named after the legend in homage
Homage
Homage is a show or demonstration of respect or dedication to someone or something, sometimes by simple declaration but often by some more oblique reference, artistic or poetic....
. This property is listed by the Australian Government as being 16°26′S 127°57′E. There is also a "Speewa" on the border of Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
and New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
near 35°13′S 143°30′E with a ferry across
Murray River crossings
The Murray River in south-eastern Australia has been a significant barrier to land-based travel and trade. This article lists and briefly describes all of the recognised crossing points. Many of these had also developed as river ports for transport of goods along the Murray...
the Murray River
Murray River
The Murray River is Australia's longest river. At in length, the Murray rises in the Australian Alps, draining the western side of Australia's highest mountains and, for most of its length, meanders across Australia's inland plains, forming the border between New South Wales and Victoria as it...
.
Speewah is also a real place in Far North Queensland
Far North Queensland
Far North Queensland, or FNQ, is the northernmost part of the Australian state of Queensland. The region, which contains a large section of the Tropical North Queensland area, stretches from the city of Cairns north to the Torres Strait...
. It is about 10 kilometres west of Cairns
Cairns, Queensland
Cairns is a regional city in Far North Queensland, Australia, founded 1876. The city was named after William Wellington Cairns, then-current Governor of Queensland. It was formed to serve miners heading for the Hodgkinson River goldfield, but experienced a decline when an easier route was...
- a few kilometres south of the tourist town of Kuranda
Kuranda
Kuranda or Koranda, may refer to:Place name:* Kuranda, Queensland, a town on the Atherton Tableland in Far North Queensland, Australia** Kuranda Range Highway** Kuranda Range road...
. It could be described as a bushland residential area.
Crooked Mick
Crooked Mick is a larger-than-life character from Australian Oral Tradition, emerging during the era of the swagmenSwagman
A swagman is an old Australian and New Zealand term describing an underclass of transient temporary workers, who travelled by foot from farm to farm carrying the traditional swag...
. A sort of Aussie
Aussie
Aussie is Australian slang for an Australian.-Pronunciation:In Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Canada and Ireland, the word is pronounced , with a sound; however, in the United States, it is most often pronounced with an sound...
Paul Bunyan
Paul Bunyan
Paul Bunyan is a lumberjack figure in North American folklore and tradition. One of the most famous and popular North American folklore heroes, he is usually described as a giant as well as a lumberjack of unusual skill, and is often accompanied in stories by his animal companion, Babe the Blue...
, he is almost ubiqitious with the equally fantastic Speewah; there are Speewah tales without Crooked Mick, but there are no Crooked Mick tales not set in the Speewah.
Crooked Mick, like his American Wild West counterparts
Counterparts
Counterparts or counterpart may refer to:Businesses:* Counterpart InternationalIn pop culture:* Counterparts , by Rush* "Counterparts" , by James Joyce* Counterparts, a novel by Gonzalo Lira...
, is a giant of a man and skilled in many trades. Hard-working, hard-playing, Made Of Iron and with an appetite to match his size, Crooked Mick is regarded as the quintessential bushman
The Bush
"The bush" is a term used for rural, undeveloped land or country areas in certain countries.-Australia:The term is iconic in Australia. In reference to the landscape, "bush" describes a wooded area, intermediate between a shrubland and a forest, generally of dry and nitrogen-poor soil, mostly...
. Nothing was beyond his capabilities; he could lift huge weights, shear massive amounts of sheep in no time flat, cook pies so light that a gust of wind would carry them, kick crocodiles to the moon, move mountains, and generally do anything that everyone else could do, but 100 times better than anyone else could do.
The reason behind the "Crooked" in his name, while always a physical feature, varied from story to story. Some described him as having one eye higher than the other. Some said it was because his nose was all twisted
Twisted
- Music :Industry:* Twisted Records , a UK-based record label specializing in psychedelic trance* Twisted Records , an American electronic music record labelWorks:* Twisted...
due to having been bitten by a crocodile that tried to yank it off and then gave up. Others proclaimed it was because his habit of wolfing down two whole sheep for every meal and tearing their skins off with his teeth left his teeth twisted and gnarled. Most commonly, it's because he walks crooked; sometimes it's just a limp
Limp
A limp is a type of asymmetric abnormality of the gait. Limping may be caused by pain, weakness, neuromuscular imbalance, or a skeletal deformity. The most common underlying cause of a painful limp is physical trauma however in the absence of trauma other serious causes such as septic arthritis,...
from being ringbarked when he was a teenager, more often it's because one hot day he stuck one leg into a trough to cool it off and then took it out to place the other one in, but it buckled under his weight when he tried to stand on it alone, leaving him with a bent leg for the rest of his life.
Unlike many of the Wild West legends he resembled, Crooked Mick was said to have died, but again the stories vary. A fairly common story has the teller describe how they heard several others give their explanations for Crooked Mick's death (like a duststorm causing him to throttle himself with his own giant beard), only to then hear the real truth — like how Crooked Mick became The Man In The Moon
The Man in the Moon
The Man in the Moon is a 1991 American drama film, directed by Robert Mulligan and starring Sam Waterston, Reese Witherspoon and Jason London...
when he built his own pogo stick
Pogo stick
A pogo stick is a device for jumping off the ground in a standing position with the aid of a spring, used as a toy or exercise equipment. It consists of a pole with a handle at the top and footrests near the bottom, and a spring located somewhere along the pole...
and bounced all the way from earth to the moon.