By STEVE GRAY
TIME was, there were plenty of swagmen to be seen on Australian highways. During the Great Depression of the 1930s there were tens of thousands of men “humping their blueys” from town to town, often chased out of one by the cops, or looking for work in the next.
Today there’s but a handful of swaggies left, and one of them, John Cadoret, is making his way through the Southern Downs towards Tenterfield.
“I’ve been on the road 35 years, 30 of them on foot,” he said.
Laden front and back, John didn’t want to speculate how much he was carrying. It might weigh on his mind.
He has no regular income and is not on welfare.
“On a good day I pick up a few coins along the road. Sometimes you’d be surprised what I find.”
John said he wandered off the road at night and slept behind a bush or in long grass.
Generally the police leave him alone, though if they receive a complaint about his presence they’ll come and have a chat. He carries no identification papers because he’s never driven a car and doesn’t want government handouts.
Offered a lift down the road, he declines.
“I won’t take a lift,” he says, “I just poke along. I’m headed towards Tamworth right now.”
