'Equine Epitaph - Under the Rainbow': Fraser Island's Last Brumby

By Fred Williams

The books on Fraser Island all draw to a great extent on the reminiscences and records of people who have long lived TWO DECADES BEFORE Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) set foot on Fraser Island in 1971.
The Maryborough Chronicle 20, August 1952: WARNED:
GOD FORBID THAT ANY ATTEMPT SHOULD BE MADE TO TURN [Fraser Island] INTO A TOURISTS PARADISE WHICH WOULD RUIN ITS CALM SERENITY, ITS NATURAL BEAUTY AND ITS FISHING.
visitors had an occasional sight of wild horses and although they saw no dingoes, pad marks around the camp each morning indicated they had been inspected at night by dingoes
Perhaps, because dingoes look like our pet dogs, it can be easily overlooked that they are carnivores. It was it seems overlooked by the manager that failed to follow their own published warning Dingoes like other dogs are capable of killing people (dFIDMS 1999) TWO YEARS BEFORE THE ATTACK IN 2001.



Instead, the manager insisted in their approved Management Plans on prioritizing uncontrolled numbers of tourists (Overlander August 1985) as a revenue raiser. Failing to adhere to their Duty Of Care Responsibility. It seems they set a financial objective over the Number- 1 far more obvious Strategy/Priority of Public Safety entering and using the most complex State Run National Park in Australia.
In case we forget how serious this is; please remember dingoes are starving and can savagely attack, (like at Waddy Point) according to Dr. Paul Anderson Government Medical Officer said Clinton Gage was disemboweled his face, neck, lower abdomen and legs mauled (Fraser Coast Chronicle May 2, 2001.) The author is gravely concerned!

A SOLUTION IS DISCUSSED IN THE BOOK! FRASERS FUTURE IS IN YOUR HANDS!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press AU
• Release date: Jan 26, 2018
• ISBN: 9781504311779

Fred Williams

Fred has spent his professional life helping others build and sustain healthy bodies; to be the best they can be physically. His journey with Christ has inspired him to do the same for others spiritually. As you read, you will discover his powerful prayer as he guides you through creating your own ultimate prayer and on to explore the most important thing on this Earth - finding Gods will and purpose for your life. Fred was born and raised in Buffalo, NY, and now resides in South Florida. He is an award winning fitness enthusiast and enjoys time spent with his wife, kids and friends.

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Copyright © 2018 Fred Williams.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN: 978-1-5043-1176-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-1177-9 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date: 01/23/2018

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Dedicated to the memories of a fine horseman

William Geissler (alias Billy the Bushman), bushman extraordinaire.

He knew his oranges from his lemons.

Initially employed as a horseman, then finally a ranger;

He contributed massively to our wealth of

Pioneering knowledge on Fraser Island and

Perhaps knew more about the wild horses of Fraser than

Any man that has ever pulled on a pair of boots.

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‘Billy the Bushman’

FOREWORD

Fred Williams’s author of several books on Fraser Island approached me to pen a foreword for his new book titled: EQUINE EPITAPH UNDER THE RAINBOW" – Fraser Island’s last brumby".

This is due to my connection with Suffolk Punch horses, having re-introduced the rare and endangered breed back into Australia in 1996. The first foal a filly was born in 2000. Numbers on the ground are still few. This was one of the breeds instrumental in establishing Australia as we know it today.

In reading this book it was a revelation to me that Suffolk Punch horses were introduced along with the Arab breed of horse to Fraser Island in 1879 by the partnership of Aldridge and Dicken. It is not only fascinating but of great importance for Queensland and Australia.

The question is: Where did these Suffolk Punch horses come from and who bred them? Unfortunately we know that Queensland bias/mismanagement sentenced them to death, even after full adaption to cope on the world’s largest island of sand. It beggar’s belief with a stroke of a bureaucratic pen most were removed or shot.

This book contains factual, sometimes humorous accounts of the people, the animals both domestic and native that enriched their way of life, and how they all harmoniously fitted into the landscape of the island.

You will read of the people living and working at Central Forestry Station. Some were uneducated like Billy the Bushman a master craftsman of bushcraft skills employed as horseman for 12 years by the Forestry Department.

The favourite Suffolk Punch horses named "Nellie and Laddie" as told by Mrs Epps in 1921, as she relates what life was like back then. Fraser Island’s Suffolk Punch hoof-prints maybe gone but not forgotten.

Fred Williams in this book brings the traditional owners, residents, foresters and horses back long enough to tell their story. Regrettably they have been replaced with tourists and four wheel drive vehicles. The fragile ecology and landscape has irrefutably been damaged by excessive numbers of visitors, and management seems to be insulated from reality by harsh questionable management plans.

Through the author’s words and information, he draws a picture in one’s mind of Fraser Island as it used to be, an idyllic lifestyle for some, whilst a harsh extreme environment for others like Eliza and James Fraser shipwreck survivors in the year of 1836. But it is a place of great beauty needing protection for the following generations to enjoy, living with nature.

This book gives the reader an enjoyable factual understanding of what an important role Fraser Island is for, its inhabitants, particularly the flora and fauna add this to the loss of the Suffolk Punch and Arab horses (safety role for humans) in Queensland as well as for Australian history. It was a pitiful loss for the preservation of the Suffolk Punch horse breed.

Marge Candy.

P.S. If you hold any information about