What Camping Gear did Australian Bushmen use 100 years ago?

[Music] good day everyone my name is lukee now the Australian Swagman was a Wanderer of the Bush and he was known for moving from place to place looking for work and it's kind of a romantic notion in Australian history in Australian culture this idea of this Aussie Bushman who could just carry light just sling a swag or a bed roll over his shoulder and just move from place to place and you know go out in the bush and was known to be quite Hardy uh surviving out in the bush and I love kind of emulating that and trying to recapture the spirit of the Aussie Swagman in a lot of my uh trips and my Adventures that I do out in the bush and so over the last 2 years I have been trying to do that when I go out on my trips every now and then I do a traditional Swagman trip and so I've gathered a bunch of gear with me I guess that you could say the old fellas could have used back in the day now some of this gear is you know a modern version of equipment of an old way of life you know uh but other stuff is actually antiques uh from back in the early 19 00s or things that I've created myself that you would have been able to find back in the 1800s so I want to go through some of this Gear with you and show you what I've collected over the last 2 years all right so first up is the actual swag so I've got three main swags here that I've used on my trips I want to start off with this one first this swag here is my Jim Allen and Sun swag so this is my swag that uh I've had for most of my life and um it's a it's a very special swag to me because it was passed on to me from my uncle who passed away when I was uh a teenager and I was quite close to him so I've inherited this and I quite love it because this is an Aussie made swag from the 1980s or 1970s I think J Jim Allen and Sons used to make good quality swags back in the day they're not around anymore but I've kept this one because I I really do like it um it's got a fly and everything so you're fully enclosed but it's quite lightweight so if I pair this with like an Al Goods uh inflatable mat and a quilt uh roll it up it actually doesn't weigh a lot so I've used this one the most on my trips and yeah it's it's quite a good swag all right this here is my burken wheel swag and uh yeah I like this swag it's a lot heavier though than usual so I probably use this for more car camping and stuff what I do like about it though is it has its own um Carry sling on it so yeah I don't have to uh to tie it up with my own carry sling but yeah I do like this swag it's a full fly this is the iron bark uh full fly single swag so if you want to check that out from burken wheels and this is probably more of a swag that I would take with me when car camping all right next up is my traditional oil skin swag now this most closely resembles what the old fellas used to carry out with them in the 1800s and basically I made this myself using a bit of a a cotton sheet and I turn it into an oil skin tart by soaking it in both uh linseed oil and mineral tur hers mixed it all together then hang it up and let it cured for about 2 weeks and becomes fully waterproof and it actually worked really really well it retained the warmth and also I woke up one morning with Jew on top of me and underneath was completely dry so when you roll this out it's actually paired with a a Woolen blanket that I've put in there as well which is what the old fellas used to sleep in and I pretty much just wrapped myself up in the wool and blanket in the oil skin top like a big burrito and that's how you sleep it's a bit uncomfortable but you know little bit cold but that's how the old fellas did it they were a bit rough okay next up is my carry sling so to carry my swags and to roll them up basically I'm just using two lever belts they're kind of very worn and torn at the moment but yeah that that rolls up the swag and and holds it nicely and then I've created this sling just out of a canvas I think it's hessen or it's canvas and this can just go straight over my shoulder and the only modern aspect of this is that I've got two carabin is here and it just makes it easier to just be able to clip on the sling like that and then to be able to Chuck that over your shoulder also when it comes to oil skin TPS I'm currently creating a new TP which is more of a durable canvas type material it's quite thicker it's going to be quite heavier and it's probably going to be used for making like pioneer type camps probably not hik in Swagman trips but yeah it's just to have another type of old old school oil skin top that they would have used in their tents and things like [Music] that now next up here are my carry bags and this is basically what you would use to carry all your other gear maybe food maybe uh yeah your knives your pipes your things like that and now the traditional Aussie Swagman usually would a carried his havac like a canvas havac but I'm sure they had lever satchels back in the day as well and this one I just got from Marketplace uh I like the handle on it because or the strap because it was probably a little bit too short so I modified it again with a little bit of canvas and just a little bit of wire chucked through there to be able to tie it on together so it's got this kind of rustic rough looking feel and I do like carrying this one along with me so next up is my German vintage canvas Alpine Rock sack from army and Outdoors and this is a 30 L capacity Rock sack now obviously being a German military pack doesn't sound very Australian but if you know anything about Australia's history we are Nation first and foremost of our indigenous folk and then after that a lot of immigrants from a lot of different countries so I'm sure there could have been influence from um German countries as well but even so I'm sure the old fellas in the 1900s did carry Rock sacks with them if not in this style I'm sure they had their own style of rock sack so it's a good one being 30 lers you you can carry a lot in it and I just like the feel of it it does have a vintage kind of feel to it though the old Swagman of the 1800s probably carried more their H sack with them all their Satchel but it's still a good good backpack to be able to take on Long Journeys now also for carrying out in the bush are these cotton draw string bags also probably known as a Tucker bag or a flower bag old fellas used to carry their food in here uh they used to carry their flour for making damper and it's basically just yeah cotton cotton bag with a bit of a drawring on it and this is great cuz it's also got that authentic feel and this is what the old fellas used to carry food in a carrying tins now I've got a bunch of these little carrying tins and these are true blue antiques I got from an old fellow who was selling everything on his farm and found these Beauties so these were basically tobacco tins for the 1920s and 1930s and but I've also used these for carrying salt sugar things like that yeah they're really great just little tins to be able to carry things like that when you need to out in the bush and a true blue Swagman feel to them the Billy the black Billy was a common companion to the Swagman used for boiling water cooking tea and making dampering this went everywhere with the Swagman and I've got a couple of kind of tins or pots or billies that I take on my Swagman tip this one here is just a nesting cup from Pathfinder it's really a modern nesting cup but um you know I'm sure that the Swagman also had had smaller little billies things like that they usually carried the c pot with them but um so this is kind of more my modern version of a of a billy that I take out with me this Billy here is from BCF so again another modern version of a billy uh obviously it's very well loved here I've taken this out with me a lot I've lost the hand the top though so I don't really use it use it as much but you can pick something like this up for quite cheap from BCF now this is my favorite Billy because this is actually an antique this is a genuine true blue Billy that they would have used back in the day this is from meters a nice black Billy and with all the old gear and the old antique stuff it has a bit of weight to it but I have taken this out with me and I've cooked damper up in this before I've cooked a nice kangaroo stew up in this I've cooked up some some tea as well but yeah this is my favorite Billy because it is actually a true blue uh Aussie black Billy so I just want to show you this old school canvas water bag now this is not my water bag I would like to get my own water bag but this is from Scotty from southernland Bushcraft check out his channel cuz he's got a lot of awesome stuff when it comes to this old gear but he was kind enough to let me borrow this from him for my latest Outback walk okay for Fire Starting first and foremost in this tin I have my flint and steel so this is actually not a piece of flint I did have a piece of flint but this is a different type of stone but I can still get a spark off this then I have my bit of Steel and then a bit of char cloth to get a spark and get a fire going and this is what the old fellas used to use the old Swagman used to use to get a fire going back in the day so this is my first and foremost uh bit of Fire Starting method when I do a Swagman trip then I do also have this Pharaoh rod from southernland Bushcraft though the Ferro Rod was not really something that the old Swagman and Bushmen used it's still a great Bushcraft item that I often take out with me okay here I have a 1940s military issued pocket knife that I like carrying out on these traditional trips and it's got a very good blade on here and I'm not quite sure what this would have been used for maybe puncturing cans or things things like that but yeah I didn't even realize how old this was until Scotty from southernland Bushcraft showed me that on here it says 1946 I don't know if you can see that and I found this in my dad's Farm shed but yeah this is a really old school knife uh military issued knife pocket knife from the 19 1940s so this is a great one to take out with me okay so lanterns when I go out on a traditional Swagman trip I like to not go with a head torch because the old fellas didn't obviously have modern day head torches but I do go out with a lantern every now and then now it is a little bit cumbersome to hike out with one of these but I have done it before so this one is basically just a modern version of a lan and I got this from Aussie disposals you can get this for about $12 but yeah it's modeled off what the old lanterns used to be like and yeah it's a great little piece of equipment that you can take out with you this one here is a true blue antique though I traced this one back to the 1930s Tropic I think it was and made in England so yeah this is a actually a genuine antique but it still works just the same and they basically both work on the same system just a little bit of kerosene in them you can get a wick from BCF put a wick in it and Away you go you've got light for your camping trip so often when I go out on a Swagman trip I bring my harmonica with me and this is just a silver star honer this is in the key of sea I do believe and look it's just fun to muck around with the old fellas used to have to find ways to entertain themselves when they're out in the bush and yeah they often carry the harmonica with them to play music so you can play you know little Bush ballads on this so it's great to take on a Swagman trip all right for when I do a Swagman trip actually when I do any trip really I like to bring my Stockman jackets these are oil skin jackets traditional oil skin jackets old bushies used to wear these a lot a lot of the Drovers used to wear them also up in the High Country they were very popular but I'm sure the old Swagman probably was able to you know wear an oil skin jacket like this back in the day now I got three different kinds and they're all from Burk and wills so I got to thank Burke and wills for uh sending me out these jackets and yeah Burke and wills do really good Stockman jackets so I got three different kinds so I have this one is the Bal naring full long full length coat now this is really thick and heavy it has a hood on it so this is fantastic for the dead of winter when it's very very cold I take this one out snow camping with me because it's just I mean you're totally dry in it and you're very very warm in it it's amazing how much warmth it it it um retains now with Stockman jacket you know it's not like a gortex jacket it's heavy it's not lightweight so yeah with a lot of the old gear that's one of the things that you have to get used to is that you're lugging around a lot of weight with you now this is my Stockman jacket full length coat this is great when it's going to be really really wet and rainy so you want that full protection but it's a little bit more light than the Bal naring so it's good for doing long-distant hikes I did this actually on my Coastal trip with matsi uh the other year so this is a really good jacket as well for waterproof uh rain protection and then lastly my my favorite one which I often use a lot now is the Stockman jacket but this is the short sleeve one so it's not as long it's not as heavy it's quite lightweight compared to the others so I like bringing this with me when it comes to spring or even summer you just roll it up and put it in your swag and when it gets cold in the evenings you can Chuck this on so yeah these are all from Burke and wheels and Stockman jackets are great to wear and last but not least is the Hat the swagman's Hat now a Swagman went everywhere out in the bush with his hat he was known for it in fact Aussie culture in general is known for just carrying a hat out with you when you're out in the bush now the acbra is obviously a well-known brand established brand that's been around for a long long time it's a classic bush hat I do love my acbra I take this out with me a lot all the time but I also have this Chase hat from Burk and wheels which is also cool it's kind of got a more of a I feel like a you know your Sunday best type of old school hat that you can wear but I do like wearing this one out every now and then as well so yeah you got to take a hat with you when you're doing a Swagman trip well that's it guys I hope you've enjoyed learning a little bit more about some of the gear that the Australian Swagman would have taken out with him on his journeys and having a look at what I've accumulated over the last 2 years look if you like this video please give it a like and a comment if you've not yet subscribed Please Subscribe but most of all go check out some of my Swagman Adventure videos cuz if you've liked this video I'm sure you're going to like seeing this stuff actually out there in action thanks guys have a good one [Music] a

Channel: The Bearded Bushranger

Views: 5,830

Keywords: survival skills primitive, survival skills cooking, wild camping, wild camping tips, aussie bushcraft, australian bushcraft, flint and steel, traditional swag, australian bushcraft survival, traditional swag camping, traditional camping gear, australian bushcraft camping, australian outback bushcraft, vintage camping equipment, oil skin clothing, oil skin tarp, survival kit review, bushman camping, camping gear, vintage tent, vintage camping, swagman, bushman, vintage gear

Id: tEvAHqRSOg0

Length: 14min 36sec (876 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 30 2024