Time Warp

According to a Dubbo Photo News story published in February 2020, the Brotherhood of the Good Shepherd, affectionately known as the Bush Brothers, was launched because members of the church believed there was a shortage of ministers to serve remote parts of the state.

The Brotherhood of the Good Shepherd was founded by former aide to then NSW Governor Sir Harry Rawson (after whom Rawsonville is named).

The first of its ministers to lead a Christian service in the region did so at the Balladoran Pub out near Gilgandra.

Austin Jupp, the coordinator of the Bush Brothers Heritage Centre at the Holy Trinity Church in Dubbo, told Dubbo Photo News for our 2020 story that the Bush Brothers "were generally from rich families who left England around Christmas time, met at the Quay in Sydney and were sent to Bourke on the train. They (committed) to working five years, taking a vow of chastity, obedience and poverty”.

These photos, mostly taken in the early 1930s, give us an idea of what the Bush Brothers witnessed as all sorts of goods were being transported across outback NSW.

Camel teams, horse teams and the occasional car were used. The Brothers usually rode their bikes and later used a car for their own transport.