Inflicted with cruel and regular droughts, these men and women faced the option of giving up and starving along with their cattle and sheep or flinging open their boundary gates and allowing their stumbling, starving stock to roam the bush roads and tracks in the desperate hope of finding food and water. Somewhere. Anywhere. This was known as “droving the Long Paddock”, a task that could take them away from their family and home for months and months. Sometimes even years. Fortunately some stock was saved. Unfortunately for some, when the rains didn’t come the heartbreak of seeing their stock die became a regular occurrence. This was the beginning of the Long Paddock tradition. Redbank Long Paddock»