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Headless HorsemanPrint Page Print this page

23-May-2022
23-May-2022

Photographs supplied by Bryan Hardy

The interpretation panel and sculpture commemorate the legend of the "Headless Horseman". 

The sculpture depicting "The Headless Horseman" is part of a series along the Cobb & Co Highway known as "The Long Paddock" The modern Cobb Highway follows a historic route that is part of the great network of stock routes that became colloquially known as The Long Paddock - a web of tracks and trails that linked the stock-breeding areas of the inland with the growing markets in the south.

Drovers around Black Swamp in the middle of last century told of a horseman who appeared suddenly at a campsite, mounted on a trotting cob, a cloak about his shoulders but with no head, spooking the animals and causing stampedes. It was said to be the ghost of a drover who died at the swamp. Overlanders dreaded camping at the swamp, believing the sight of the apparition spelt their doom. The legend was perpetuated by a Moulamein butcher who, dressed as the headless ghost, would spook drover's mobs and siphon off cattle to trade through his shop.
 

Location

Address:Cobb Highway, Black Swamp Rest Area, Booroorban, 2710
State:NSW
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -35.053716
Long: 144.779198
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Sculpture
Monument Theme:Culture
Sub-Theme:Community
Artist:Geoff Hocking (sculptor)

Dedication

Approx. Monument Dedication Date:November-2009
Source: MA
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au