Brown leather stock saddle with a rust coloured, woollen panel. The girth straps are red. A simple border pattern has been marked on each skirt and flap and is repeated on the back below the cantle. A 9 cm rip has been machine mended at the lower edge of the right hand flap, and another, 7.7cm in length, hand stitched near the junction with the skirt. "SUPREMA" has been printed on the upper face of the surcingle. There are rings on which to attach a saddle bag. Wesfarmers claims to have paid $1,800 for the saddle which, it believed, was used by Jim McConnell's grandfather as a sixteen year-old when he rode with the Duracks on a crossing from Cooper's Creek to the Kimberleys. Advice from Terry Sims (saddle maker, Albany) and reference books suggest instead, that the saddle is typically 1930's when "flaps went down and the knee pads went up". (MAKING A STOCK SADDLE). In this period, not only were side flaps extended, but the knee pads were fitted higher on the saddle and also increased in height which gave the rider a firmer seat in the saddle. In both respects -longer flaps and higher knee pads- this saddle is more representative of a 1930's saddle than one from the 1880's.
Department:
History DepartmentCollection
History Collection
Collection Item Data
| Accession Number: | H1990.8 |
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| Accession Date: | 22 Jan 1990 |
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Material
| Metal | Leather, metal, wool
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Measurement
| width | 1280mm | (from right to left hand flap) |
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| length | 540mm | (from cantle to pommel) |
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| length | 1310mm | (stirrup straps) |
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| height | 110mm | (dip in saddle) |
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The WA Museum is in the process of digitising its collections. This record may not have been reviewed by curatorial staff and may be inaccurate or incomplete. Research departments are continually working on these collections by adding new objects and reviewing existing content when new information is made available.
