About Bruce Simpson

Early life and career

Bruce Forbes Simpson (1923-2019) was born in Brisbane and grew up on a small property near Mackay, where his father worked in sugar farming. After finishing school, he worked as a stockman on a station in the Northern Territory in 1944. Over the years, he worked on several stations in Queensland and the Northern Territory, eventually becoming a boss drover in 1951, leading cattle drives from northern Western Australia and the Northern Territory to Queensland. As road transport grew in the 1960s, droving trips ended, and Simpson settled in Winton, Queensland, where he opened a saddlery. He later retired to Caboolture, near Brisbane.

Writing and poetry

Simpson was familiar with the poetry of famous Australian balladists like Henry Lawson and Will Ogilvie, and began writing his own poems as a young man. Under the name "Lancewood," he had poems published in local papers and The Bulletin. He went on to become the first winner of the Bronze Swagman Award for Bush Verse and continued to write poems, performing at literary and folk festivals. Encouraged by Ted Egan, he also wrote books about his droving experiences, including Packhorse Drover (1996) and In Leichhardt's Footsteps (1997).

Drovers' Oral History Project

In 1990, Simpson founded the Drovers' Reunion at the Stockman's Hall of Fame in Longreach, and another reunion took place in 1997 at Camooweal. It was there that he met historian Bill Gammage, and together they came up with the idea for the Drovers Oral History Project. They started recording interviews in 2000, with Gammage accompanying Simpson on his field trips and helping to plan and conduct the interviews.