G'day Tim (et Al...ison),

The term "cockie" or cockatoo farmer (as in the song The Stringybark Cockatoo" goes back to John Robertson's Land Selection Act (NSW ~ 1865) when the big land holdings of "Squatters" (major property owners leasing land from the government) were made accessible to small-holders who could BUY the land from the government on terms, as long as they complied with rules requiring them to clear and farm specified proportions of the land every year.

The Squatters were unimpressed by the loss of their government sponsored monopoly and disparagingly called the small-holders "cockatoo farmers" - possibly because they said they swarmed over "their" land like a flock of cockatoos stripping a crop or (and this is probably later) because all they could raise on a few hundred acres was cockatoos!

The term 'squatter' went on to mean any large-holding pastoralist, whether leasing or owning, and usually means a grazier, rather than a farmer. The country areas have been said to be ruled by The "Squattocracy". Even they could fall on hard times, as detailed in Charles Flower's poignant song from the 1890s depression "The Broken-down Squatter".

Leasehold has continued to be a cheap way to control vast areas, as seen recently when Native Title claims have been directed towards leaseholdings ... and sent pastoralists, clutching their chequebooks and demanding a transfer to freehold.

Regards,

Bob Bolton