Earliest use of the term 'bushcraft'

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redcollective

Settler
Dec 31, 2004
632
17
West Yorkshire
I enjoyed reading the traditionalism vs modernism thread and something someone said piqued my interest:

What's the earliest reference in print you can find to the term bushcraft.

I'll start the ball rolling with a 1944 publication:

Bushcraft :
how to live in the jungle and bush / by Wontolla.
Sydney : F.H. Johnston, [1944]

I've also found 'Bush-craft' as early as 1937, in the Journal: Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 57, Jul. - Dec., 1927 (Jul. - Dec., 1927) , pp. 399-415

But there must be earlier references!
 

ScottC

Banned
May 2, 2004
1,176
13
uk
According to the wikipedia the term was used in the following books:

The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888 by Ernest Favenc; published in 1888.
My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin; published in 1901.
Campaign Pictures of the War in South Africa (1899-1900) by A. G. Hales; published in 1901.
The Explorers of Australia and their Life-work by Ernest Favenc; published in 1908.
We of the Never-Never by Jeanie (Mrs. Aeneas) GUNN; published in 1908.
The Life of Captain Matthew Flinders by Ernest Scott; published in 1914.


So it has been used in Australia since at least as far back as the 1800s
 

Ranger Bob

Nomad
Aug 21, 2004
286
0
41
Suffolk
Chaucer used the term woodcraft in the Canterbury tales (c. 1380's)

(Middle English)
A yeman hadde he and servantz namo
At that tyme, for hym liste ride so,
And he was clad in cote and hood of grene.
A sheef of pecok arwes, bright and kene,
Under his belt he bar ful thriftily,
(wel koude he dresse his takel yemanly:
His arwes drouped noght with fetheres lowe)
And in his hand he baar a myghty bowe.
A not heed hadde he, with a broun visage.
Of wodecraft wel koude he al the usage.
Upon his arm he baar a gay bracer,
And by his syde a swerd and a bokeler,
And on that oother syde a gay daggere
Harneised wel and sharp as point of spere;
A cristopher on his brest of silver sheene.
An horn he bar, the bawdryk was of grene;
A forster was he, soothly, as I gesse.

(Translation)
A yeoman had he, nor more servants, no,
At that time, for he chose to travel so;
And he was clad in coat and hood of green.
A sheaf of peacock arrows bright and keen
Under his belt he bore right carefully
(Well could he keep his tackle yeomanly:
His arrows had no draggled feathers low),
And in his hand he bore a mighty bow.
A cropped head had he and a sun-browned face.
Of woodcraft knew he all the useful ways.
Upon his arm he bore a bracer gay,
And at one side a sword and buckler, yea,
And at the other side a dagger bright,
Well sheathed and sharp as spear point in the light;
On breast a Christopher of silver sheen.
He bore a horn in baldric all of green;
A forester he truly was, I guess.

I think that the difference between the terms Bushcraft and woodcraft is down to location, as in where the skills are used. "The bush" is a term perhaps best employed in areas of extensive wilderness...like Australia/ Canada etc.., where as "woods" are areas of isolated wilderness....like here in Britain. Thats my theory anyway!
 

Grooveski

Native
Aug 9, 2005
1,707
10
53
Glasgow
Looks like the Wikipedia listing comes from a straightforward search of Project Gutenberg, so there are no doubt other references that haven't made it onto Gutenberg's shelves yet.

------------------000------------------

The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888

It was down here that young Hamilton Hume, the first native-born explorer to take the field, was then gaining his bushcraft. Hume was a son of the Rev. Andrew Hume, who held an appointment in the Commissariat Department, and came to the colony in the LADY JULIAN.

------------------000------------------

My Brilliant Career

Peter was "tall and freckled and sandy, face of a country lout", and, like Middleton's rouse-about, "hadn't any opinions, hadn't any ideas", but possessed sufficient instinct and common bushcraft with which, by hard slogging, to amass money.

------------------000------------------

Campaign Pictures of the War in South Africa (1899-1900)

Talking of the Yeomen brings back a good yarn that is going round the camps at their expense. They are notorious for two things--their pluck and their awful bad bushcraft. They would ride up to the mouth of a foeman's guns coolly and gamely enough, but they can't find their way home on the veldt after dark to save their souls, and so fall into Boer traps with a regularity that is becoming monotonous.

------------------000------------------

The Explorers of Australia and their Life-work

It was in the Shoalhaven district that young Hamilton Hume, the first Australian-born explorer to make his mark in the field, gained his bushcraft.
--------
We have now, at this stage, the spectacle of the main body loitering on the outskirts of the settled districts, four men killing time on the banks of Cooper's Creek, and the leader and three others scampering across the continent, all four of them utterly inexperienced in bushcraft.

------------------000------------------

We of the Never-Never

By the time supper was over he had risked a joke or two, and taking heart by their reception, launched boldly into the conversation, chuckling with delight as the Maluka and Mac amused themselves by examining the missus on bushcraft.

------------------000------------------

The Life of Captain Matthew Flinders

It was not, indeed, till 1813 that Gregory Blaxland, with Lieutenant Lawson and William Charles Wentworth (then a youth), as companions, succeeded in solving the problem. The story of their steady, persistent, and desperate struggle being beyond the scope of this biography, it is sufficient to say that after fifteen days of severe labour, applied with rare intelligence and bushcraft, they saw beneath them waving grass-country watered by clear streams, and knew that they had found a path to the interior of the new continent.
 

anthonyyy

Settler
Mar 5, 2005
655
6
ireland
But when did the term "bushcraft" or "the bush" come to be applied to northern Europe? Until recently, I always associated it with more exotic locations.

In the 1980's I can remember correcting the English of an African who referred to the English countryside as "the bush".
 

Grooveski

Native
Aug 9, 2005
1,707
10
53
Glasgow
Judging by the writings the term may have been in use during the discovery/colonisation/genocidal invasion(delete to suit your personal opinions) of the "New Worlds".

So that would make it a european expression even then.

I know that's not what you meant Anthonyyy, it's just what popped into my head reading your question. "Bushcraft" isn't a word I've ever used either, always thought it was the Australian colloquialism of "Woodlore".
 

redcollective

Settler
Dec 31, 2004
632
17
West Yorkshire
I have a reference for 1873:

The Tasmanian Lily
Bonwick, James (1817-1906)

published by Henry S. King London 1873

"The young man himself was not sorry altogether to get away from the rest with his chosen friend. His Bush craft was exercised in the hunt for one of the loveliest and cosiest spots imaginable. Here he proposed to camp, and have a chat."

Curiously, the term 'Bush-lore' also appears in early australian literature in the same context'
 

Grooveski

Native
Aug 9, 2005
1,707
10
53
Glasgow
Dutch eh? ....and all these years I've just presumed there were no trees to speak of in Australia.

Don't suppose anyone has a copy of this on their shelves? I've a sneaky suspicion about it. (and get the feeling it'd be a good read anyway :) ).
Haydon, George Henry - The Australian emigrant : a rambling story, containing as much fact as fiction(London : Arthur Hall, Virtue, and Co, 1854)
fiction4.jpg
 

redcollective

Settler
Dec 31, 2004
632
17
West Yorkshire
Grooveski said:
Dutch eh? ....and all these years I've just presumed there were no trees to speak of in Australia.

Oh yes, there are trees a plenty in Australia - it's a bloody big place, it's just that a huge percentage of the country is well, largely scrubby or desertified. I grew up a short bike ride from a rainforest, 100m waterfalls, big gums, a (sadly) rare red cedar or two, huge figs. You'd love it.


Re: The Australian emigrant : a rambling story, containing as much fact as fiction: The British Library, Cambridge Uni, and the National Library of Scotland have copies. the same author has an earlier work - which sounds like it might be a little more bushcrafty:

Haydon arrived in Melbourne in July 1840. He worked in a variety of jobs, most of which involved learning bushcraft skills, but he also gave art lessons and contributed illustrations of colonial life to magazines. He returned to England in January 1845, and wrote an account of his time in the colony, Five years experience in Australia Felix (1845).
http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/exhibitions/aus-fiction/xaus-fictioncat.html#4
 

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