A LIVING HISTORY BLOG.

18TH CENTURY LIVING HISTORY IN AUSTRALIA.

Monday 4 April 2011

The Survival Connection. PART 2.

In my recent post on "Taking Things Too Far" you will see the governments latest move to restrict the use of guns for Australians. First make it difficult to get black powder. Most firearms owners have modern guns, & frankly they don't give a dam about us muzzleloaders. So this legislation will be easy to push through. One that is done they can move on to smokeless gun powder. We never did have a right by law to protect ourselves in Australia. The law states that you have to be shot first before you can defend yourself. But soon we won't even have that option. This is way beyond the pail!
In WW2 the English had to ask America for guns for the home guard to use. They had taken most of the peoples guns off them you see, and they had nothing left with which to defend themselves. So if Australia is ever invaded, we will have to defend our homes & families with bows & arrows!
Okay, let us hope that something can be done to stop this legislation going through, & we will consentrate on other things for this post.

Not every settler had a horse or stock to carry their goods. Some travelled by boat & then on foot, other just on foot. Our situation is likely to put us on foot aventually, so let's consentrate on that situation.
We need to be very choosy when it comes to the equipment we carry with us. We can't afford a lot of weight, but at the same time there will be a lot of tasks that will require tools to complete once we reach our destination. So there must be a compromise between two principles; Minimum weight, and Maximum self-reliance.

Tools will make tools. A tomahawk/axe can make digging tools such as a pick, mattock, plough & a crowbar (English). But if you have enough people then you can distribute your larger tools among them. Don't forget, you can just carry the heads & make the stails & helves on site.

From Diderot. Carrying methods for tools.

The hoe.

A small mattock. You can make & fit a longer handle.


A small pick.

The pruning saw is very efficient at cutting limbs from trees or bucking. These were available in the 18th century.

Fascine knives.

Tomahawk/axe

Half-axe.

Felling axe.

Adze.

All of these tools will double as weapons, & have been used as weapons in the past.

3 comments:

Hutch said...

I would offer that you, as a human being, have natural rights in which your government, or any government, cannot limit in any manner. Namely, the right to life and therefore the inherent right to defend that right by any means necessary. NO legitimate government has the authority to grant or deny the Rights of Man; it is not something the people can grant the government any more than they can grant the government authority to, say, regulate slavery. In America, our constitution enumerates these natural rights; our government ignores and neglects those rights often, however, I also make a habit of ignoring all those laws which are illegitimate and illegal, with no regard and the full realization that it very well may cause my imprisonment.

Keith said...

I think our main problem stems from the fact that we started as a penal colony, we have no Bill Of Rights.
I agree with you totally Hutch.

Hutch said...

We almost didn't. The most logical reason against having our Bill of Rights was that they weren't necessary because government didn't have the authority to infringe on those rights in the first place, so there was no sense in writing them down. Luckily, they went ahead and did it. I'm very Lockean in my philosophy towards government and individual liberty.