during the nineteenth century; they transported wool and supplies by drays drawn by horse- or bullock-teams, travelling constantly across the landscape servicing stations and settlements distant from regional transport hubs and urban centres. If the use of the expression 'black stump' entered the Australian vernacular in the nineteenth century, it rarely appeared in Australian literature or newspaper reports until the twentieth century. At least three towns in regional Australia claim to be home to the 'black stump': Coolah, NSW; Merriwagga and Gunbar in NSW; and Blackall in Queensland. Coolah, New South Wales The area just north of present-day Coolah was known by local Aboriginal peoples as 'Weetalibah-Wallangan', apparently meaning "place where the fire went out and left a burnt stump". In an attempt to control the settlement patterns of the colony of New South Wales Governor Darling issued regulations in 1829 limiting settlement in the colony to land within the Nineteen Counties surrounding Sydney. The regulations defined the "limits of location", and it is claimed this boundary passed "along the approximate location of the Black Stump Run" (located just north-west of present-day Coolah). Land to the north of this part of Governor Darling's boundary (it is asserted) began to be described as "beyond the Black Stump". This raises the question: had the Black Stump Run been taken up by 1829 (or at least by the mid-1830s)? Darling's “limits of location” was a short-lived concept; in 1836 Governor Bourke allowed individuals occupying lands beyond the Nineteen Counties to obtain annual licenses to legitimise their activities and the "limits of location" became officially irrelevant. In a list of persons who obtained licences to depasture stock beyond the limits of location in the district of Bligh for the year ending 30 June 1847 appears the entry "Launt Joseph ... The Black Stump". Archival research may produce earlier references. In May 1851 a notice was published by James M’Cubbin of Coolah, warning against trespassing by cattle or persons on his run “THE BLACK STUMP” in the district of Bligh. By 1885, the Black Stump run had been consolidated with the Queensborough run into the Queensborough Pastoral Holding of some 46,000 acres. The name lived on in local usage, and there are currently three place names in the vicinity of the original run approved by the Geographical Names Board of New South Wales, i.e. Black Stump Graveyard/Cemetery, Black Stump Creek and Black Stump Resting Place.