Dewar worked as a rabbiter and did farm work in the Waimate district.

Wright migrated to New Zealand in 1887 and spent several years as a rabbiter on stations in Central Otago.

Returning to Cooma, Corey was employed as a contract rabbiter before moving to Canberra in 1922, where he was employed as a camp caretaker.

He moved to New Zealand in the 1870s, settling in the south-west at Lake Te Anau in 1883 where he worked as a handyman, rabbiter, shepherd, taxidermist, boat-builder, explorer and guide, while studying the birdlife.