There are three or four possibilities as to where the name "brumby" may have originated, two of which are mentioned below.

1. The name "brumby" may have originated from the Aboriginal word "baroomby" meaning wild.

2. The name "brumby" may have originated from references to horses which were released into the wild in the early 1800's by James Brumby.

James Brumby ( 1771 - 1838 ), was born at Scotton, Lincolnshire, England. In 1790 he enlisted as a private in the 102nd Regiment. The regiment he joined was a parculiar one, known as the New South Wales Corps. It was a special contingent of the British army formed in the previous year to replace the marines who had sailed to Australia with the First Fleet of convicts in 1788. 1788 is also the year when the first horses arrived in Australia. James came to Australia with the Third Fleet aboard the ship "Britannia", arriving on 14th October 1791. Many soldiers were granted land, and by 1794, James held 25 acres at Hunters Hill. By 1797 this holding had been cancelled in favour of 100 acres at Mulgrave Place, shared with three other privates. While still serving in the New South Wales Corps, James grazed cattle and horses on this land, and on government land also. In 1801 he became a sergeant, and in 1804 Sergeant James Brumby sailed to Tasmania as part of a new settlement. He left horses behind which had run wild and were unable to be mustered. These were known as Brumby's horses, or more simply as Brumby's when referring to his free-running horses, and perhaps later as brumbies.
This is one theory as to how the name "brumby" became part of the Australian language, and as it has stood the test of tradition, it is the official name of Australia's wild horse.

Some of this information was kindly supplied by Mrs. Eileen Brumby of Queensland. Mrs. Brumby is the wife of the late "Jack" John Thomas Brumby, a fourth generation direct descendant of James Brumby.
The information Mrs Brumby supplied was from family history.

While reading this following information, bear in mind that it is very basic, and that there is often the exception to the general rule.

Brumbies can generally be found in the bush and semi-desert and remote regions of Australia living in family herds, as mobs of colts, as mobs of stallions, and as lone bachelor stallions. The brumby, just as its domestic counter part, is a very social animal.

A family herd is generally made up of a dominant stallion, a lead mare, and other mares with their foals and yearling foals.
A lead mare is a very dominant mare who will lead the mob. She will lead the mob to where feed is, or to water, and take the lead when there is a need to go somewhere at a canter or gallop. When a mob is quietly grazing, it is hard to determine which mare is the lead mare. When a mob is moving, it is more obvious to determine which is the lead mare.
Most times when a mob is moving, the stallion follows behind. He is the protector of his mob and always on the lookout for danger. When running, a typical distance of the stallion following behind can vary from a length or two to twenty to thirty metres. This distance does vary, depending on surroundings, with less open country requiring a closer watch.
When a herd is running in a certain direction and the stallion feels that his lead mare is going the wrong way, he will come up alongside her and turn her. Sometimes he will lower his head, with neck straightened out, and bite or "mock bite" her front leg.
Sometimes a stallion will take the lead.

As a general rule, a mob may vary in size from two to around twelve. A common size is probably around five or six or seven. A strong stallion may have a large mob, while a weak one may have only one mare with her foal. On rare occasions a herd can have two, and sometimes three fully mature stallions (these are not colts). This situation can be of two types.
1. On some occasions old stallions with their faithful old mare/s may join together to form a mob.
2. On other occasions there are two or three stallions who are not old. The stallions must have come to a social agreement at some time. In this situation, there is a dominant stallion who is called the alpha stallion, and the other one or two are called the subordinate stallion/s. The dominant stallion will run behind as with a normal family herd.

The mares are often known as the stallion's harem. If a herd has a strong stallion, the herd can remain fairly stable for several years, however some mares may come and go from a stable herd from time to time and some mares may leave and never return.

When colts reach a certain age of maturity and pay an interest in the mares, they are forced by the stallion to leave. They can be forced to leave at about one year, or even at two years of age. They may at times follow their family mob around for a while, but keep their distance, until the family tie finally breaks. When fillies reach the reproductive stage they tend to leave the herd if other mobs are around. This is nature's inbuilt mechanism to prevent inbreeding.

A mob of colts is made up of colts who have left or been forced to leave a family mob. The colts join together for social reasons.

A band of stallions is made up of a few stallions who join together for social reasons, however the relationship between these stallions is usually unstable and doesn't last long, as stallions are not naturally amiable with other stallions, especially once mares come into the equation. Spring is the usual time for these stallion bands to break apart.

Bachelor stallions are single stallions who wander alone through the bush. Some will fight the dominant stallion of a family mob for possession of the mares. In the case of older stallions losing the fight to younger stallions, sometimes a faithful old mare will go with the older stallion.

Australia experiences many droughts which makes conditions for survival of its wild horses very hard at times, however in the mountains at least this is much rarer than in most of the cuontry due to the seasonal snowfall and rains. The law of survival of the fittest surely has had an impact on the type of horse that the brumbies are - they are very tough and hardy horses.

Just as each domestic horse has it's own personality, each brumby has its own personality and reacts differently to humans. Also each herd has its own 'group-personality' and reacts a certain way to human presence. When coming across brumbies, some mobs and individuals will gallop off at the mere smell of human scent and often not be seen (if there are trees and bush around), some will stay around for a while out of curiosity and then leave, and some will just stay but remain at a "safe" distance and after a while continue grazing. Of those mobs and individuals who remain to be watched, they have their own ways of reacting to human presence. The antics of some individual brumbies whose curiosity gets the better of them can be very fascinating to watch as their curiosity is balanced with their caution.
Locations of brumbies can also play a part in how they will react to human presence. Brumbies close to civilisation who are used to seeing people at a distance, or hearing the sounds of vehicles, can become quieter.

General appearance: Brumbies come in all shapes, sizes and colours. Looks vary from ugly to beautiful but bear in mind that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Some features considered undesireable commonly seen in the brumby include the U-neck (where the top of the neck is concave downwards), and the big head.
Some brumbies will have ribs showing, even when there is plenty of grass to feed on. This is not necessarily from having worms.
Sizes can vary from small, about 12 hands say to quite large, say 16 1/2 hands. Brumbies are generally smaller than domestic horses though. There are even reports of shetland pony brumbies in Australia.
Colours vary almost as much as domestic horses, but with an obvious natural preference for bays due to the camouflage offered.

Foaling: Most brumby births occur around springtime, with the foaling season lasting roughly from late July through to around February. Some new born brumby foals can be found at all times of the year, but in the mountains this is not as common and can often be tragic because winter and autumn foals have a tendency to be too small and weak to survive the harsh winters.
Some mares leave the mob for a while and go off by themselves to have their foal, and then return. This time away from the mob can vary from a few days to a few months.

Hooves: Most brumbies have hard, sound hooves. Their hooves are generally in good condition from continuously walking around. Where the ground is soft, they do generally tend to be long in the toe of the hoof.

Brumby numbers: Australia has more wild horses than any other country in the world. Estimates are in the thousands, however no one really knows. Numbers are declining very rapidly though, with many being shot, or going to the 'doggers' for pet food, or for overseas meat consumption.

Brumbies run on private and Aboriginal lands. (Aboriginal lands include 'state' forests, most national parks, 'crown' lands and vacant 'crown' lands.)
The major portion of brumbies are in the Northern Territory, and the second largest portion are in north Queensland. The east coast of Australia, which includes a section going inland for a few hundred kilometres, has many small pockets of small numbers of brumbies. But we will not be seeing them here, in Heart of the Whirlwind, because a wild horse would not be able (or inclined) to make the journey. Our concern is the brumby of the Snowy Mountains, the sturdy wild horse of the High Country.

Brumbies generally tend to live and stay in a particular area which they are familiar with, and this is called their home range. The size of the home range may vary in size from 5 to 20 square kilometres, and be even much larger in semi-desert and remote regions. Size of home range varies depending on availability of food and water, and the presence of other herds which may live in the area. A herd may live in a home range for a few years and then all of a sudden may move on. Some herds have seasonal home ranges, moving between the same two home ranges every year.
More than one herd can live in the same area, that is to say, their home ranges overlap. Sometimes two mobs can graze close together and give the appearance of one large mob.

Inbreeding is often referred to as when family members mate, an example being a stallion mating with his daughter.
The term inbreeding goes further than that. In an area where there are only a few herds which are able to interact, inbreeding does occur in that there is not enough gene diversity available. After many years of breeding in a situation where there are limited numbers of brumbies, inbreeding problems will arise. A minimum number of horses that need to be present to achieve sufficient gene diversity, that has been suggested by scientists, is about 150.