Thread: We haven't had a poll for a while.

Originally Posted by V8Ian

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This rather cool Defender fitted with frontal protection, is that protection a bullbar or roobar?

Yes we have, we had one about a pub hol for the Matildas.

I'll answer the question with a question. When was the last time you struck a bull with your vehicle, and when was the last time you struck a 'roo? I've lost count of the 'roos, but I can count the bulls on the fingers of one foot.

Bull Bar.

Same,lost count of all sorts of other fauna,and flora,but no bulls.

I'd estimate 50/50 for bovine and macropod, if I count cows as bulls. As for the macropods, I've generally had other things on my mind, trying to retard and control three trailers of snaking, volatile liquid, to enquire about the gender identification of the large grasshoppers.
I've also hit pigs and emus but managed to avoid sheep, horses, wombats, goats and camels.
I've never been confronted by a croc, but always thought that would be an interesting encounter.

OK. I missed counting one bovine. But what I called the bar would have made zero difference, as the stupid thing ran into the side of the cab and tanks...

I voted for bullbar, as that is, in my opinion, the usual term. Roo bar is the term typically used by city slickers, who probably haven't seen either a roo or a bull, but have heard about cars hitting roos.

Other terms very occasionally used include brushbar, and I have heard cowcatcher.

In over sixty year of bush driving, I have hit roos, pigs, goats, emus, galahs, cockatoos, by far most commonly roos (including other macropods). While I have never actually hit a bull, I have given a few a nudge, either to convince them to move off the road or in herding them, same for cows, calves and sheep. Average one or two roos a year.

I've always called it a bullbar, actually I've barely heard them called anything else.

A quick google:
ARB - Bullbar
TJM - Bullbar
ECB - Bullbar
Ironman - Bullbar
Ocam - bullbar
Opposite lock - Bullbar

Every business I looked up called it a bullbar.

However the bumper on my car could be called a bunny bar or a roo bar!

As a youngster, in 1967, I remember our Sydney suburban neighbours, who were very mechanical and into metal fabrication, were preparing for their inaugural car trip to Perth, crossing the Nullabor, which was a dirt road then. It was a big deal.

The father fabricated, let's call it a "vehicle front protector unit" out of steel, and fitted it to his Valiant. Mr Moore proudly called it a 'Roo Bar. It was completely flat, with semi circular ends. It looked remarkedly like the one in the photo of the White Defender, in the first post to this thread.

By the late 1970s though, I remember a friend, who was into all things offroad, including racing and crewed for Old Man Emu; definitely called these "Bull Bars." Maybe the change in nomenclature was a marketing innovation. Maybe it was OME? Certainly sounds more impressive.

Now this is a bullbar. Its the old bullcatcher from Idracowra station in Central Aus.