Sheep shearing became the work of a nomadic band of men who traveled from shearing shed to shearing shed, more or less living on the land as they moved.
Reproduced from the Australian Encyclopeadia, circa 1940
The age-old task of shearing sheep has been brought to its highest degree of development as an industry, and to its most advanced state of skill as an art, in Australia.
“The Golden Fleece”, by Tom Roberts
From the oil painting in the National Gallery of New South Wales. Hand-shearing at the end of the nineteenth century.
As a country in which the sheep population rose from a few thousand in 1800 to more than one hundred million before the close of the 19th century, it had to discard the traditional method of wool-harvesting and evolve other ones better able to cope with the vast number of fleeces produced.
The Early Years
In the early days of the Australian pastoral industry, when flocks were small and men were large, the sheep-owner, with a servant or two, undertook personally the shearing of his sheep. As flocks increased, ticket-of-leave men, assigned servants, and free laborers were used as shepherds and farmhands, and they carried out the shearing, aided sometimes by available casual labor.
The shearing shed of the early years was primitive. Made of wooden slabs, bark, or brush, it frequently had no floor and little attempt was made to keep the fleeces clean. English-made blades, or hand shears, were usually used for removing the wool. The now-strange practice of washing the sheep prior to shearing formed part of the annual job in certain areas and it was usually carried out in a convenient river or pond. In later years this washing process became more elaborate and even included hot water and soap. The practice of pre-shearing scouring persisted into the 187Os.
From the inception of the wool-growing industry in Australia, skilled shearers have been in short supply, and this shortage was particularly acute cloning the first half of the 19th century. As early as 1826 the rate of payment was seventeen shilling six pence per 100 and a few years later shearers were able to demand 20 shillings and, on some occasions, an issue of rum as well. No regular hours were observed, work starting at daylight it and continuing until dark, with various breaks for meals and smoke-ohs. The abolition of convict transportation from Britain dried up the source from which most of the shepherd class had been drawn, and the opening of the goldfields afforded a far more attractive life to those who had already spent some years in trailing after sheep. Other ways of tending flocks had to be evolved and the unfenced runs and their shepherds were replaced by fenced runs, boundary riders and sheepdogs. By 1880 few shepherds were left in Australia.
Shearing in the 1880s
Shearing became the work of a nomadic band of men who traveled, generally on horseback but often on foot, from shearing shed to shearing shed, more or less living on the land as they moved. The fortunate ones “got their pen” at the commencement of a shearing whilst the others moved on in the hope of getting work at some other station.
The more important graziers had their own agreements which the shearer had to sign before starting work. They varied according to local conditions, but a typical one for the Australian state of New South Wales in 1881 is indicative of the state of the industry. Amongst other things, this agreement laid down the shearing rate 17s. 6d. per 100., the price of rations which the shearers bought from tile stationholder, and the hours to be observed. The latter clause stated that “all hands had to be on the board not later than 6 am” with work continuing until half an hour before sunset, and until 3 p.m. on Saturdays. Breaks of one hour each were allowed for breakfast and lunch, and three short intervals for “smoke-ohs”.
An analysis of this agreement reveals that of the 16 “rules and regulations” not one of them has any reference to the rights of the employees, whilst on the other hand it included the most contentious condition that “any shearer breaking a fleece will not be paid for shearing such sheep”.
Machine Shearing
Skilful as many of the old “blade” shearers were, the possibility of removing the fleece by machine was receiving the attention of inventors as early as 1860. The first patent for a sheep-shearing machine recorded in Australia is that granted to a Melbourne compositor, James Higham, in 1868. At the same time, experiments were being carried out by Frederick York Wolseley (q.v.); and with the assistance of John Howard, an English mechanic, the sheep—shearing machine, much as it is today, was evolved.
It met with considerable resistance, even sabotage, from a section of the shearers and opposition from conservative pastoralists, hut in 1888 Dunlop station, N.S.W., carried out a complete shearing with machines— the first in Australia and therefore the world, to achieve this distinction. By 1915 most large sheds in Australia had installed machines and today hand shears are used only for stud sheep or in those cases where, for economic reasons, it would not pay to install machines. For some years steam engines provided power for driving the machines hut they have been generally replaced by internal-combustion engines. Today many sheds have electrically-driven plant.
Shearing Tallies and Records
Individual shearing tallies have always been a popular topic in pastoral circles. In addition to the tribute which men usually pay to physical skill, the shearer has a direct interest in the subject, since in most cases he is paid according to the number of sheep that he shears. The shearing contractor, anxious to complete the shed with as little delay as possible, naturally favors the fast man; and the sheep-owner, while his first concern is the well-being of his sheep, is quite content to have his shearing done quickly as long as it is done well.
Shearing tallies have not always been recorded reliably and confirmation of them is frequently difficult to obtain. In comparing figures of the present day with those of previous years it must be borne in mind that owing to skilful breeding, the Australian Merino is growing more and more wool. In 1880 the average weight (greasy) of the fleece of sheep in Australia was between 5 and 6 lb.; in 1920 it was between 8 and 9 lb., and in the 1950s it averaged more than 9 lb. The modern shearer, therefore, is required to take off considerably more wool than his predecessor of the last century. Further, the working day has been curtailed during the same period, so that modern daily tallies, at any rate, cannot be compared with those of earlier times.
Shearing records in Australia, unless otherwise stated, refer to Merino sheep. English breeds, Corriedales, and crossbreds are usually easier to shear than Merinos, and for this reason shearing tallies in New Zealand, where the former types form the basis of the sheep industry, are often higher than in Australia.
From 60 to 100 sheep per day was considered a fair total in the first half of the last century. As flocks increased, larger sheds were built, more shearers were employed, the competitive spirit developed, and faster shearing was the natural result. Sheep-owners, however, frequently frowned on high tallies because, usually, they meant roughly handled sheep and torn fleeces. In many shearing sheds a maximum daily tally was imposed, 100 to 120 being a common figure. The Amalgamated Shearers’ Union was responsible for the abolition of this limiting of daily tallies, and during the following decade some high figures were recorded. By 1890 the record with hand shears was said to be 275 sheep for the day.
Jack Howe’s Record
In October 1892 John (Jack) Howe (q.v.) at Alice Downs station, Central Queensland, in the normal working day at that time of S hours 40 minutes, shore with hand shears 321 Merino sheep, and in so doing created an Australian record that has never been bettered with hand shears and one that remained unbroken by machines until 1950. In September of that year W. E. Rieck, at Brinard, in north-western Queensland, shore 326 Merinos in the standard eight-hour day.
Until Rieck’s feat the best tally, with machines, was 316 by D. Cooper at Bundoran, Central Queensland, in 1910. Cooper’s son, Daniel, was also a notable shearer, and in 1949 at Clenara, Victoria, shore 325 Corriedale lambs in the day.
Part Two ~ Growth of the the Amalgamated Shearers’ Union
