A Guide to High Quality Shearing for Merino Sheep, pruduced by the Australian Wool Corporation."A Guide to High Quality Shearing for Merino Sheep"shearing, australian wool corporation shearer training service

Banjo Paterson once wrote, ‘The musterers are fetching them a hundred thousand strong’. Well, not quite 100,000 strong, but there are 75,172 mixed age Riverina-bred merino wethers in this mob mustered for shearing on January 22, 1988. The sheep were owned by the Mountjoy family from Geelong Victoria and were running on Puckapunyal Army Base near Seymour in Central Victoria on which the family held the grazing lease. Contractor for the shearing, Jim Walker, Avenel, Victoria, former Australian shearing team captain in 1974-75 and 1978-79, recalls there were up to 21 shearers in his team waiting for the red eyes to arrive despite the mid-summer heat of up to 38°C and the blinding dust on windy days. Jim Walker thinks there may also have been some sheep in the mob from Portland Downs and Isis Downs near Isisford in Central Queensland. The biggest shearing he did at ‘Pucka’ was 87,087 shorn in 1988. The ‘Pucka’ base was established during WW1. During the Second World War the Second Australian Imperial Force trained there as well as the US Army 41st Infantry Division. It was also home to the 1st Armoured Regiment from 1949 until 1995. During the 1950s up to 4000 national servicemen at any given time were training there. In the 1980s the Army undertook a major 60,000-acre land rehabilitation programme as decades of heavy use had led to serious degradation. By 1988 when the photo was taken, further land acquisition had increased the area to just under 100,000 acres, 43,000 of which is still bush country. There are no sheep there now, and the old shed was bulldozed and burnt. There are thousands of kangaroos which of course don’t need to be shorn and would be hard to muster and hold for a similar photo. Colour photograph, 75,172 merino wethers, mustered for shearing at Puckapunyal in 1988.shearing merino sheep, mountjoy, mr dale - worungalla pastoral co., shearing, merino sheep

John Griffin’s wool classing exercise books from 1941-1943 when he was a student at the Gordon Institute in Geelong. John and his father John Henry Griffin owned a farm in Dunkeld and bred fine merino wool. One year they topped the wool sales figures for the area, in the late 1940s. There are four books in total. One book is on the topic of Veterinary Science and is from 1941. It contains information on topics such as birth and early lamb life, bone structure and other internal organisms of a sheep, such as the heart. Another book is on Wool Classing with topics such as wool scouring, dipping, shearing and micron counts. The third book is on general shearing shed knowledge. This includes a diagram for rolling a fleece, correct method for stamping a wool bale and branding abbreviations. The final book is on the History the Merino Sheep. It is a long form essay answer booklet. The Gordon institute and wool are synonymous with one another, the first class in wool sorting was offered at the Gordon in 1891. With much of the wool clip sent directly to England at this time, The Gordon's focus soon shifted to wool classing and marketing. By the 1930s, The Gordon's wool school was renowned as the state's wool industry training centre. Early specialist short courses were offered around Victoria to assist wool growers in preparing their clip for market, with modules on sheep breeding and pasture development included in the programs. Anne Griffin’s, John’s daughter, donated the exercise books to the National Wool Museum in 2021. Book 1 is predominately blue circular cover with cream background. Middle of book has pink highlighter mark. Reverse of book has an Arithmetical Table and a Multiplication Table in a blue ink on cream paper. It also has four black ink markings Book 2 is predominately blue circular cover with cream background. Book has red tape across the spine. Reverse of book has an Arithmetical Table and a Multiplication Table in a blue ink on cream paper. Book 3 is predominately blue plaid cover with cream background. Middle of book has pink highlighter handwriting which has been crossed with the same colour, leaving the text unreadable. Reverse of book has an Arithmetical Table and a Multiplication Table in a blue ink on cream paper. Book 4 is predominately blue diagonal striped book with cream background. Middle of book has small picture of Australia. Reverse of book has an Arithmetical Table and a Multiplication Table in a blue ink on cream paper. Book 1. Front cover: “All Schools” / EXERCISE BOOK / NAME Jack Griffin Grade Gordon Institute School of Technology(?) / Approved by the / Education Department Back cover. Reverse. ARTHMETICAL TABLES / (Numerous, see media) Book 2. Front cover: 2nd & 3rd / “All Schools” / EXERCISE BOOK / Name Jack Griffin / Grade 2 / School the Gordon / Approved by the / Education Department Back cover. Reverse. ARTHMETICAL TABLES / (Numerous, see media) Book 3. Front cover: Embassy / EXERCUSE BOOK / Name John Griffin / Grade 1 / School (?) / APPROVED BY THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / Back cover. Reverse. ARTHMETICAL TABLES / (Numerous, see media) Book 4. Front cover: EXERCISE / APPROVED BY EDUCATION DEPT. / BOOK / NAME Jack Griffin / GRADE 3 / SCHOOL Gordon Back cover. Reverse. ARTHMETICAL TABLES / (Numerous, see media) gordon institute geelong, wool classing, 1940s sheep farming, note book, study, student

This card is the second in a set of 16 information cards produced by the Stamina Clothing Company re: Australian Woollen Mills as give aways. It looks the process of sheep shearing.Card no. 2 from the Crusader Mills information card set, c.1945-55. Verso of card no. 2 from the Crusader Mills information card set, c.1945-55.No. 2 Shearing merinos for the Crusader Mills.shearing, australian woollen mills pty ltd stamina clothing company

Commemorative, souvenir booklet of the visit to the RSS Mills by HRH Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester on Saturday, 3rd November 1934. HRH stayed at 'Ercildoune' at Burrumbeet, Victoria, home of H. Alan Currie, MLC, and a merino stud containing descendents of the historic King George III flock. HRH sheared a sheep during his stay, and the fleece was taken to the RSS Mill where HRH later visited to see it being made into a Royal and Hunting Stewart tartan travelling rug.WITH THE COMPLIMENTS / OF THE DIRECTORATE OF / THE GEELONG RETURNED / SOLDIERS' WOOLLEN MILLS / GEELONG / VICTORIA, AUS., / NOVEMBER, 1934royal visits, textile mills history, merino sheep history, textile mills, returned soldiers and sailors mill, 1918: australians in france - exhibition (19/02/2000 - 30/04/2000), fairnie, mr edward john - returned soldiers and sailors mill schofield, mr albert m.b.e. - returned soldiers and sailors mill currie, hon. h. alan m.l.c., ercildoune stud, burrumbeet, textile mills - history, merino sheep - history

One of fifty one photographs originally in a photo album found in the National Wool Museum’s office. The album was water damaged and the images were removed for conservation. The images follow the process of wool. Beginning in a sheep paddock and finishing as a folded fabric. It includes all the steps in between in this process, including shearing, transporting, selling, washing and the many different steps in the process of turning a single thread of wool into fabric.Black and white image showing a stud merino ram at Boonoke Station.AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL PUBLICITY / ASSOCIATION / FLINDERS STREET RAILWAY BUILDING, / MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA / W71 / W71. Stud merino ram, taken at / Boonooke Station.wool industry, working life, women, boonoke station, farming, sheep farming, agriculture, sheep stations, transport, wool processing, shearing, textile industry, wool