Historical information

The National Wool Museum accepted a donation from Brian Licence in 2022 of several mementoes relating to his career in the wool industry. This Wool Classing Exercise Book was written by Brian in his time at the Gordon Technical College from 1960-62. Brian studied Wool Classing and worked for a decade in this profession before moving to Melbourne which required him to change careers.

Physical description

This Wool Classing Exercise book begins with a grey cover and a blue and silver metal binder. It has the number “240” handwritten in white pencil at the centre of the cover and “Brian Licence Animal Husbandry” written in blue ink on the top right corner.

Internally, the book is handwritten with occasional hand drawn images. This work is completed on yellowed pages with faint blue lines, for assistance in clarity of handwriting. The pages are surrounded by a margin of red pen.

The exercise book’s content is about basic animal husbandry for sheep that a Wool Classer may need to know while in a shearing shed. It is handwritten. A selection of pages have been photographed to give an impression of the information taught in classes 60 years ago. This includes information about:
- Dentistry
- Skeletal
- Blood Circulation
- Breathing
- Internal parasites
The book has 50 completed pages of handwriting on both front and back.

Inscriptions & markings

Handwritten, white pencil. Centre of cover.
“240”

Handwritten, blue ink. Top right corner of cover.
“Brian Licence. /
Animal Husbandry”