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Up
until 1888, all shearing in Australia, was conducted using the
hand shears that have been used for centuries throughout the
world. Frederick York Wolseley is credited as having been the
first to invent and manufacture a mechanical device to remove
the wool from sheep on a major scale. At a shearing shed called
Dunlop, which was situated at Louth, New South Wales, the first
mechanical shearing took place. After much resistance from the
old “blade men” forty shearers undertook the task
of shearing 180000 sheep.
The conditions were primitive and because mechanical sheep shearing
had never been conducted before the tallies weren’t all
that greater than with the blades. Gradually, as the men adjusted
to the shearing machines, tallies increased to the point where
men were shearing 100/day consistently.
The renowned Jim Davidson shore a tally of 176 with the first
Wolseley handpieces that were made and that tally is astounding
when you think how primitive the equipment actually was. |
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A very early Wolseley handpiece |
Before Frederick York Wolseley developed
his mechanical sheep shearing method others tried
and were actually granted patents for devices for
sheep shearing machines but sadly they never saw
the light of day.
In 1868 Joseph Higham was granted a patent and Robert
Savage was also granted a patent in 1877 jointly
with Frederick York Wolseley. These patents are
now extremely valuable amongst sheep shearing collectors
and some collectors prize them very highly indeed.
Anything associated with Fred Wolseley is sought
after by collectors all over Australia, and in other
countries, be it machines, sheep shearing equipment
or antique advertising material, Frederick York
Wolseley is a name that is very well known amongst
sheep shearing collectors. |
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The
most well known sheep shearer in Australian history is Jackie
Howe. In 1892 he created a sheep shearing record that has been
folklore in Australia ever since. In the time of seven hours
and forty minutes he shore 321 sheep with a set of hand blades
and he would have shorn more except that he ran out of sheep
to shear. Given that a standard working day is eight hours he
surely would have done another dozen at least. Jackie Howe was
capable of shearing big tallies with both the hand shearing
method and by means of the mechanical sheep shearing. He won
prizes for his sheep shearing and he famously wore his sheep
shearing medals on his waist coat. Many stories of Jackie Howe
the famous sheep shearer abound.
In May of 2008, the famous sheep shearing medals won by Jackie
Howe for his shearing deeds, were auctioned in Melbourne, Victoria,
Australia and after the buyers premium was added the total price
was $360,000.00. |
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