IN his heyday, shearing contractor Noel Dawson helped facilitate the shearing of more than 2.2 million sheep in northern Queensland in 1991.
The contractor reminisced on the shearing logistics of days gone by, when the region’s sheep flock nudged 27 million – a far cry from the current 2.2m.
“The shearing industry was revered - everyone knew how important it was to their township and shearers were looked up to because of the money they supplied to towns,” he said.
“The population was thick with sheep – we had good seasons, they were good sheep and good men running them.”
The respect of the industry stems back 125 years to the industrial dispute between Queensland graziers and their shearing hands.
The strike erupted at Logan Downs in the January, and was declared off at Hughenden on 18 June 1891.
“The shearers strike was always talked about which put in place wages, stability and standards of accommodation which Queensland prided itself on having,” Mr Dawson said. “It was the best place to be a shearer.”
He recalled shearing at the “monstrous” Queensland in properties 1981, when the sheep flock was 20 million head, and the logistics of shearing substantial sheep numbers.
“One year at Terrick (Terrick, near Blackall) we shore 92,000 sheep,” he said. The turning point for the shearing industry was when the big properties started to sell or move to cattle, Mr Dawson said, including Isis Downs which once boasted a shearing tally of 50,000 sheep.
“Stations from Julia Creek, Richmond, Hughenden, and the north were the first to leave, Winton tried holding on a few more years,” he said. “It is a very different industry now.”