Over 100 nominations for richest speed shear comp in Queensland

Dominating the richest speed shearing competition in Queensland, Charleville's Barry Hammonds, who's presided over world records as a judge, won the masters final and $500 with a time of 40.46 seconds, before his daughter Ema Hammonds, who now works in southern Australia, posted a 35.14 second shear to claim the ladies final and $4000.

Barry drew Ema in the calcutta, resulting in a $7360 windfall for himself.

To top it off, Ema's partner Imran Sullivan whipped his handpiece around his sheep in a clean 27.26 seconds to win the open men's final and $10,000 in prizemoney.

Fellow competitor Tipene Tewhata finished his sheep in 24.23 seconds but was disqualified.

Over 100 shearers from all states of Australia competed for a $30,000 windfall at Thargomindah before a crowd of over 800.

Bulloo Shire mayor John 'Tractor' Ferguson said they'd doubled their stallholders from 15 to 30, coming from Melbourne, Cairns, Brisbane and Yeppoon, as well as western Queensland areas.

The weekend event is set to expand next year, with Music in the Mulga moving from its Eulo location to Thargomindah in 2025.

Some of the best shearers in Australia were at Thargomindah, competing for state and national honours as well.

One of them was Martin Howlett, 31, out from Wiltshire in the UK.

It's his third time shearing in Australia in the last 12 months, and he came within a second of making the semi-finals in the open men's competition.

Setting a new two-stand eight-hour crossbred ewe shearing record in 2019, along with Johnnie Roberts, of 1075 sheep, Martin said he liked the challenge of shearing Merinos.

"You have to learn how to shear different skin types but they're easier on your body," he said.

He comes out to Australia for six to eight weeks at a time and is currently part of a team working at Enngonia in far west NSW.

Asked what brought him to Australia, he said he liked the pay.

"I'm paid $2 a head more here," he said.

In the teams contests at Thargomindah, the New Zealand team, with a time of 1.20.09, defeated the Australian team of 1.25.36.

South Australia shearers Bryne Darby and Jovan Taiki won the state-based contest on 1.03.06, with Western Australian shearers Daniel Hodges and Mike Miller second on 1.14.43.

The other three teams each had one shearer red-lighted but Victorians Imran Sullivan and Tipene Tewhata were third, Queensland's team of Liam Harbottle and Aiden Wilson were fourth, and the NSW team of Kyle Brown and Kye Dunn were fifth.