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Outback House: Last day of shearing

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Men shear sheep
Outback House: Last day of shearing

SUBJECTS:  History

YEARS:  5–6


Watch the action as the final 200 sheep are shorn and their wool is pressed into bales for sale.

Shearing time on a sheep station was (and still is) very busy. Selling wool was the squatter's main source of income. The higher the volume and quality of the wool, the more money he made.

Extra shearers join the Oxley Downs station hands so the job can be finished on time. Men like these shearers travelled from station to station looking for seasonal work. Before the faster mechanical handpiece of the late 1880s, they used hand shears.

In the 19th century, wool was Australia's most important product. Australian wool was exported to Britain and Europe, which brought lots of money into the country.


Things to think about

  1. 1.Do you have any clothes made from wool? What other things are made with wool? Do you know anything about the shearing process?
  2. 2.How many sheep have to be shorn at Oxley Downs on the last day? How many days does shearing take? What does the catcher have to do? What other jobs must be done during the shearing? Notice that the men who shear the sheep are not from Oxley Downs. How does Squatter Allcorn pay them? About how many bales of wool are collected?
  3. 3.In the 1890s and for a long time after that, people said that Australia's economy was 'riding on the sheep's back'. What might this mean? Find out how important wool production was to Australia. Use search terms like 'wool production history Australia'. Find out about the shearing song 'Click go the shears'. What can you learn about the history of shearing from folk songs like this one?
  4. 4.Jackie Howe, Frederick Wolseley and the Macarthurs (John and Elizabeth) are famous because of their contributions to the wool industry in Australia. Find out why each of them is famous. Create a profile of one of these significant people to show their contribution. Present your information in an interesting way.



Production Date: 2005


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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