It was a privilege to be a fly on the wall at Callubri Station while the shearing was in full swing. For a girl who has mostly spent her life in the city, this was a special treat. There is a great vibe in the shearing shed with the music blaring, wool flying and the barking of the kelpies. These shearers have come from around the state and will stay in the area till this job is done. I loved spending my time building connections with them, listening to their stories and getting an appreciation for their nomadic way of life.
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By Day 2, I was invited to join them for Smoko and a yarn.
“How’s the city slicker today?” they joke as I pull up a chair. Back in the day, if a ’sheila’ entered a shearing shed, the blokes would yell, ‘ducks on the pond” as a signal that the swearing should stop and the men should clean up their act. Those days are long gone now. I noticed an easy camaraderie and a wonderful working relationship between the men and women in this team.
It was just a few years ago that many shearers left the trade because of the drought. Now with all the rain we have had, there’s a lot of work again and not enough shearers to go around. It is good work, with the possibility to earn around $1000/day depending on how many sheep you sheer. But the longterm prospects are not guaranteed as everything hinges on the vagaries of the weather with a climate that swings from droughts to flooding rains.
While the pay is good, there are other drawbacks besides the weather.
The work requires you to be semi-nomadic as you travel from one farm to another. While you have the weekends free, you might be spending part of that time travelling long distances back to your family. I was surprised to learn that many shearers don’t often plan holidays. With contract work the privileges of holidays, sick leave and long service leave I enjoyed are not part of the deal. I was blown away when one of the young women told me she had only just visited the ocean for the first time! It’s something I’ve always taken for granted as I grew up by the sea and couldn’t imagine living too far away from a beach. To be fair, there are many Sydney-siders who have never travelled across the Blue Mountains to visit places like Broken Hill and Dubbo. We are a continent where there is little connection between those who live and work in the regions and those that choose city life.
Many of these shearers have started their careers young. They point out a young teenager who is a ‘learner shearer, learning the tricks of the trade on the job. One of the older guys tells me that he got into shearing when he was a young teenager as it was also an excuse to leave school. Something else, I find hard to understand, having loved my high-school and university years. He has come full circle and now and is back at the sorting table, where he started. Here the wool is separated according to its qualities, as there are variations between colour, crimp, strength, length and elasticity.
I am grateful for having this glimpse into a completely different way of life and thankful the shearers are willing to share so much with me. I have enjoyed their camaraderie and loved hearing their stories. Life on a farm is completely different to working in a city office and comes with its own set of challenges.
I wish there were more opportunity for people from both camps to spend time understanding each other’s way of life.