Wool

The industry that paid for the country. Merinos, shearing sheds and the shearers who worked them, wool bales and stores, the great woolsheds and the stations behind them. Also the strikes, which is where a good deal of Australian politics starts.

Part of Australia

67 moments in this segment.

1. 1880 - Feeding a pet lamb at Trundle. A hand-fed lamb takes milk from a bottle on a property at Trundle in central western New South Wales. The photograph belongs to the State Library of New South Wales series At Work and Play, which covers rural life across the state between 1880 and 1940. Orphan lambs raised at the house were a normal part of station work and often the children's job.
2. 1900 - Two pure merino rams, sketched. A book engraving of two pure merino rams, held by the State Library of South Australia with neither artist nor volume recorded. Merinos were brought into New South Wales from the 1790s and selectively bred for fineness of fleece rather than meat. The breed carried the Australian wool clip for the whole of the nineteenth century.
3. 1906 - A shearer travelling by bicycle. A shearer photographed around 1906 with his swag lashed to a bicycle, from the State Library of Queensland collection. Shearers moved between sheds along established circuits as each station's clip came due, and the bicycle replaced walking for many of them after the 1890s. The photographer is not recorded.
4. 1906 - The Story of the Kelly Gang(1906 silent film)Public Domain Media. 's Public Domain Media Archive. UNESCO inscribed The Story of the Kelly Gang on the Memory of the World Register in 2007 as the world's first full-length narrative feature film. Lucas's Public Domain Media Archive.
5. 1915 - Shearers at work in the shed. Men bent over sheep on the board of a shearing hut, probably at Roseworthy Agricultural College in South Australia. The State Government Photographer's microfiche titled this image Shears at Work, which cataloguer G. Brooks corrected to Shearers. Machine handpieces had largely replaced blade shears in South Australian sheds by this date.
6. 1915 - Newly shorn rams outside the shed. Rams stand in the yard immediately after shearing, their skin still marked by the comb. The image comes from the State Government Photographer's collection in South Australia and reached the archive with part of its caption already lost.
7. 1915 - Wool bales stacked at Port Adelaide. Bales packed and stacked inside the Elders woolstores at Port Adelaide, waiting for a ship. Port Adelaide was the outlet for the South Australian clip, which travelled down by rail from the pastoral districts and was sold or consigned through the stores on the wharf.
8. 1923 - Wool wagon bogged at a river crossing. A horse team strains at a wagon loaded with wool bales stuck in a dusty river crossing on 15 September 1923. The photograph is from the Transport and Main Roads Visual Resource Library held by Queensland State Archives. Getting the clip to a railhead over unformed roads was the recurring hazard of the inland wool trade.
9. 1928 - Wool bales loaded on a rail truck. Bales roped down on an open rail truck at Port Adelaide. Cataloguer G. Brooks corrected the original microfiche description, which called the wagon a railway carriage. Rail carried the clip from inland sidings to the port stores, displacing the bullock and horse teams that had done the work in the previous century.
10. 1930 - A sheep and lamb at the Sydney show. A studio-style portrait of a ewe and her lamb, probably taken at the Royal Agricultural Show in Sydney. It comes from the William J Hall collection at the Australian National Maritime Museum. Show judging set the visible standard for fleece that stud breeders then sold on.
11. 1934 - Goldsborough Mort wool store, Port Adelaide. The interior ceiling of the Goldsborough Mort and Company wool store at Port Adelaide, lined in jointed pine. Goldsborough Mort was one of the large stock and station agencies that financed pastoralists against the coming clip and then sold it for them. The archival note corrects the microfiche, which had called the building a wool shed rather than a store.
12. 1935 - Bullock teams hauling wool. Bullocks in a long chain drag wagons loaded with wool bales, photographed by Hall and Co. around 1935 and held as a glass negative by the State Library of New South Wales. Teams like this were still working stock routes in the 1930s, decades after rail had taken over the main hauls.
13. 1935 - Wertaloona shearing shed, Flinders Ranges. Sheep penned in enclosures outside the Wertaloona shearing shed in the Flinders Ranges, with men working on foot and on horseback. Wertaloona was one of the pastoral runs in the arid country north of the ranges in South Australia.
14. 1935 - Moodie at the Sydney Royal Easter Show. A sheep recorded only by the name Moodie, photographed at the Sydney Royal Easter Show by William Hall. The print is held in the Australian National Maritime Museum's Hall collection. Prize animals at the Royal were named and their winnings followed in the rural press.
15. 1940 - A film about how wool is marketed in Australia, 1940's -- Film 3682. 1940. Filed as a wool and labour record, from footage of 1940 held by HuntleyFilmArchives.
16. 1954 - Queen Elizabeth II inspects merinos at Wagga. The Queen looks over merino sheep at the Wagga Wagga agricultural show during the 1954 royal tour of Australia. The photograph is held by the National Archives of Australia under series A1773. Wool was Australia's largest export earner at the time, boosted by the Korean War price spike of 1950 and 1951.
17. 1961 - Drovers working in outback Australia | Walking the Mob (1961) | ABC Rural 75th | ABC Australia. Drovers working in outback Australia, published by ABC Australia. The stock routes carried cattle and sheep across long inland distances. The footage depicts events of 1961. Filed as a wool and labour record, from footage of 1961 held by ABC Australia.
18. 2009 - Merino statue at Strathbogie. A statue of a merino ram at Strathbogie in Victoria, given to the town in 1989 by a Japanese textile firm in recognition of the fine wool grown in the district. Japan was among the largest buyers of Australian greasy wool through the postwar decades.
19. 2009-07-30 - Jack Thompson reading Henry Lawson. 2009.
20. 2010 - The Big Wool Bales, Hamilton. An oversized wool bale sculpture at Hamilton in western Victoria, built as a roadside attraction and museum. Hamilton has long promoted itself on the strength of the surrounding fine wool country. The bale shape is the industry's own unit of account rendered at building scale.
21. 2010 - Queensland Co-Operative woolstore, Teneriffe. The Queensland Primary Producers Co-Operative No 4 woolstore on Skyring Terrace at Teneriffe in Brisbane. Teneriffe held a dense row of brick woolstores on the Brisbane River, most of them built between the 1910s and the 1930s. The trade left and the buildings were converted to apartments.
22. 2011-04-24 - Bush Poet's Concert 2011. 2011.
23. 2011-06-19 - Bush Poets Concert 2011. 2011.
24. 2012 - Inside the Brickendon shearing shed. The interior of the shearing shed at Brickendon Historic Estate at Longford in northern Tasmania. Brickendon is one of the eleven Australian Convict Sites inscribed by UNESCO in 2010, having been worked by assigned convict labour. The farm has stayed with the same family since the 1820s.
25. 2012-07-30 - Violence and sunlight: the art of Sidney Nolan. 11 November 1880, aged 25. His armour, made from stolen plough mouldboards, is held at State Library Victoria. Filed as a wool and labour record, posted by Art Gallery of NSW in 2012.
26. 2013 - Plaque at the Barcaldine tree. The inscription at the Barcaldine monument, which credits the striking shearers of 1891 with beginning the Australian labour movement. Claims about which meeting or town founded the party are contested between Barcaldine and other sites, and the plaque states the Queensland version.
27. 2013 - A brick shearing shed in the sun. An old shearing shed built in brick rather than the usual timber and corrugated iron, standing in green pasture under a clear sky. Brick sheds are unusual and suggest a well capitalised property in a district with reliable rainfall.
28. 2013 - Primaries No.3 wool store, Teneriffe. The former Primaries No.3 wool store on Commercial Road at Teneriffe, converted into apartments in the early 2000s. The heavy floors and wide bays that once carried stacked bales survive as the structure of the flats.
29. 2014 - The Jondaryan shed from the yards. A view of the long low form of the Jondaryan woolshed, with its pitched roof running the full length of the shearing board. The property now operates as a historical museum and holds an annual working display of shearing and wool classing.
30. 2014 - Entrance to the Jondaryan woolshed. The doorway into the Jondaryan shed, framed in hand-worked timber. Sheds of this age were built from pit-sawn and adzed local hardwood with pegged joints rather than bolts.
31. 2014 - Kianga shed, relocated to Rockhampton. A steel-framed shearing shed originally erected from a Southern Cross kit on Kianga, a property near Moura in central Queensland. It was dismantled, moved to the Rockhampton Heritage Village at Parkhurst and reopened there in 2012. Prefabricated steel kits replaced bush timber in Queensland sheds from the early twentieth century.
32. 2015-03-29 - Jerilderie letter soundscape. 11 November 1880, aged 25. His armour, made from stolen plough mouldboards, is held at State Library Victoria. Filed as a wool and labour record, posted by State Library Victoria in 2015.
33. 2015-04-16 - Ned Kelly's armour. 11 November 1880, aged 25. His armour, made from stolen plough mouldboards, is held at State Library Victoria. Filed as a wool and labour record, posted by State Library Victoria in 2015.
34. 2015 - The Tree of Knowledge, Barcaldine. The site of the ghost gum outside Barcaldine railway station in central Queensland, where shearers met during the strike of 1891. The Australian Labor Party and the union movement both claim the tree as a founding place. The original tree was poisoned in 2006 and the site now carries a memorial structure built around what remained of it.
35. 2015-06-24 - The true story of the Kelly Gang Armour | Did it work? Who made it?. The true story of the Kelly Gang Armour, published by ABC Science. UNESCO inscribed The Story of the Kelly Gang on the Memory of the World Register in 2007 as the world's first full-length narrative feature film. About 17 minutes survive. Filed as a wool and labour record, posted by ABC Science in 2015.
36. 2016-01-18 - Sidney Nolan - The Ned Kelly Series. 11 November 1880, aged 25. His armour, made from stolen plough mouldboards, is held at State Library Victoria. Filed as a wool and labour record, posted by National Gallery of Australia in 2016.
37. 2016-08-07 - Ned Kelly's Jerilderie Letter. 11 November 1880, aged 25. His armour, made from stolen plough mouldboards, is held at State Library Victoria. Filed as a wool and labour record, posted by National Museum of Australia in 2016.
38. 2017-04-05 - State Library of NSW presents Libby Hathorn's Poets of Australia: Henry Lawson. 2017.
39. 2017 - Wilpena Station shearing shed. The shearing shed at Wilpena Station near Wilpena Pound in the Flinders Ranges. The run was established in 1860 and the buildings now sit inside protected parkland. Sheds like this were built with the wool room and press at one end and the shearing board along the side, so fleeces moved in one direction.
40. 2017 - A Warrego wool press at Balladonia. A Warrego wool press on display at the museum attached to the Balladonia roadhouse on the Eyre Highway. Presses compacted loose fleece into the standard bale, which was the unit in which wool was weighed, branded, freighted and sold. Hand-screw presses like this one were worked by the shed's rouseabouts.
41. 2017-12-26 - Wool and the rise of 'single origin' clothing. (Australia). Filed as a wool and labour record, posted by ABC News (Australia) in 2017.
42. 2018-07-10 - IHHP Outback Creatives - Barcaldine Tree of Knowledge Festival 2018. 9 September 1892. Filed as a wool and labour record, posted by Indigenous Hip Hop Projects in 2018.
43. 2019 - Plaque for Shearing the Rams at Buraja. The plaque on Andrew Whitehead's statue at Buraja in New South Wales, commemorating Tom Roberts's painting Shearing the Rams. Roberts painted it between 1888 and 1890 at a shed in the district, and it became the single most reproduced image of Australian pastoral labour.
44. 2019 - Primaries wool store from the river side. The Primaries No.3 store in Brisbane photographed in 2019, showing the loading face that once fronted the wharves. Wool arrived by rail and river, was displayed in sample lots on the upper floors and was auctioned in the city.
45. 2020 - Barcaldine memorial in daylight. A wider view of the Barcaldine memorial in September 2020, showing the timber canopy suspended above the stump. The 1891 shearers' strike collapsed after the arrest and imprisonment of its leaders, and the defeat pushed union organisers towards parliamentary politics.
46. 2020 - Wooramel shed and shearers' quarters. The shearing shed and the shearers' quarters at Wooramel Station in the Gascoyne, seen from the slope above. Quarters were built separate from the homestead because the shearing team was itinerant labour hired for the season only.
47. 2020 - Shearing shed at Cobra Station. The shearing shed standing at the old Cobra Station homestead in Western Australia. The heritage listed homestead dates from 1906 and was later replaced by a new house nine kilometres to the east, leaving the working buildings behind.
48. 2020-08-14 - Ned Kelly: Australia's Most Famous Outlaw. 11 November 1880, aged 25. His armour, made from stolen plough mouldboards, is held at State Library Victoria. Filed as a wool and labour record, posted by Biographics in 2020.
49. 2020-08-29 - Bring back the great Aussie shearer | Amazing Australia | ABC Australia. Bring back the great Aussie shearer, published by ABC Australia. Filed as a wool and labour record, posted by ABC Australia in 2020.
50. 2020-11-28 - Australian Merino sheep - the history and origin story | Rural 75th | ABC Australia. Australian Merino sheep - the history and origin story, published by ABC Australia. Filed as a wool and labour record, posted by ABC Australia in 2020.
51. 2020-12-17 - What does it take to be a shearers' cook? | Landline | ABC Australia. What does it take to be a shearers' cook, published by ABC Australia. Filed as a wool and labour record, posted by ABC Australia in 2020.
52. 2021-02-19 - The Union Buries Its Dead (Henry Lawson story). ), published by Anton's AUDIO ARCHIVE (social history). Henry Lawson wrote the bush stories that shaped the settler national type. Filed as a wool and labour record, posted by Anton's AUDIO ARCHIVE (social history) in 2021.
53. 2021-04-22 - Building a bushranger: Relocating Ned Kelly's armour. 11 November 1880, aged 25. His armour, made from stolen plough mouldboards, is held at State Library Victoria. Filed as a wool and labour record, posted by State Library Victoria in 2021.
54. 2021 - Old Tillellan shearing shed, Arthur River. The state heritage listed Piesse's shearing shed at Arthur River in the Western Australian wheatbelt, known as Old Tillellan. The Piesse family were among the pastoralists who opened the district before wheat displaced much of the grazing.
55. 2021-07-18 - Ned Kelly’s armour: a suit becomes a symbol. 11 November 1880, aged 25. His armour, made from stolen plough mouldboards, is held at State Library Victoria. Filed as a wool and labour record, posted by State Library Victoria in 2021.
56. 2021-12-14 - Mystery Tour: Sidney Nolan's Ned Kelly series. 11 November 1880, aged 25. His armour, made from stolen plough mouldboards, is held at State Library Victoria. Filed as a wool and labour record, posted by Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in 2021.
57. 2022-04-16 - Tamworth Country Music Festival, 50 years of music 🎸🤠 | ABC Australia. Tamworth Country Music Festival, 50 years of music 🎸🤠, published by ABC Australia. Filed as a wool and labour record, posted by ABC Australia in 2022.
58. 2022 - Wool wagon at Shear Outback, Hay. A restored wool wagon at Shear Outback, the shearing heritage centre at Hay on the Riverina plains of New South Wales. The centre houses the Australian Shearers Hall of Fame and the relocated Murray Downs woolshed.
59. 2023-04-04 - The Romance and Development of the Australian Wool Industry in the Nineteenth Century. 2023.
60. 2023 - Elders wool facility, East Rockingham. The Elders wool depot at East Rockingham south of Perth, opened in 2023 on the site of the former Jandakot wool scouring plant, which closed in 2009. The depot is the main storage point for wool sold at Fremantle, with trucks bringing bales in from the Western Australian wheatbelt.
61. 2024-01-11 - Artist Peter Lawson follows in the footsteps of great-uncle, poet Henry Lawson 🎨 | ABC Australia. Artist Peter Lawson follows in the footsteps of great-uncle, poet Henry Lawson 🎨, published by ABC Australia and concerning Queensland. Henry Lawson wrote the bush stories that shaped the settler national type. Filed as a wool and labour record, posted by ABC Australia in 2024.
62. 2024-06-06 - Glencoe Woolshed | "Blades of Glencoe". Glencoe Woolshed, published by National Trust of South Australia. Filed as a wool and labour record, posted by National Trust of South Australia in 2024.
63. 2024 - Ronaldson and Tippett shearing plant. A two stand shearing plant made by Ronaldson and Tippett, displayed as historic farm machinery at Harrismith in the Western Australian wheatbelt. The engine drove overhead gear that turned flexible shafts down to each handpiece, which is what a stand means. Machine shearing spread through Australian sheds from the late 1880s.
64. 2024-07-15 - The volunteers out to save Toganmain, one of Australia's most important woolsheds 🐑 | ABC Australia. The volunteers out to save Toganmain, one of Australia's most important woolsheds 🐑, published by ABC Australia. Filed as a wool and labour record, posted by ABC Australia in 2024.
65. 2024-11-17 - Merinos to Dorpers: the rise of meat sheep in the outback | Landline | ABC News. Merinos to Dorpers: the rise of meat sheep in the outback, published by ABC News (Australia) and concerning New South Wales. Filed as a wool and labour record, posted by ABC News (Australia) in 2024.
66. 2025 - Jondaryan Woolshed, Darling Downs. The Jondaryan Woolshed on the Darling Downs in Queensland, seen from the road in December 2025. The shed dates from 1859 and is one of the largest surviving timber woolsheds in the country. Jondaryan was a flashpoint in the 1890 maritime and shearing disputes when non-union shearers were brought in.
67. 2025-08-19 - How Australia's first sheep breed could boost the wool industry | Landline | ABC Australia. How Australia's first sheep breed could boost the wool industry, published by ABC Australia. Filed as a wool and labour record, posted by ABC Australia in 2025.