the nostalgia of shearing sheds
from W
I received an invitation today to go to the opening of an exhibition of photographs about shearing sheds. Isa lei. The nostalgia of the topic. My father managed two shearing sheds in Swan Hill - both on the edge of town, south and north. As children my four brothers and I played in the yards, in the sheds, and joined in with the sheepdogs droving sheep. In Geelong where we now live, there were large woolstores as this city was a port to send bales of wool away. These days, the Deakin University campus is located in one of these buildings and the National Wool Museum in another. I swear that when I walk around either building I can smell the lanolin and dags and hear the murmur of sheep!
posted by Peceli and Wendy's Blog at 10:00 PM
7 Comments:
By the way, what's your take on the situation in Fiji right now? It sounds like a coup is imminent!
I'm not in Suva, so my news is via internet and phone calls. Some people say 'Only in Fiji' and everyone gets on with their lives, others are very anxious. It is serious but Australia is over reacting with warships, evacuation plans etc. The latest I heard is that Qarase PM is going to New Zealand to talk with Bainimarama, (who is there on a family visit - yes, while scaring the people of Fiji with his words) a meeting auspiced by Peters and PM Helen. Maybe Helen of Ploy with do it! It certainly needs a woman's touch.
W.
This is a wonderful image - so lively and 3D
Yes, Alison, I thought it was a great photo. It's on the invitation to the exhibition of photographs by Alison Bennett and Andrew Chapman.
w.
from Peceli
My first experience in the wool shed in Swan Hill only lasted half a day. I could not keep up with other men. My job was to pick up the shorn wool fleeces and spread them on the table for the wool classer. But I saw a some snakes on the way back home that day. I thought they were just sticks.
I love the ineriors of wool sheds too, especially the northern ones that are so huge and absolutely come to life when its shearing time. Must find some interior photos. I think it is the smell that is so evocative.
Penny,
My Dad's sheds were both large, I think with six or eight shearers at each.
Though a Melbourne boy, he went on the wool track as a wool-classer when he was twenty - up to Queensland and told us so many stories of his adventures there, then eventually settled down in Swan Hill in the 30s.
W.
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