We begin our journey back
in
time to
Boorowa's Irish Woolfest
not in Ireland and not in New
South
Wales
but far out to sea braving the
Briney Deep.
.
..
Back when mad King George III of
England
was looking for somewhere terrifying to use as a dumping ground for
unwanted
English criminals (and for even more unwanted Irish rebels) he chose
Australia
partly because it was so far away - but mainly because he was afraid
the French might beat him to it if he didn't make use of it first.
..
Upon leaving England loaded with
supplies (or when
leaving Australia loaded with wool) sailors would sing
a rousing Capstan Shanty (such as South
Australia) as to keep their spirits up as they heaved away on
the
ship's capstan.
To
hear South
Australia, click
on
the small black triangle at the
left-hand
end of the music player:
Apart
from the stain of having a
rough-and-ready
convict origin, what still characterises
the story of Australia is what
one historian (in a book by the same name) called
'The Tyranny of
Distance.'
...
Before
the discovery of gold,
only
two commodities had a high enough value to
profitably
overcome the 'Tyranny of
Distance' - rum imported
to
Australia and wool exported
to London via what became known
as 'The
Great Circle Route'.
..
So
important did the export
of Merino wool become, not just for Boorowa in New South Wales
(where
many Irish folk settled) but for the whole economy that, well into the
20th century
it was said that Australia 'lived
off the
sheep's
back'..
.
.
Children's choir at the 2004 Boorawa Irish
Woolfest
.
The pictures below were not
taken in Ireland
during the annual Irish 'marching
season'
but in the main street of Boorowa
in far-away New South Wales:
.
.
Borrowa's heart-stirring Irish Pipe Band.
.
.
Offering cold beer, warm beds, open fires and 'unique pie floaters',
patrons of a packed-to-the-rafters Boorowa Hotel spill
out on to the footpath to see the Woolfest parade.
Despite all the developments that characterise a modern
urban economy,
the romance of wool-growing still tugs at many Aussie
heart strings:
..
.
'Shearing the Rams' - by Tom Roberts
.
.
In the cold light of day, blade shearing was much less
romantic than in Tom Robert's 'Shearing the Rams'.
Many colonial shearers were alcoholics.
.
Even after machine shearing took hold in 1885
and the bigger sheds became more organised,
a shearer's life was never easy - especially
when coming off a rum bender
or striking for decent pay.
.
.
Important though they were to the Australian economy,
more than shearing skills were needed to get the wool
away.
.
The highest paid and skilled shearing employee is still
the wool classer who
(by eye and feel) can tell the spinning quality and
fineness
of rolled-up fleeces:
.
Even today, there is nothing like the
distinctive
down-to-earth aroma and
the exciting atmosphere of an Aussie shearing shed
going
full-bore -
an atmosphere captured by bush bard Banjo
Paterson
in his:
.
Shearing
at Castlereagh
.
The bell is set a-ringing, and the engine gives
a toot,
There's five-and-thirty shearers here a-shearing
for the loot,
So stir yourselves, you penners-up, and shove
the sheep along --
The musterers are fetching them a hundred
thousand
strong --
And make your collie dogs speak up; what would
the buyers say
In London if the wool was late this year from
Castlereagh?
.
This is not the legendary Castlereagh shed in New South Wales.
It's an even bigger shed
at Jondaryan in outback Queensland.
But the places where Merino wool was
grown were
a long way inland from sea-ports like Sydney.
Once again, the tyranny of distance
had to be overcome:
.
.
A wool-laden bullock team parked outside the Boorowa Hotel
(before the top-floor verandah was added).
.
The reason so many main streets in rural Australia are
extra wide (as shown above)
had nothing to do with visionary town
planning
and everything to do with the need to
provide enough room for a long
bullock
or horse team to be able to
turn around without knocking
down
any
pub verandahs!
.
.
Leather-aproned wagon builders show off their latest model.
.
.
An authentic working replica of a beautifully turned-out
Cobb and Co stage coach at the 2004 Boorowa Woolfest.
.
Irish settlers weren't the only folk to make good in
rural Australia.
Before steam trains appeared, catching a Cobb and Co
coach
(a service pioneered by two enterprising American
brothers)
was Australia's fastest mode of inland transport.
As far as beauty and elegance of design goes,
modern modes of transport just can't compete:
.
.
Three Kelpie sheep dogs (plus Graham and Maureen)
with a quad-bike at the 2004 Boorowa Woolfest.
.
Without the help of keen-as-mustard Kelipes
and other purpose-bred working dogs,
a highly profitable wool industry
would not have been possible.
.
.
Outside the cedar-lined Boorowa Court House,
a Kelpie sheep dog shows off his prowess.
.
But before we head back to our urban homes
(spiritually refreshed, historically reinvigorated
and fully in touch with our pastoral roots)
there's always time for one last nose pat
to say 'thank you' to those who
got the wool away:
.
