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Back Roads Season 12 Episode 4
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00:053, 2, 1, go.
00:15There are 71 million of them in Australia.
00:20But there is still no machine that can shear a sheep.
00:28This time on Back Roads,
00:30I'm heading into one of our biggest sheep-shearing hubs,
00:34the city of Wagga Wagga in New South Wales.
00:41It's one job that looks pretty similar to the way it always did,
00:45but I've heard it's actually very different.
00:56So when I first started,
00:57I actually used to get up and do my hair and make-up,
00:59and I'd look like a raccoon by lunchtime.
01:02The annual essential requirement to shear a sheep of its fleece.
01:08This is the pinnacle, this is the harvest,
01:10so it's the most important time of year
01:12is to get the shearing done and get it done properly.
01:15A skill that supercharged Australia's early economy
01:19and created a reputation of a tough, hard-living, nomadic lifestyle.
01:24The good old days,
01:26the best thing about the good old days, they're gone.
01:31I'm here to find out what's changed
01:34in a world where many now pursue careers
01:39and some chase world records.
02:04It's just after 7am.
02:06I'm 45 minutes out of Wagga,
02:08meeting up with the first team of shearers.
02:10They're going to shear 1,200 sheep over the next couple of days.
02:22This part of the scene hasn't changed.
02:25The prepping of the gear.
02:27The waiting of the sheep.
02:30Because when that bell rings...
02:35..there's money to be made.
02:51It's a world shearer Lachie Robertson knows well.
02:55It is such a fast production line here.
02:58Yeah, yep.
02:59So today we're just doing a main shear shearing merino ewes.
03:03We have four shearers on the board at the moment
03:05and we have people sorting the wool or rouse about.
03:10There's two of them.
03:11There's a wool class of Brittany
03:12who is sending the wool in different lines
03:16depending on the quality of the wool.
03:17And then there's Michael over there
03:19who's putting the bales out once it's all dressed up.
03:23All the shearers are paid per sheep
03:25and it can quickly add up.
03:28The very best shearers can earn five grand a week.
03:33How long does it take to get good
03:35and to be earning big money?
03:37Oh, I think my first day shearing
03:39when I was, I don't know, 15 or 16,
03:41I was sure about 60.
03:4460?
03:44Yeah, yeah.
03:45And how many would you do now?
03:46Oh, on a good day now, 250, like, consistently, so...
03:52The technology hasn't really changed that much
03:55since the first merinos arrived in Australia in 1797.
04:01Hand blade shearing very quickly became mechanised.
04:05The combs got a bit wider.
04:07The floor levels were raised in the sheds
04:10to make it easier for the roustabouts.
04:12Some now wear back braces.
04:15But that's about it.
04:17The real difference I can see is the people.
04:22Back in the day, shearing sheds were male-dominated.
04:26Now, women like Brittany run the floor
04:29as a wool classer who decides where the wool goes.
04:35Like this?
04:35Yep.
04:37And just aim as high as you can.
04:43That wasn't too bad.
04:45Wow, that is heavy.
04:47And then what do you do?
04:48So, my job is to class it out.
04:50And what I do is take out all the imperfections
04:53and get it ready for sale.
04:55So, what would you make this into?
04:57So, this could be, like, insulation, socks.
05:00The finer they are, the better money that they get
05:02and the better quality things that they can go into,
05:04so, like, clothings or suits and all that kind of stuff.
05:07This one's not bound for the catwalk, though.
05:09No, definitely not.
05:14At the industry's peak in the 1970s,
05:17there were around 180 million sheep in Australia,
05:21with some shearing sheds big enough
05:24to accommodate up to 120 shearers.
05:28It was a nomadic life,
05:30away for often months at a time.
05:33It led to a reputation of some hard living.
05:36Some of them make up to 50 or 60 pound a week.
05:40If you're a good kind of a shearer that save you money,
05:44don't be like some of them, horses and boos.
05:47I've seen fellas terrible hard-working shearers.
05:49They'd run over the top of you to get into the pen
05:51to get a sheep in front of you.
05:53And when you see them a fortnight after shear them,
05:56they're broke.
06:03Shearing can still be nomadic,
06:05but nearby Wagga bucks the trend.
06:08It's one of the few places in New South Wales
06:11shearers can get almost year-round work locally.
06:15What's it like living in Wagga?
06:16Oh, it's amazing.
06:18You know, I get to come home to my son every night.
06:21I'll do the other B.
06:24I want to go yellow as well.
06:27Brittany lives with her partner Isaac,
06:29who's a shearer, and their son Tama.
06:32But her career path was very nearly
06:34something completely different.
06:37What were you doing then before you started shearing?
06:39I was actually a beauty therapist.
06:41So completely different to this.
06:43I was doing facials, massages, all of that.
06:47So when I first started in the shearing,
06:49I actually used to get up and do my hair and make-up,
06:51and I would look like a raccoon by lunchtime.
06:54So that didn't last very long.
06:58It was while working as a beauty therapist
07:00that Brittany fell into the world of shearing,
07:03after a visit to New Zealand to spend time with her dad,
07:06who was a shearer.
07:08I was just having a really tough time when I was 17,
07:11and my mum sent me over to New Zealand to find my dad,
07:13so I hadn't seen him for about 15 years.
07:16And I just started out as a learner.
07:18I just stuck to his hip and just watched him
07:20for a couple of days, and yeah, just went on from there.
07:23It's meant a lot.
07:24It kind of made me who I am now.
07:27Before, I knew a little bit about New Zealand.
07:30I didn't know anything about the culture.
07:32I didn't know what it meant to be Māori.
07:34But in this industry, everybody and anybody
07:37is from New Zealand somehow and knows somebody in New Zealand.
07:41It's a lifestyle that I love now.
07:43It's something I've been able to build.
07:45My family around it, I've been able to travel.
07:48You make amazing money.
07:50You meet some really good people.
07:52This job takes you places a lot of jobs cannot.
07:55I don't think there's any cream corn in there, though.
07:59Even in Wagga, shearing teams still have to travel, sometimes.
08:03And in a few days, Brittany and a crew are heading away for six weeks.
08:10She's helping the camp's cook, Jazz, another Kiwi, prepare the shopping list.
08:16How many milks do we have?
08:18We've got 18 milk.
08:20And do we have any cooking oil?
08:21No, we need oil.
08:22We've only got a quarter of a bottle.
08:23OK.
08:25Which means working out what they'll need to feed 21 people for 42 days with variety and on a budget.
08:34How much coffee have we got?
08:35We've got two tins.
08:38Throughout the 1900s, as the shearing teams worked the length and breadth of Australia following the work,
08:46the shearers would live together on the farms until the job was done.
08:51And even though Australia no longer rides on the sheep's back,
08:55there are plenty of big sheep stations left.
09:02Like the one where Brittany and the crew are headed.
09:07Into the heart of the open plains of the New South Wales Riverina.
09:13And the thing I've been quietly looking forward to.
09:19It's the stuff of Aussie legend.
09:22It's the great Australian shearing camp out.
09:27This is Gulgumbla, a sheep station two and a half hours west of Wagga.
09:33And it's where 30,000 sheep are waiting to be shorn.
09:39These are top-of-the-range merino sheep.
09:43This wool is designer clothing grade.
09:46From a farmer who was born into it, Bruce Rollinson.
09:51So you've had a whole life with sheep, basically.
09:55Yes.
09:56That's right, yeah.
09:57I think I said to my sister, I said,
09:59make sure they don't mention sheep at my funeral.
10:03You've had a whole life with it.
10:04I've had enough.
10:05I hope there's no sheep where I'm going.
10:12This is the pinnacle.
10:13This is the harvest.
10:14So it's the most important time of the year
10:16is to get the shearing done and get it done properly.
10:24A bit tough to shear.
10:25Yep.
10:25This one will be a bit thick.
10:27Yeah.
10:27Yeah, yeah, yeah.
10:29While Bruce and Lockie discuss the game plan for the shearers,
10:33Brittany and the team are setting up the shed floor.
10:36If you guys are going slow and you guys have got time
10:39and this side's under the pump, go and help them.
10:42Teamwork makes the dream work.
10:46In the kitchen, Cook Jazz is firing up the ovens.
10:50For the next six weeks,
10:52they will all be living in very basic shearing quarters.
10:56It's a unique working environment.
10:59They live together, they eat together, they work together.
11:03So that's a little unusual,
11:05but it can be a lot of fun.
11:12A lot of people enjoy it.
11:14We've got good home-grown mutton for them to eat at night time
11:17and a fire going and a few beers after a heavy day's work
11:20and they're telling stories about the other shed,
11:23the shed that they were in before and all that sort of thing.
11:25So it's a bit...it's camaraderie, I guess, yeah.
11:30In the shearing shed at Gulgumbla,
11:32up to 11 sheep can be shorn at any one time.
11:38And right on, 7.30am,
11:42it comes alive.
11:50There's not a person in this shed
11:52who isn't a vital part of this fast-moving chain.
11:55Apart from me.
11:58This is such a machine.
12:00You cannot miss a beat in here.
12:03It's what surprised me the most, I think,
12:05the fact that the teamwork is so critical.
12:16It's beautiful.
12:17How beautiful.
12:17That wasn't too bad.
12:18Not too bad.
12:19Not too bad.
12:20At least I got it the right way up.
12:29At the other end of the production line
12:31is 19-year-old Michael the Presser,
12:34pressing the wool into bales.
12:38So this is main line, this wool.
12:39So this is the best wool that you can get.
12:41And down there further,
12:42you've got all different sort of lines of wool.
12:44So the clasp separates and I put into the press.
12:47What's the secret to doing it well?
12:49Just not letting your bins get too high,
12:51otherwise you've got a lot of work to catch back up on.
12:53What does your family think about you working in the shearing sheds?
12:57Yeah, they're proud of me for doing it.
12:59Yeah.
12:59They're happy that I got away and got out and making money
13:01at a young age.
13:03What's your dream, Michael?
13:05Be a shearer.
13:06Yeah.
13:06We're going to eventually get a full-time stand.
13:08For now I'm going to do the hard yard to work my way out.
13:10Yeah.
13:14People do seem drawn to this life,
13:17to the energy of the shed, to the money.
13:20It's the same passion that's brought Lockie's dad, Tim,
13:24and his pop, Colin, both former shearers, to the shed today.
13:29They came to have a look, but there is still lanolin under their skin.
13:35This isn't for the cameras.
13:38Lockie's pop, Colin, is 78 and spent 50 years in the sheds.
13:44Oh, I just brought back so many memories.
13:46It looked like you couldn't help yourself.
13:48What was going on?
13:49I couldn't help myself.
13:52I just had to have a go.
13:53It just gets in your brain.
13:56It's everything.
13:57Oh, it's just one of them jobs.
13:59Yeah.
14:00It's hard to get out of your system.
14:02Yeah, my dad was a shearer, and his two brothers were shearers.
14:07Their father, he came out from Scotland as a blade shearer in the late 1800s.
14:13Then dad just sort of got my brother and I, well, we didn't have any choice.
14:16We just went to work.
14:18I can remember going, leaving home of a Sunday at lunchtime on the back of an old truck.
14:25Everybody climbed on the back of the truck and went to the job.
14:30And you might get home Friday, but a lot of times it'd be at the cutout of the shed.
14:35It could be two or three weeks before the truck was coming back.
14:39Luckily, all that sort of thing's gone.
14:41The good old days, the best thing about the good old days, they're gone.
14:49It's a different world, it's a different life now.
14:53Yeah, completely different.
14:56Is there still a romance about it?
14:58Oh, for sure, yeah.
15:00And I don't think that'll ever go.
15:02Yeah, it's just that thing that you feel at the end of the day, you know?
15:07I've done this.
15:14How old are you?
15:1678.
15:19Time to go into retirement.
15:28It's non-stop for two hours, right up until 9.30, when it's time for Smoko.
15:37I'm so grateful we got a good cook this year.
15:40I did, Dad.
15:41The food is amazing.
15:43You've got pizzas.
15:45You've got toasties.
15:47You've got, um, fat in there.
15:51Oh, well, the food's very important.
15:53Cook's the most important person on the place.
15:57So, uh, if we've got good food, everybody's happy.
16:01Jazz the cook is so far holding it together in the kitchen.
16:05Her next mission is to feed this shearing army their lunch.
16:12They reckon this job is the most important on a campout.
16:17It is, because they have to be fed.
16:21Because they get five meals a day, so they get...
16:23Five meals?
16:24They get five meals a day, so I'm up at 4.30 every morning.
16:27It's breakfast, Smoko, lunch, afternoon Smoko, dinner, dessert.
16:30But, yeah, it's stressful.
16:32The shopping, oh, my gosh.
16:34The shopping.
16:35I used to rouse about, yeah, so I've been in...
16:38I'm from Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, and my mum had a run over there,
16:43so I was working with her when I was up until 18,
16:47and then I moved here about 20 years ago,
16:50and I did it for the first two years.
16:52But I'd rather cook, and it's better money for...
16:54Because I've got three young kids, so...
16:56I'm going to fry the mince into patties.
16:59Right, let's get cracking then, huh?
17:00Thank you.
17:03I didn't see you doing a lot of measuring here.
17:06Were you just tossing stuff in because you're so good,
17:08you know what you're doing?
17:09I don't really do measuring.
17:12Just waiting for the oil.
17:21I'm feeling the stress, Jazz.
17:23It's like the clock is ticking.
17:24I know.
17:25It's like ten minutes now until they're in here,
17:27and I haven't cooked one whistle yet.
17:31Man, they'll be having these for dinner at this rate.
17:38It's amazing that it's normally just Jazz at the helm
17:41with a couple of old ovens
17:43trying to keep this shearing team fed and happy.
17:47I have to say,
17:48this is the most stressful job I've seen on the farm so far.
17:53Do you wake up in the middle of the night and think,
17:55Oh, my God!
17:56Sometimes I do wake up thinking I've slept in.
18:00Oh!
18:01At 12, the crew break for lunch,
18:04which means that at 12.01, they're queuing to be fed.
18:08I've done the burgers.
18:11There you go.
18:12There's some more coming.
18:15I'm quite enjoying this, actually.
18:20Of course, my floundering does nothing to stop Jazz,
18:24who completely nails lunch for 21.
18:29It's very important.
18:31You can't work good if you don't eat good.
18:34And how's the food been this time?
18:36Amazing!
18:40The diet has certainly changed a bit since the old days.
18:44When I first started in the sheds,
18:47I used to drink Cordial.
18:50But I found myself cramping up.
18:52I used to sweat too freely.
18:54I used to take the salt out of my body
18:56and that would cause me to cramp.
18:58So a couple of the shears who just want to have some beer,
19:00there's yeast in it.
19:02It'll stop the cramps.
19:10Feel the power.
19:11Feel the burn.
19:12Feel the burn.
19:13Feel the burn.
19:14For some, the diet is even more critical.
19:18Cameron here is part of a crew with Lockie and three others
19:21who are training to take on a shearing world record.
19:26Five shearers, eight hours
19:28and as many Merino lambs as they can handle.
19:33Oh, just myself and a few.
19:34But otherwise, I think we're just looking for the challenge.
19:36Didn't want to do something different that hasn't been done
19:38and put our names on the line, I suppose.
19:40It's a bit dawning, but we'll see how we go.
19:42We'll work on power up and then tempo down.
19:45So power up, twist.
19:47The whole crew is being trained by Josh Clayton,
19:50a former record shearer.
19:54Power up.
19:54Ah, so this is where it's all happening.
19:57How's the training going?
19:58It's really helped my shearing of late.
20:00I'm getting through the day a lot easier now
20:02and feeling a lot stronger for longer.
20:04OK, you're feeling ready for the record attempt, though?
20:07I'm well over halfway into my training now,
20:10so things are starting to happen, yeah.
20:12Why do you want to do it?
20:13When you're a record sharer, you're known a bit better.
20:17OK, and what do you think you're going to do on the day?
20:19What are we looking for?
20:20I'm aiming for 500 personally,
20:23but, yeah, that's my personal target.
20:26It is super exciting and, you know, there's five shearers,
20:30so they're going to get through a lot of sheep.
20:31You know, they're probably going to shear around, you know,
20:34two, two-and-a-half thousand sheep.
20:36Yeah, that's right.
20:37So pull it through, so go down nice and steady.
20:39No slack.
20:41Is that...
20:42Josh will spend nine months working with this crew
20:45towards the world record,
20:47tuning these shearers into elite athletes.
20:50He spent years as a shearer
20:52before his own life took a sudden change of direction.
20:56So in 2017,
21:00when my life was pretty much how I wanted it,
21:04it was good, you know,
21:05had to build a nice house, had a good job,
21:07had a beautiful partner of eight years
21:10and had a little girl.
21:12And then, yeah, Stella's mum, Hayley,
21:15she was diagnosed with motor neurone disease
21:17when she was 33 and I was 32.
21:23I was competing with Shearing at the time
21:25and getting ready to do a world record myself
21:28and then Hayley's diagnosis come through,
21:31so everything stopped
21:32and we just threw all ourselves and our resources
21:36and our family and friends
21:37and everyone got behind us
21:38and started going down this big, holistical journey
21:42to try and slow the MND down.
21:44So Hayley's family, out of the five siblings,
21:47Hayley's the youngest,
21:49three of them have passed away from MND.
21:52There is no cure for MND
21:54and Hayley died in 2017
21:57when their daughter Stella was just two years old.
22:01I'm so sorry for you.
22:03I can't imagine what that would have been like.
22:05Yeah.
22:07It was very challenging, yeah.
22:08I think, you know, with Stella knowing that, you know,
22:10she was going to see her daughter grow up
22:11would probably be the hardest thing.
22:13So these lambs are going to be the same size
22:17as the ones that are going to shear me back there.
22:23How did it change your approach to life then?
22:43Josh's holistic journey with Hayley taught him
22:46about the power of nutrition
22:48when combined with training,
22:50which he tries to focus back into the industry that he loves,
22:55running programs specifically to help competitive shearers.
23:00Being a competitive shearer myself,
23:02I can understand, you know, the benefits, you know.
23:05But, you know, I just like seeing people perform at their best.
23:09Stella loves it, you know.
23:10She's been thrown into this shearing world, you know, both feet.
23:14I'd love to see Stella shearing, you know.
23:22Josh's efforts with the team will build on a tradition
23:26of shearers trying to set records.
23:31Something that started with being the gun shearer in the shed.
23:36But now the numbers being shown are bigger than ever.
23:44Which brings us to a few months later
23:46in a shed near Holbrook in New South Wales at 7am.
23:52Lockie's team of five shearers
23:54attempt to set a new world record
23:56to see how many Merino lambs
23:59five shearers can shear in eight hours.
24:04A lot of nerves.
24:06Drove down here by myself and I was getting a bit emotional,
24:08to be honest.
24:08It's all just finally come together, so, yeah.
24:11It's pretty overwhelming.
24:12We've got to spend over 12 months in the planning.
24:15We're here now, so see how we go.
24:17Yeah, normally you can just roll out of bed
24:18and turn up to work,
24:19and it doesn't really matter how many you shear,
24:21but every second today counts,
24:23so we're going to try and make sure
24:24that we get as many sheep out as possible.
24:32Three, two, one, go!
24:38They've also raised nearly $15,000
24:42for a charity supporting sick kids
24:44and the local school through this event.
24:48But it's a brutal way to do it.
24:50Their goal is around one Merino lamb per shearer
24:54every 60 seconds.
24:57It's a constant, unrelenting effort
25:00that takes a mental and physical toll.
25:09It's like a Formula One team.
25:10The shearer's the driver,
25:12and then you've got, you know,
25:13your engineer, your mechanic,
25:14and then the guy who's, you know,
25:16looking after your nutrition and stuff like that as well.
25:18The support and the help
25:19and anything I can out the back
25:21for any advice I can give,
25:23which is not much.
25:36So it's just a continuous pain barrier
25:39that you've got to try and get through,
25:40and mentally I'm just,
25:41I chose to be here,
25:43so you just can't let it defeat you.
25:47And they don't.
25:51Because after eight gruelling hours
25:54of solid shearing,
25:56it's all over.
26:01It gives a grand total of 2-3-0-1.
26:08A new world record is set.
26:12Until the next team,
26:14brave enough to want to take it on.
26:16I think it's an incredible record
26:18that you guys have set.
26:27It's all for the glory.
26:30Because day to day,
26:31nothing really changes.
26:33Next week, they'll be back at it,
26:35doing what they do best,
26:37without the pressure.
26:39Working with a great team,
26:41to complete this essential job
26:43of shearing a sheep of its fleece.
26:47And that day will probably end
26:49as it has for a couple of hundred years at least,
26:53with a few tales around the campfire.
26:58So it turns out,
26:59the art of shearing hasn't really changed much.
27:02But it's a world away
27:04from the old sheds of Banjo Patterson's days.
27:08The workers are faster,
27:09the money is better.
27:10It's more welcoming.
27:12Just take a look at the number of women
27:13who by all accounts have changed things for the better.
27:16What I've seen is a group of really hard-working people
27:21still building a life off the sheep's back.
27:24And I can't see that changing anytime soon.
27:30Next time, I'm kicking up my heels.
27:33I'm going to get out of the way.
27:35The parade's coming.
27:36At one of the biggest Cornish festivals in the world.
27:39I love the Cornish policies, to be honest.
27:42I delve into mysteries of the Copper Coast in South Australia.
27:45Do it, or though, or we're bitter.
27:49It's praise.
27:50Praise.
27:51And the fight to preserve its Cornish culture.
27:54I reckon you're top of the class.
27:56Oh, yeah.
27:57You just say it, man, dude.
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