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00:14There are 71 million of them in Australia, but there is still no machine that can shear
00:25a sheep. This time on Backroads I'm heading into one of our biggest sheep shearing hubs,
00:34the city of Wagga Wagga in New South Wales. It's one job that looks pretty similar to
00:44the way it always did, but I've heard it's actually very different.
00:56So when I first started I actually used to get up and do my hair and makeup and I'd look
01:00like a raccoon by lunchtime. The annual essential requirement to shear a sheep
01:06of its fleece. This is the pinnacle, this is the harvest, so it's the most important time
01:11of the year is to get the shearing done and get it done properly. A skill that supercharged
01:18Australia's early economy and created a reputation of a tough, hard living, nomadic lifestyle.
01:25The good old days, the best thing about the good old days, they're gone.
01:31I'm here to find out what's changed in a world where many now pursue careers and some chase
01:41world records.
02:04It's just after 7am. I'm 45 minutes out of Wagga, meeting 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. The prepping of the gear, the waiting of the sheep,
02:29the next couple of days. It's a world Shearer Lockie Robertson knows well.
02:54It is such a fast production line here. Yeah, yep. So today we're just doing a main shear
03:01shearing merino ewes. We have four shearers on the board at the moment and we have people
03:07sorting the wool or rouse about. There's two of them. There's a wool class of Brittany who
03:13is sending the wool in different lines depending on the quality of the wool. And then there's
03:18Michael over there who's putting the bales out once it's all dressed up. All the shearers
03:24are paid per sheep. And it can quickly add up. The very best shearers can earn five grand
03:31a week. How long does it take to get good and to be earning big money?
03:37Oh, I think my first day shearing when I was, I don't know if I was 15 or 16, I
03:41was sure
03:42about 60. So. 60? Yeah, yeah. And how many would you do now? Oh, on a good day now,
03:47250 like consistently, so. The technology hasn't really changed that much since the first merinos
03:56arrived in Australia in 1797. Hand blade shearing very quickly became mechanised. The combs got a
04:06bit wider. The floor levels were raised in the sheds to make it easier for the roustabouts.
04:13Some now wear back braces. But that's about it. The real difference I can see is the people.
04:21Back in the day, shearing sheds were male dominated. Now, women like Brittany run the floor as a wool
04:31classer who decides where the wool goes. Like this? Yep. And just aim as high as you can.
04:43That wasn't too bad. Wow. That is heavy. And then what are you doing? So my job is to class
04:50it out. And what I do
04:51is take out all the imperfections and get it ready for sale. So what would you make this into?
04:57So this could be like insulation, socks. The finer they are, the better money that they get.
05:02And the better quality things that they can go into. So like clothing or suits and all that kind of
05:06stuff.
05:06This one's not bound for the catwalk though. No, definitely not.
05:14At the industry's peak in the 1970s, there were around 180 million sheep in Australia.
05:21With some shearing sheds big enough to accommodate up to 120 shearers.
05:28It was a nomadic life, away for often months at a time. It led to a reputation of some hard
05:35living.
05:36Some of them make up to 50 or 60 pounds a week. If you're a good kind of a shearer,
05:42that save you money, don't be like some of them, horses and bulls.
05:46I see fellas terrible hard working shearers. They run over the top of you to get into the pen
05:51to get a sheep in front of you. And when you see them a fortnight after shear them, they're broke.
06:03Shearing can still be nomadic, but nearby Wagga bucks the trend.
06:08It's one of the few places in New South Wales shearers can get almost year-round work locally.
06:15What's it like living in Wagga? Oh, it's amazing.
06:18You know, I get to come home to my son every night.
06:21I'll do the other bee.
06:24I want to go yellow as well.
06:27Brittany lives with her partner Isaac, who's a shearer, and their son Tama.
06:31But her career path was very nearly something completely different.
06:37What were you doing then before you started shearing?
06:39I was actually a beauty therapist, so completely different to this.
06:43I was doing facials, massages, all of that.
06:47So when I first started in the shearing, I actually used to get up and do my hair and makeup.
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 that Brittany fell into the world of shearing.
07:03After a visit to New Zealand to spend time with her dad, who was a shearer.
07:08I was just having a really tough time when I was 17.
07:10And 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 for a couple of days.
07:21And yeah, just went on from there.
07:22It'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 is from New Zealand.
07:39Somehow I know somebody in New Zealand.
07:41It's a lifestyle that I love now.
07:43It's something I've been able to build my family around.
07:47I've been able to travel.
07:48You make amazing money.
07:50You meet some really good people.
07:51This dog 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.
08:02Sometimes.
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.
08:19And do we have any cooking oil?
08:21No.
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
08:32and on a budget.
08:34How much coffee have we got?
08:35We've got two tens.
08:39Throughout the 1900s, as the shearing teams worked the length and breadth of Australia following
08:45the work, the 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, there are plenty of big sheep stations left.
09:01Like 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.
09:21It's the great Australian shearing camp out.
09:27This is Gul Gumbla, 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, from a farmer who was born into it, Bruce Rollinson.
09:51So you've had a whole life with sheep, basically.
09:54Yes.
09:55That's right.
09:56Yeah.
09:57I think I said to my sister, I said, make sure they don't mention sheep at my funeral.
10:03You've had a whole life of it.
10:04I've had enough, yes.
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 is to get the shearing done and get it done properly.
10:24A bit tough to shear.
10:25Yeah.
10:27Yeah, yeah, yeah.
10:28Yeah.
10:28That's good.
10:29While Bruce and Lachie discuss the game plan for the shearers, Brittany and the team are setting up the shed
10:36floor.
10:36If you guys are going slow and you guys have got time and this side's under the pump, go and
10:41help them.
10:42Teamwork makes the dream work.
10:45In the kitchen, Cook Jazz is firing up the ovens.
10:50For the next six weeks, they will all be living in very basic shearing quarters.
10:56It's a unique working environment.
10:59They live together.
11:01They eat together.
11:01They work together.
11:03So that's a little unusual, but it can be a lot of fun.
11:12A lot of people enjoy it.
11:13We've got good homegrown mutton for them to eat at night time and a fire going and a few beers
11:19after a heavy day's work.
11:20And they're telling stories about the other shed, the shed that they were in before and all that sort of
11:25thing.
11:25So it's a bit, it's camaraderie, I guess.
11:27Yeah.
11:30In the shearing shed at Gulgumbla, up to 11 sheep can be shorn at any one time.
11:38And right on 7.30am, it comes alive.
11:50There's not a person in this shed who 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.
12:16Beautiful. That wasn't too bad.
12:18Not too bad.
12:19Not too bad.
12:20At least I got it the right way up.
12:28At the other end of the production line is 19-year-old Michael, the presser, pressing the wool into bales.
12:38So this is the main line of this wool, so this is the best wool that you can get.
12:41And down there further you've got all different sort of lines of wool.
12:44So the class separates it and I put it into the press.
12:46What's the secret to doing it well?
12:49Just not letting your bins get too high, otherwise 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.
12:58Yeah.
12:59They're happy that I got away and got out and making money at a young age.
13:03What's your dream, Michael?
13:05Be a shearer.
13:06Yeah.
13:06I could eventually get a full-time stand.
13:08For now I've got to do a hard yard to work my way up.
13:10Yeah.
13:14People do seem drawn to this life, to the energy of the shed, to the money.
13:20It's the same passion that's brought Lockie's dad, Tim, and 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.
13:55It'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 the cut out of the shed.
14:34It could be two or three weeks before the truck was coming back.
14:39Luckily, all that sort of thing's gone.
14:42The 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.
14:52Yeah, completely different.
14:55Is there still a romance about it?
14:58Oh, for sure.
14:59Yeah.
14:59Yeah.
15:00And I don't think that'll ever go.
15:02Yeah.
15:03It's just that thing that you feel at the end of the day, you know, I've done this.
15:13How old are you?
15:1678.
15:18Time to go into retirement.
15:20Come on.
15:28It's non-stop for two hours, right up until 9.30 when it's time for Smoko.
15:36Get out.
15:37I'm so grateful we got a good cook this year.
15:40I did.
15:41The food is amazing.
15:42It's got pizzas.
15:45You've got toasties.
15:47You've got, um, fart in there.
15:51Oh, well, the food's very important.
15:53The cook's the most important person on the place.
15:57So, 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 camp out.
16:18It is, because they have to be fed.
16:20Because 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.
16:31The shopping.
16:33Oh, my gosh.
16:34The shopping.
16:35I used to rouse about a year.
16:37So, 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.
16:59Okay. Right.
16:59Let's get cracking then, huh?
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?
17:09Yeah.
17:09I don't really do measuring.
17:12Just waiting for the oil.
17:20Oh, I'm feeling the stress, Jaz.
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 rissole yet.
17:31Man, they'll be having these for dinner at this rate.
17:37It's amazing that it's normally just Jaz 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.
17:57Wake up thinking I've slept in.
17:59Oh!
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.
18:21Of course, my floundering does nothing to stop Jaz,
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, I used to drink cordial.
18:49But I found myself cramping up, you know.
18:52I used to sweat too freely.
18:54I used to take a salt out of my body, and that would cause me to cramp.
18:57So, a couple of the shearers, they just want to have some beer.
19:00There's yeast in it.
19:01Like, you know.
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, and as many Merino lambs as they can handle.
19:33Oh, just myself and a few of the other boys,
19:35I 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.
19:53Power 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.
20:02Yeah.
20:02And feeling a lot stronger for longer.
20:04Okay, you're feeling ready for the record attempt, though?
20:07I'm well over halfway into my training now,
20:09so things are starting to happen, yeah.
20:12Why do you want to do it?
20:13When you're a record shearer,
20:15you're known a bit better, so...
20:17Okay, 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,
20:22but, yeah, that's my personal target.
20:26It is super exciting, and, you know,
20:29there'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,
20:33you know, two, two and a half thousand sheep.
20:36Yeah, that's right.
20:37So, pull it through, so we go down nice and steady.
20:39No slack.
20:41Josh 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.
20:57So, 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.
21:11And 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
21:41to 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,
22:10you know,
22:10she was going to see her daughter grow up,
22:11it's probably 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?
22:27Yeah, it made me just realise that health is wealth.
22:31Sort of when everything gets, you know, taken away from you,
22:36I guess it's really, you know,
22:38how can you preserve what you have?
22:40Keep your legs all but straight, all straight.
22:42Come down, yeah, back.
22:43Josh's holistic journey with Hayley
22:46taught him about 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.
23:51Lockie's team of five shearers attempt to set a new world record
23:56to see how many Merino lambs five shearers can shear in eight hours.
24:05A lot of nerves.
24:06Drove down here by myself and I was getting a bit emotional,
24:07to be honest.
24:08It's all just finally come together.
24:09So, yeah, 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 and turn up to work
24:19and, you know, it doesn't really matter how many you shear,
24:21but every second today counts.
24:23We're going to try and make sure that we get as many sheep out as possible.
24:30Three, two, one, go.
24:39They've also raised nearly $15,000 for a charity supporting sick kids
24:44and the local school through this event.
24:47But it's a brutal way to do it.
24:50Their goal is around one Merino lamb per shearer every 60 seconds.
24:58It's a constant, unrelenting effort that takes a mental and physical toll.
25:09It's like a Formula One team.
25:10The shearer's the driver and then you've got, you know,
25:13your engineer, your mechanic and then the guy who's, you know,
25:16looking after your nutrition and stuff like that as well.
25:18The support and the help and anything I can out the back
25:21for any advice I can give, which is not much.
25:24Four.
25:27Three.
25:29That's right.
25:30Three.
25:31Nine.
25:36So it's just a continuous pain barrier that you've got to try and get through.
25:40And mentally I'm just, I chose to be here, so you just can't let it defeat you.
25:44To them.
25:45Fire!
25:46Fire!
25:47Fire!
25:48Fire!
25:48Fire!
25:49Fire!
25:50Fire!
25:52Fire!
25:52Fire.
25:53Fire!
26:01That gives a grand total of 2-3-0-1.
26:07Fire!
26:08Fire!
26:09The new world record is set until the next team brave enough to want to take it on.
26:16I think it's an incredible record that you guys have set.
26:28It's all for the glory because day to day nothing really changes.
26:33Next week they'll be back at it, doing what they do best, without the pressure.
26:39Working with a great team to complete this essential job of shearing a sheep of its fleece.
26:47And that day will probably end as it has for a couple of hundred years at least,
26:53with a few tails around the campfire.
26:58So it turns out the art of shearing hasn't really changed much.
27:02But it's a world away from the old sheds of Banjo-Patterson's days.
27:07The workers are faster, the money is better.
27:10It's more welcoming.
27:12Just take a look at the number of women who by all accounts have changed things for the better.
27:17What I've seen is a group of really hard-working people still 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, the 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 throw a winner.
27:49It's praise.
27:50Praise.
27:51And the fight to preserve its Cornish culture.
27:54I reckon you're top of the class.
27:55Aww.
27:56Hey, uh, you just signed that, dude.
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