Clicking Shears
Wolseley’s Woolly Invention
Although world-renowned for its fine merino wool today, the fleece of Australia’s first flocks struggled to pass muster, and the wool industry didn’t hit its stride until the 1860s. Back then, all shearers used hand shears like these. As flocks and demand for fleece grew, graziers started searching for ways to increase productivity.
Enter Frederick York Wolseley (1837-1899). Born in Ireland, Wolseley migrated to Victoria in 1854. The following year he bought Euroka Station in New South Wales, where, with the financial backing of his brother, Garnet, he began experimenting with mechanical shearing.
By the 1870s, Wolseley and grazier Robert Savage had patented a shearing device. Seeing room for improvement, in 1884, he and Richard Pickup Park introduced a new model with a cog-gear joint that increased the shearer’s range of movement.
In 1885, excited by the potential of a horse-clipper made by the Birmingham-trained mechanic John Howard, Wolseley bought the rights and hired Howard as a mechanic. Euroka Station’s blacksmith, George Grey, rounded out the enterprise that brought Wolseley’s ideas to fruition.
After some fine-tuning, by 1887, Wolseley’s shearer, Hassan Ali, was going head-to-head with hand shearers in public demonstrations in Sydney, Melbourne and Euroka. Although the hand shears were faster, the machine proved its worth by giving a closer cut, resulting in more fleece.
Although hand shearers initially resisted, by 1888, Australia’s first fully mechanised shearing was completed at Samuel McCaughey’s Dunlop Station in New South Wales, marking a turning point for the industry.
In 1889, Wolseley travelled to England, founding the Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Co. Pty Ltd. His foreman Herbert Austin—later of car-manufacturing fame—was relocated to Wolseley’s factory in Birmingham, taking on the role of production manager.
What Wolseley lacked in technical skill was surmounted by his ability to bring together the right people to make his vision a reality. His tenacity and team work left an indelible mark on an industry that was to become one of Australia’s greatest exports. While most shearing today is mechanised, shearers still use hand shears like the ones pictured when a close cut will leave sheep vulnerable to the elements.
