The Shearer - Page 22: His pay, the number of sheep shorn each day and to be ‘gun shearer’ at this shed he needed to shear at least seventy sheep a day everyday until the shed run out. Wages were always a concern for the amount of work a shearer needed to do to make a decent wage. Shearing one hundred sheep, shearers were paid a quid or one pound which equated to about tuppence per sheep shorn. Normally Joe sheared sixty sheep per day. The breakfast bell jangled metal against metal to arouse the men. Joe was one of the first to grace the table. Freshly cooked damper, fried sheep brains, liver, kidney, heart and chops from the kill the night before covered with thick gravy was soon devoured by men gathered around the table, finished off with a pannikin of black tea. If the shed had a good cook, the shearers were happy and content. This shed had a good cook with an abundant of food! Joe sat back from the table, rubbed his stomach and congratulated the cook on a fine breakfast which took him to morning smoko to have freshly cooked scones. Bluey Simpson walked beside Joe to the shearing shed. ‘Good morning Boss,’ Joe called to Cocky Young, dressed in white to display his role as owner of the sheep property. Cocky Young acknowledged Joe and Bluey with a nod of his head and stood in the centre of the Shearing Shed where seven shearers shore his sheep. He watched constantly to see how many of his sheep received unnecessary cuts to the hide when the ‘tar boy’ rushed to cover the cut with Stockholm tar to stop the bleed.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 22:06:01 +0000
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