Shearing in the Riverina, New South Wales | Page 5

for a regiment of cavalry, I
should think."
"Well, I don't know. There won't be much left in a week if the weather
holds good," makes answer the chef, as one who thought nothing too
stupendous to be accomplished by shearers, "but I knew I'd forgot
something. As I'm here I'll take a few dozen boxes of sardines, and a
case of pickled salmon. The boys likes 'em, and, murder alive! haven't
we forgot the plums and currants? A hundredweight of each, Mr de
Vere! They'll be crying out for plum-duff and currant buns for the
afternoon; and bullying the life out of me, if I haven't a few trifles like.
It's a hard life, surely, a shearers' cook. Well, good-bye, sir, you have
'em all down in the book."
Lest the reader should imagine that the role of Mr Gordon at Anabanco
was a reign of luxury and that waste which tendeth to penury, let him

be aware that all shearers in Riverina are paid at a certain rate, usually
that of ONE pound per hundred sheep shorn. They agree, on the other
hand, to pay for all supplies consumed by them at certain prices fixed
before the shearing agreement is signed. Hence, it is entirely their own
affair whether their mess bills are extravagant or economical. They can
have anything within the rather wide range of the station store. PATES
DE FOIE GRAS, ortolans, roast ostrich, novels, top-boots,
double-barrelled guns, IF THEY LIKE TO PAY FOR THEM--with
one exception. No wine, no spirits! Neither are they permitted to bring
these stimulants "on to the grounds" for their private use. Grog at
shearing? Matches in a powder-mill! It's very sad and bad; but our
Anglo-Saxon industrial or defensive champion cannot be trusted with
the fire-water. Navvies, men-of-war's men, soldiers, AND
shearers--fine fellows all. But though the younger men might only
drink in moderation, the majority and the older men are utterly without
self-control once in the front of temptation. And wars, 'wounds without
cause,' hot heads, shaking hands, delay and bad shearing, would be the
inevitable results of spirits A LA DISCRETION. So much is this a
matter of certainty from experience that a clause is inserted, and
cheerfully signed, in most shearing agreements, "that any man getting
drunk or bringing spirits on to the station during shearing, LOSES THE
WHOLE OF the money earned by him." The men know that the
restriction is for their benefit, as well as for the interest of the master,
and join in the prohibition heartily.
Let us give a glance at the small army of working-men assembled at
Anabanco--one out of hundreds of stations in the colony of New South
Wales, ranging from 100,000 sheep downwards. There are seventy
shearers; about fifty washers, including the men connected with the
steam-engine, boilers, bricklayers and the like; ten or twelve
boundary-riders, whose duty it is to ride round the large paddocks,
seeing that the fences are all intact, and keeping a general look-out over
the condition of the sheep; three or four overseers; half-a-dozen young
gentlemen acquiring a practical knowledge of sheep-farming, or, as it is
generally phrased, "colonial experience"--a comprehensive expression
enough; a score or two of teamsters, with a couple of hundred horses or
bullocks, waiting for the high-piled wool bales, which are loaded up

and sent away almost as soon as shorn; wool-sorters, pickers-up,
pressers, yardsmen, extra shepherds. It may easily be gathered from this
outline what an 'army with banners' is arrayed at Anabanco. While
statistically inclined, it may be added that the cash due for the shearing
alone (less the mess bill) amounts to 1700 pounds; for the washing
(roughly), 400 pounds, exclusive of provisions consumed, hutting,
wood, water, cooking. Carriage of wool 1500 pounds. Other hands
from 30 pounds to 40 pounds per week. All of which disbursements
take place within from eight to twelve weeks after the shears are in the
first sheep.
Tuesday comes "big with fate." As the sun tinges the far skyline, the
shearers are taking a slight refection of coffee and currant buns to
enable them to withstand the exhausting interval between six and eight
o'clock, when the serious breakfast occurs. Shearers always diet
themselves on the principle that the more they eat the stronger they
must be. Digestion, as preliminary to muscular development, is left to
take its chance. They certainly do get through a tremendous amount of
work. The whole frame is at its utmost tension, early and late. But the
preservation of health is due to their natural strength of constitution
rather than to their profuse and unscientific diet. Half-an-hour after
sunrise Mr Gordon walks quietly into the vast building which contains
the sheep and their shearers--called "the shed," par excellence.
Everything is in perfect cleanliness and order--the floor swept and
smooth,