Shearing in the Riverina, New South Wales | Page 8

in five minutes not a soul was left in or near the great building
lately so busy and populous, except the boys who were sweeping up the
floor. The silence of ages seems to fall and settle upon it.
Next morning at a rather earlier hour every man is at his post. Business
is meant decidedly. Now commences the delicate and difficult part of
the superintendence which keeps Mr Gordon at his post in the shed,
nearly from daylight till dark, for from eight to ten weeks. During the

first day he has formed a sort of gauge of each man's temper and
workmanship. For now, and henceforth, the natural bias of each shearer
will appear. Some try to shear too fast, and in their haste shear badly.
Some are rough and savage with the sheep, which do occasionally kick
and become unquiet at critical times; and it must be confessed are
provoking enough. Some shear very fairly and handsomely to a
superficial eye, but commit the unpardonable offence of "leaving wool
on." Some are deceitful, shearing carefully when overlooked, but
"racing" and otherwise misbehaving directly the eye of authority is
diverted. These and many other tricks and defects require to be noted
and abated, quietly but firmly, by the manager of the shed--firmly
because evil would develop and spread ruinously if not checked;
quietly because immense loss might be incurred by a strike. Shearing
differs from other work in this wise: it is work against time, more
especially in Riverina. If the wool be not off the backs of the sheep
before November, all sorts of draw-backs and destructions supervene.
The spear-shaped grass-seeds, specially formed as if in special
collusion with the Evil One, hasten to bury themselves in the wool, and
even in the flesh of the tender victims. Dust rises in red clouds from the
unmoistened, betrampled meadows so lately verdurous and
flower-spangled. From snowy white to an unlovely dark brown turn the
carefully washed fleeces, causing anathema from overseers and
depreciation from brokers. All these losses of temper, trouble, and
money become inevitable if shearing be protracted, it may be, beyond a
given week.
Hence, as in harvest with a short allowance of fair weather, discipline
must be tempered with diplomacy. Lose your temper, and be over
particular: off go Billy May, Abraham Lawson, and half-a-dozen of
your best men, making a weekly difference of perhaps two or three
thousand sheep for the remainder of the shearing. Can you not replace
them? Not so! Every shed in Riverina will be hard at work during this
present month of September and for every hour of October. Till that
time not a shearer will come to your gate, except, perhaps, one or two
useless, characterless men. Are you to tolerate bad workmanship? Not
that either. But try all other means with your men before you resort to
harshness; and be quite certain that your sentence is just, and that you

can afford the defection.
So our friend Mr Gordon, wise from many tens of thousands of shorn
sheep that have been counted out past his steady eye, criticises
temperately, but watchfully. He reproves sufficiently, and no more, any
glaring fault; makes his calculation as to who are really bad shearers,
and can be discharged without loss to the commonwealth, or who can
shear fairly and can be coached up to a decent average. One division,
slow, and good only when slow, have to be watched lest they emulate
"the talent," and so come to grief. Then "the talent" has to be mildly
admonished from time to time lest they force the pace, set a bad
example, and lure the other men on to "racing." This last leads to
slovenly shearing, ill-usage of the sheep, and general dissatisfaction.
Tact, temper, patience, and firmness are each and all necessary in that
Captain of Industry who has the very delicate and important task of
superintending a large woolshed. Hugh Gordon had shown all in such
proportion as would have made a distinguished man anywhere, had
fortune not adjusted for him this particular profession. Calm with the
consciousness of strength, he was kind and considerate in manner as in
nature, until provoked by glaring dishonesty or incivility. Then the lion
part of his nature woke up, so that it commonly went ill with the
aggressor. As this was matter of public report, he had little occasion to
spoil the repose of his bearing. Day succeeds day, and for a fortnight
the machinery goes on smoothly and successfully. The sheep arrive at
an appointed day and hour by detachments and regiments at the
washpen. They depart thence, like good boys on Saturday night,
redolent of soap and water, and clean to a fault. They enter the shed
white and flossy as newly combed poodles to