NUNDLE can be thanked for starting a woolly tradition after the weekend’s shearing celebrations.
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The DAG Sheep Station On The Sheep’s Back Shearing Festival saw some of Australia’s top shearers, past and present, shearing in the historic Wombramurra Woolshed.
The Battle of the Guns saw the top shearers vie for buckles in under-60s and over-60s.
The buckles were specially made in Montana, USA, and have not been presented since 1999.
A major part of the weekend was the reunion of the Shearing Competition Federation of Australia, attracting about 200 people from across Australia to the North West.
The DAG co-owner John Krsulja said the shearers now planned to reunite every four years in a different state.
“I’m glad we’ve done it and now we’re part of their history,” he said.
“They may go to another historic woolshed next time and it’s just great we’re the first ones since 1999, so it’s a pretty good thing.”
Mr Krsulja said the history of the shearers was interesting and had been compiled into a book for the weekend.
The shearers included female shearer Cathy Wendelborn who competed against the men.
“They’ve all got a story to tell,” he said.
This was the second shearers’ festival held at The DAG in as many years, but this year outshone the inaugural event because of the reunion and the invitational shearing competition.
“The thing that stood out for me, the shearers and the judges was how intimate it was,” Mr Krsulja said.
“They were saying that normally in competition, you’re five to 10 metres from the crowd, but here they were half a metre from the crowd and people were walking through. Never in their life had they experienced that, and everyone was involved.”
Sunday saw the best in woollen fashion strut its way through the mess hall at The DAG, organised by the Australian Wool Fashion Awards.
“Some of the fashion was amazing,” Mr Krsulja said.
“They were young girls from Armidale TAFE with entertainment from Barry Morgan (of Spicks and Specks fame).”
The major sponsor for the weekend was New England Wool, which sees the best of the region’s fine wool go to Italy to feature in the world’s best fashion labels.
The shearers and dogs in the dog trials weren’t the only winners from the weekend: the festival raised about $2000 for Nundle Public School, Nundle Preschool and Nundle Swimming Club.
