Click go the shears for 50-plus years — WA shearing veterans on the state of their industry

Handpieces hum as fleeces are flicked from the floor to the table and into the wool press. Four grey-haired figures move around the shed in the same well choreographed routine they have been honing for the past half- century. When shearers Graeme Boothey, Dennis Abbott, Kevin Gellatly and contractor Don Spiers were working in the same shed last week, there were nearly 220 combined years of industry experience standing on the same board. When asked what it was that kept them going, they all said much the same thing — that it’s in their blood. Being a shearer means long hours and physically taxing work, and while they still want to be in the job, they are also doing it because the industry needs them. Eddie McEllister, a shearing contractor from Narrogin, says there is a serious lack of shearers in WA and Australia at the moment, especially for the volume of sheep that need to be shorn. “That’s why some of these older gentlemen are still here today shearing and helping out the industry,” he said. “They’re helping it through this shortage.” Contractor of the team Don Spiers is 71 and has been in the sheds for 56 years. After being told by his headmaster that he was nothing but scum and would not achieve much in life, he was pulled out of school at 14 and started shed-handing. That turned into shearing, and 56 years later Don has an impressive list of achievements to his name, from 1984 State Open Shearing Champion to vice-president of the WA Shearing Contractors Association. “The industry's great when I've got good men around me,” Mr Spiers said. “I still really enjoy the game and I’ve achieved a lot out of it. I’ve educated my girls and acquired quite a lot of assets. “From a 14-year-old scum kid that wasn't going to achieve anything, to a multi-millionaire — I’d love to get hold of that headmaster and tap him on the shoulder. “It’s the toughest game in Australia, but I feel like I’ve proven by example that you can be successful from it.” Dennis Abbott, 75, has shorn for Don for the last 40 years after coming to Australia from the UK in the 1960s. He describes himself as part of the furniture now, after spending 49 of his 75 years in the shearing shed. “When I moved to Australia I had enough money to last me a week,” he said. Dennis worked on a station on the Nullarbor before winding up spending a day roustabouting in a shearing shed in Williams. “I saw what the shearers were doing,” he said. “I saw what they got, and I saw what I got and I thought, that’ll do me. “And now here I still am. It’s a hard job to get into, and it’s even harder to get out of.” That is a sentiment echoed by 74-year-old Graeme Boothey, who has been shearing for longer than any of them. “I started because my father was a shearer. I watched him one day grab a sheep and take the wool off it, and I thought, ‘geez, that looks easy — I’ll have to have a go at that’,” he said. “I probably should’ve quit the second day. “But it just got in my blood and that was it. Here we are 58 years later.” Mr Boothey is passionate about the industry and the people in it. “Australia was virtually built off the sheep’s back, and the shearing industry is a really special one” he said. “You meet all kinds of people. “Good blokes, bad blokes, silly blokes, funny blokes. I like to try and be the funny one. “I think if there were more young blokes shearing at the moment, I wouldn’t still be here doing it. “If there was someone to take my place I could get out quite easily.” According to Mr McEllister, there are a a few factors contributing to the shearer shortage. “The first one is the demand for sheep immediately from the Eastern States...people are needing to get them shorn to get them transported,” he said. “People are also wanting to shear sheep to make them available to go on the boats, which has definitely increased pressure. “Obviously COVID-19 hasn't helped the issue at all, with the normal influx of shearers from New Zealand not being able to get over here.” He said WA had relied heavily on workers from New Zealand, rather than training more young locals for the job. Mr Spiers said he felt for the farmers who were likely to feel the stress of the shearing shortage in the coming months. “I feel that some of the farmers are going to be under pressure in the next few months, with overgrown wool and blowflies sneaking in,” he said. “It’s a tough situation with COVID.” The men all say they would love to see more young people in the sheds learning and getting involved with the industry. Kevin Gellatly, a 72-year-old member of the Australian Shearers Hall of Fame, has spent the last 56 years in the sheds. An ex-shearer and contractor of 24 years, he now works for Australian Wool Innovation as a shearing trainer and feels positive about the future of the industry he loves. “I just want to pass on some of the skills I have, and I just love being in the sheds and helping people,” he said. “I think it’s a real happy place to be, in the shed, and that the future looks fantastic. “It’s a great lifestyle for everyone who’s been involved in it and a great job to get in to. “The pay is good and it can take you all over the world. “It’s full of opportunity.”