Shedding light

It was the cover of 'Around the sheds' which first captivated me, and then when I flicked through the pages I was won over.

Andrew's desire was to document an aspect of Australian life that is disappearing altogether.Over the years he has photographed shearing sheds and the people working in and around them poignantly revealing their design, the flow of work from harvest to pressing, and the evolution of technology and innovation in the industry. He began this project with an urgency described by others photographing abandoned places never knowing when their subjects may be destroyed before being recorded. 

Innovation - hand-made gate at Angorichina

Andrew says "In my photographic odyssey, I am taking you on a visual journey where much has changed from thoses early days, yet so much remains the same."

Angorichina Station is east of Blinman in the Flinders Ranges. The working sheep station has been in the Fargher Family for four generations, and is now also an exclusive outback lodge accommodation.  The woolshed, still in use, is a timber slab shed built of native Flinders pine.

The octagonal Deeargee shed near Uralla, Armidale region, N.S.W.

Deeargee woolshed is unique, it was part of the vast Gostwyck property, one of the first sheep runs established on the New England tablelands in 1831. The original 1852 shed was destroyed in an arson attack in 1872, and Henry Dangar then built an octagonal blade shed. In 1888-89 an extension was added to accommodate 27 new shearing machines, and a brick bale storage section in 1903.

Kinchega station is now part of a national park on the Darling River near Menindee in Outback New South Wales. However the 1875 shearing shed still with its blade and machine stands, wool presses and tables, machinery room and  original steam engines. The red gum and galvanised iron building  provided for 64 shearer stands in 2 rows. The last sheep was shorn at Kinchega in May 1967 when the pastoral lease of the property expired. The western section of the original woolshed has been demolished. You can stay in Kinchega's shearer's quarters or camp near the river.

Old steam engine boiler, Kinchega woolshed, Menindee

Andrew will be conducting a talk and exhibition of his work at the St Arnaud Library at 7:30pm on 31st January.
Check out more at Andrew's site -