CHAPTER XYIII. 



LIFE ON A SHEEP STATION. 



An enormous run. One hundred and thirty thousand sheep 

 shorn. The method of shearing. Some queer characters. 

 A shearers' strike. Dodges resorted to. New hands. How 

 shearers live. Bush shanties. The grog that kills. Take 

 downs. Earnings of shearers. 



There are some enormous sheep-runs in New South. 

 Wales. English farmers may feel inclined to doubt 

 the assertion that a fair- sized farm in the old country 

 would not be considered a large paddock in the 

 Colonies, that is, so far as the acreage is concerned. 

 Yet such is actually the case. 



Winbar Station in New South Wales is one of the 

 largest in the Colony. It is the property of the 

 Winbar Pastoral Company, Limited, and is situate on 

 the river Darling, ninety miles below Bourke, the 

 principal town in the Western district. Bourke is 

 about five hundred miles from Sydney. 



Winbar is an enormous station, containing an area 



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