CHAPTER III 



STATION WORK 



The bell is set a-ringing, and the engine gives a toot, 

 There 's five and thirty shearers here are shearing for 



the loot ; 

 So stir yourselves, you penners-up, and shove the sheep 



along, 

 The musterers are fetching them, a hundred thousand 



strong. 

 Aud make your collie dogs speak up What would the 



buyers say 

 In London, if wool was late this year from Castle- 



reagh ? 



The Banjo. 



THE busiest time on a sheep-station is the time 

 of shearing, when the annual stock-taking 

 takes place, as well as the shearing of the sheep, 

 and the sorting and despatch of the wool. For 

 some time before the shearing, extra hands are 

 employed, for a good deal of preparation is neces- 

 sary. The machinery of the wool-shed has to be 

 oiled and set in order, firewood has to be hauled, 

 and all the water-tanks filled. In the paddocks, 

 the flocks are being mustered, ready to be driven 

 to the yards outside the wool-shed. Long before 

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