30 Australian Life 



on Friday or Saturday for preference. The work 

 done by the shearers in the broken week is re- 

 garded in the light of an "exercise canter," and 

 the Saturday afternoon and Sunday spell obviates 

 the danger of strained wrists and backs which 

 exists when serious work is begun too suddenly. 

 Shearing starts at six o'clock, but before day- 

 break, the engine-driver and cooks are at work, 

 the former getting up steam to drive the machines, 

 the latter preparing the coffee and buns with 

 which the shearers break their fast. At six 

 o'clock, everybody is in the shed, the pens are 

 full of sheep, and the shearers, two to each pen, 

 stand on the board. The engine whistle gives a 

 shrill toot, the machinery is set in motion, and 

 each shearer dives into the pen to catch the sheep 

 he has selected as the easiest to shear. Grasping 

 his victim by the leg, the shearer drags it out of 

 the pen, quiets its struggles by a deft application 

 of his knee, and gets to work with the shears. 

 The fleece falls off the animal in one great piece, 

 and in a surprisingly short space of time it is re- 

 leased, pink and shivering, to make its way along 

 the race and out into the yards again. The 

 pickers-up fly to remove the fallen wool, and the 

 shearer plunges into the pen again in search of 

 the easiest-cutting animal left there. As the pens 

 become emptier, the sheep left are harder to shear, 

 and the last animal of all, called the "cobbler," 

 is looked upon as an object to avoid. If a very 

 undesirable specimen, the manoeuvres of the two 



