The wool collection held by the Powerhouse Museum contains thousands of wool samples collected between 1804 and 2003. These samples provide a record of wool growing in Australia. The different fleeces reflect the breeding programs and environmental conditions under which the fleeces were grown and, as such, they provide a valuable history of the areas of Australia in which sheep were grazed.
Sheep were introduced into Australia in 1788 from Cape Town in South Africa. Since then sheep from other countries, including the Spanish Merino were imported into Australia and selectively crossbred. Careful crossbreeding, paying particular attention to the impact of the environment on both animal and fleece, led to the evolution of the Australian Merino. It is an excellent example of the engineering, through selective breeding, of a domestic animal. Wool went on to become the mainstay of the Australian Economy from 1807 to 1960.
This particular wool specimen is from a sheep bred at Canowie station in South Australia. The station manager started to selectively breed rams in the 1850s and later imported Negretti and Rambouillet rams into the flock. From 1855 to 1890 Canowie emerged as an influential Rambouillet-dominated flock and were taking big prizes and selling for record prices in both Melbourne and Sydney. Canowie was one of the most influential studs in establishing the South Australian type merino and evolving a large framed combing wool sheep.
Erika Dicker
Assistant Curator
September 2007
Reference:
Charles Massy. 'The Australian Merino', Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Victoria, 1990.
The wool specimen was produced in 1889 by J Saunders and Company in Canowie, Hallett, South Australia, Australia.
In 1890 Alfred Hawkesworth, honorary wool-classer to the Museum, noted the following about this specimen:
Stud ram; two tooth; weight of fleece 16lbs; station bred. Showing a much lower quality of combing- one of those dense, close wools that return great weight per sheep. It has a long, sound, free, bold staple, very even and pure to the tips, the broad serration running to the extremes; is kind, soft and free from any wasty, noily matter; condition a little heavier than the preceding samples, throwing a healthy, rich brown yolk. Spinning quality 54s, value 11d per lb (Alfred Hawkesworth's valuation).
A most desirable and liberal collection (F573-F584) from sheep of different sex and ages from South Australia. The Canowie breed has the highest reputation of all South Australian flocks, and is a style of wool classed as the long, strong, and deep grown, differing altogether from the original Merino, which was very short, and only used in the fine cloth trade. Careful crossing assisted by a suitable climate, have made Canowie the home of the long, strong type, which still holds a high reputation in the Colonies. To demonstrate the enviable position attained by this useful flock, particulars of the 1889 clip are given. The 1889 shearing at Canowie gave the most remarkable results, the average being deserving of special mention, and it is probable that the sheep are not equalled by any other merino flock in the world. The return for grown sheep, numbering 38, 662 is 9lb 10 ¾ oz per head of greasy wool. The result is all the more remarkable when the character of the sheep is taken into consideration. The flock consists of 20, 693 breeding ewes, 9, 537 ewes (two and four tooth) and 2,268 rams and wethers. With such eminently satisfactory results, South Australia has very little to gain by an introduction of foreign blood in increase the weight of fleece.
Alfred Hawkesworth, Technological Museum, Sydney, Descriptive Catalogue No 2. Raw wools and specimens to illustrate the woollen manufacture. Sydney Government Printer. 1890.
Originally donated by J. Saunders and Co, South Australia, 1889.
This wool specimen is part of the Bill Montgomery Wool Collection which consists of approximately 7000 samples. In the older part of the collection there are 5000 samples from Australian sheep fleeces grown between 1856 and 1906. The samples were collected by the Museum at a time when scientific research was prominent in the Museum's activities. In 1979, when the Museum's focus changed, most of its wool collection was transferred to the teaching collection of Mr Bill Montgomery, a wool classing teacher at Newcastle Technical College. When Bill retired from the College, the collection was again in danger of being thrown away. He took the entire collection home and stored it in his garage for 15 years. His Collection also contains approximately 1500 wool samples grown between 1950 and 2000 and collected by Bill himself. It includes 147 examples of faults and stains occurring in Australian flocks, 20 pigmented wools and 33 rare and extinct breeds from around the world. The Museum purchased the entire collection in 2003. Bill Montgomery died on 7th July, 2007.
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