Woolshed Song
[For the Queensland "Worker."]
(By "Jack Sketch.")
I was down on my luck, my finances were low,
So I took on wool rolling for Huffy and Co.,
Shearing contractors, well known in the West.
I was told by the "trump" I'd be put to the test.
And ho told me the truth, for there's no going slow
When you take on wool rolling for Huffy and Co.
The team was a fast one, each man was a gun ;
They kept the poor "loppies" all day on the run ;
Two hits at the belly, the neck, and long blow,
And they're after another for Huffy and Co.
There's "Possum," poor "Possum," the picker-up gun,
Real smart for his age ; he's a hundred and one,
So I'm told, and I hear that the old fellow states
He'll commence the next season to pick up on skates.
How he'll smile to himself as he glides to and fro,
And he works the next season for Huffy and Co.
When the last flock is shorn and we've money to burn,
I'll hie me to town to be shorn in my turn;
I'll sit with my hat off in Spifford's old car,
And drink "off the ice" in Bowes's cool bar ;
Then I'll camp where the ti-trees luxuriantly grow,
And await the next season with Huffy and Co.
Notes
Published in the Queensland newspaper the Worker Thursday 17 May 1923 p. 10.
"Rolling the Fleece" -- From the Victorian newspaper Gippsland Times Thursday 11 March 1937
The reason for rolling is to get
the fleece into a convenient
bundle for further handling. It
is usually recognised that the best
way to roll a fleece is to place the
slightly inferior portion, namely,
the back, in the inside and have
the shoulder, which is the best
and most attractive portion, exposed. Both buyers and classers
expect the shoulder wool to be on
the outside. If the rolling is
clone in a slip-shod manner, and
the shoulder wool not exposed,
the classer may waste a lot of
time in his work or be led astray
in his classes.
The simplest way to expose the
shoulder is to skirt from the
breech towards the head, throwing in the neck wool square with
the shoulder. The breech is then
throwvn in a short distance. Then
the near side is folded in a few
inches, and the opposite side is
brought over to meet the same.
This same side is folded a second
time, and this brings the back
wool on top. The fleece is then
loosely rolled from breech to
shoulder.