Wool away

Capturing the last shear ever on Thurloo Downs.

Story + Photos Andrew Hull

Floodwaters from Central Queensland rains are still spreading out across the lower Bulloo River system, oblivious to state borders, fences and roads, and paying even less attention to tenure and proprietorship of the lands they inundate. On the eastern edge of the Bulloo overflow, in NSW, tenure is about to change for one of the largest single holdings in the state, Thurloo Downs, which is being retired from production and entering the impressive public estate of NSW National Parks. It’s June, and the last shearing is underway, and the team undertaking the work is fully aware of the historical event they are involved in.

“It’s been a huge part of my life,” says shearing contractor Damian Raudino, who has been shearing at Thurloo Downs for the past 26 years. “I actually spend more time up here than I do in my house at Swan Hill,” he laughs.

Thurloo Downs, often called ‘Thurlow Downs’, was originally an outstation for the massive Urisino station, before being broken into smaller blocks in the early 20th century. Peter ‘Rowdy’ Hughes walked onto the property when he was 12 to begin work for his brother Jack, who was then managing Thurlow. Years later, through various ventures, Peter was in a position to purchase his dream station, and to accumulate a number of the surrounding properties to realise the 1.1 million acres (more than 4,450sq km) that comprises Thurloo Downs today.

“Good country, easy country to work,” says Peter as he describes the “chocolate flats” and mulga lands that dominate the landscape. “Probably as good as there is in this corner.”

It has long been recognised for its value as a grazing station, and now these remote but important landscapes are being recognised for their public value, and managed for conservation.

The waters of the Bulloo will soon recede back into the internationally recognised Ramsar wetland of the Caryapundy Swamp, carrying with them some of the history of pastoralism.