1.
Merino (sheep)
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The Merino or jackson sheep is an economically influential breed of sheep prized for its wool. The breed originated in Spain, but the modern Merino was domesticated in New Zealand, today, Merinos are still regarded as having some of the finest and softest wool of any sheep. Poll Merinos have no horns, and horned Merino rams have long, two suggested origins for the Spanish word merino are, It may be an adaptation to the sheep of the name of a Leonese official inspector over a merindad, who may have also inspected sheep pastures. This word is from the medieval Latin maiorinus, a steward or head official of a village, from maior and it also may be from the name of an Imazighen tribe, the Marini, who intervened in the Iberian peninsula during the 12th and 13th centuries. The Merino is an excellent forager and very adaptable and it is bred predominantly for its wool, and its carcass size is generally smaller than that of sheep bred for meat. South African Meat Merino, American Rambouillet and German Merinofleischschaf have been bred to balance wool production, Merino need to be shorn at least once a year because their wool does not stop growing. If the coat is allowed to grow, it can cause stress, mobility issues. Merino wool is finely crimped and soft, staples are commonly 65–100 mm long. A Saxon Merino produces 3–6 kg of wool a year. Merino wool is generally less than 24 micron in diameter, basic Merino types include, strong wool, medium wool, fine, superfine and ultra fine. Ultra fine wool is suitable for blending with other such as silk. New Zealand produces lightweight knits made from Merino wool and possum fur, the term merino is widely used in the textile industries, but it cannot be taken to mean the fabric in question is actually 100% merino wool from a Merino strain bred specifically for its wool. The wool of any Merino sheep, whether reared in Spain or elsewhere, is merino wool, however, not all merino sheep produce wool suitable for clothing, and especially for clothing worn next to the skin. This depends on the strain of the breed. Merino sheep bred for meat do not produce a fleece with a fine enough staple for this purpose, most of the flocks were owned by nobility or the church, the sheep grazed the Spanish southern plains in winter and the northern highlands in summer. The Mesta was an organisation of privileged sheep owners who developed the breed and controlled the migrations along cañadas reales suitable for grazing, the three Merino strains that founded most of the worlds Merino flocks were the Royal Escurial flocks, the Negretti and the Paula. The Infantado, Montarcos and Aguires studs had an influence on the Vermont bloodlines, before the 18th century, the export of Merinos from Spain was a crime punishable by death. In the 18th century, small exportation of Merinos from Spain, in 1723, some were exported to Sweden, but the first major consignment of Escurials was sent by Charles III of Spain to his cousin, Prince Xavier the Elector of Saxony, in 1765
Merino (sheep)
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Australian Merino wool fibre (top) compared to a human hair (bottom), imaged using
scanning electron microscopy
Merino (sheep)
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Full wool Merino sheep
Merino (sheep)
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Merino ewe judging
Merino (sheep)
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One of the earliest depictions of a Merino. "El Buen Pastor" (The Good Shepherd) by
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, ca. 1650
2.
Sheep shearer
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A sheep shearer is a worker who uses -blade or machine shears to remove wool from domestic sheep during crutching or shearing. During the early years of breeding in Australia, shearing was carried out by shepherds, assigned servants, Ticket of Leave men. As the sheep industry expanded, more shearers were required, although the demand had increased, the conditions had not, and shearers had to contend with terrible working conditions, very long hours and low pay. In 1888, Australia became the first country in the world have a complete shearing, at Dunlop Station, by 1915, most large Australian sheep station shearing sheds had machines that were powered by steam engines. Later, internal combustion engines powered machines until rural power supplies became available, in most countries like Australia with large sheep flocks, the shearer is one of a contractors team that go from property to property shearing sheep and preparing the wool for market. A workday starts at 7,30 am and the day is divided into four “runs” of two hours each, “Smoko” breaks of a half hour each are at 9,30 am and again at 3 pm. The lunch break is taken at 12 midday for one hour, most shearers are paid on a piece rate, i. e. per sheep. The shearer collects a sheep from a pen, positions it on his “stand” on the shearing board. A shearer begins by removing the wool over the sheeps belly, the remainder of the fleece is taken off in one piece by following an efficient set of movements. In the case of powered shears, the movements used are those devised by Godfrey Bowen, in approximately 1950, in 1963, the Tally-Hi shearing system was developed by Kevin Sarre and the Australian Wool Corporation who promoted the technique using synchronised shearing demonstrations. Sheep struggle less using the Tally-Hi method, reducing strain on the shearer, when finished, the shorn sheep is removed from the board via a chute in the floor, or wall, to a counting out pen, efficiently removing it from the shed. These patterns ensure that there is less strain placed on the sheep, Shearers who “tally” more than 400 sheep per day when shearing crossbreds, or around 200 for finer wool sheep such as merino, are known as “gun shearers”. Gun shearers using blade shears can achieve much lower numbers, about 50 to 70 a day, a learner is a shearer or intending shearer who has shorn less than a specified number of sheep. In 1983 the Australian shearing industry was torn apart by the wide comb dispute, the offending combs had been introduced by New Zealanders who were weaker union supporters. In 1984, Australia became the last country in the world to permit the use of wide combs, the inaugural inductees into the Australian Shearers’ Hall of Fame are Jackie Howe, Julian Stuart, Henry Salter MBE, Kevin Sarre and John Hutchinson OAM. These inductees were chosen because they had won championships or had shorn high tallies. The shearers’ protective clothing and footwear usually includes, Shearers jeans or dungarees which have a thickness of material over the front. Shearers singlets, singlets with patches under the arms where the feet are placed during shearing
Sheep shearer
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Shearing a
Merino in
Lismore,
Victoria,
Australia.
Sheep shearer
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Shearing shed, meat house and shearers' quarters on a station,
Northern Tablelands, New South Wales,
Australia.
Sheep shearer
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Crutching a sheep that has been wigged (eye-wooled).
Sheep shearer
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Shearers' moccasins on a wool rolling table
3.
Wool
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Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other animals, including cashmere and mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, angora from rabbits, and other types of wool from camelids. Wool has several qualities that distinguish it from hair or fur, it is crimped, Wool is produced by follicles which are small cells located in the skin. These follicles are located in the layer of the skin called the epidermis. Follicles can be classed as primary or secondary follicles. Primary follicles produce three types of fiber, Kemp, medullated fibers and true wool fibers, secondary follicles only produce true wool fibers. Medullated fibers share nearly identical characteristics to hair and are long but lack crimp, Kemp fibers are very coarse and shed out. Wools scaling and crimp make it easier to spin the fleece by helping the individual fibers attach to each other, because of the crimp, wool fabrics have greater bulk than other textiles, and they hold air, which causes the fabric to retain heat. Wool has a specific heat coefficient, so it impedes heat transfer in general. This effect has benefited desert peoples, as Bedouins and Tuaregs use wool clothes for insulation, felting of wool occurs upon hammering or other mechanical agitation as the microscopic barbs on the surface of wool fibers hook together. The amount of crimp corresponds to the fineness of the wool fibers, a fine wool like Merino may have up to 100 crimps per inch, while coarser wool like karakul may have as few as one or two. In contrast, hair has little if any scale and no crimp, on sheep, the hair part of the fleece is called kemp. Wool fibers readily absorb moisture, but are not hollow, Wool can absorb almost one-third of its own weight in water. Wool absorbs sound like many other fabrics and it is generally a creamy white color, although some breeds of sheep produce natural colors, such as black, brown, silver, and random mixes. Wool ignites at a higher temperature than cotton and some synthetic fibers, Wool carpets are specified for high safety environments, such as trains and aircraft. Wool is usually specified for garments for firefighters, soldiers, Wool is considered by the medical profession to be allergenic. Sheep shearing is the process by which the fleece of a sheep is cut off. After shearing, the wool is separated into four categories, fleece, broken, bellies. In Australia before being auctioned, all Merino fleece wool is objectively measured for micron, yield, staple length, staple strength, the sheep is given a dip in antiseptic solution after shearing, so as to cure the wounds caused during shearing
Wool
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Wool just before processing
Wool
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Sheep before shearing
Wool
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Merino sheep
Wool
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Champion
hogget fleece,
Walcha Show
4.
Sheep
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The sheep is a quadrupedal, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Like all ruminants, sheep are members of the order Artiodactyla, although the name sheep applies to many species in the genus Ovis, in everyday usage it almost always refers to Ovis aries. Numbering a little over one billion, domestic sheep are also the most numerous species of sheep. An adult female sheep is referred to as a ewe, a male as a ram or occasionally a tup, a castrated male as a wether. Sheep are most likely descended from the wild mouflon of Europe, one of the earliest animals to be domesticated for agricultural purposes, sheep are raised for fleece, meat and milk. A sheeps wool is the most widely used animal fiber, and is harvested by shearing. Ovine meat is called lamb when from younger animals and mutton when from older ones, Sheep continue to be important for wool and meat today, and are also occasionally raised for pelts, as dairy animals, or as model organisms for science. Sheep husbandry is practised throughout the majority of the inhabited world, in the modern era, Australia, New Zealand, the southern and central South American nations, and the British Isles are most closely associated with sheep production. Sheepraising has a lexicon of unique terms which vary considerably by region. Use of the sheep began in Middle English as a derivation of the Old English word scēap. A group of sheep is called a flock, herd or mob, many other specific terms for the various life stages of sheep exist, generally related to lambing, shearing, and age. Being a key animal in the history of farming, sheep have a deeply entrenched place in human culture, as livestock, sheep are most often associated with pastoral, Arcadian imagery. Sheep figure in many mythologies—such as the Golden Fleece—and major religions, in both ancient and modern religious ritual, sheep are used as sacrificial animals. Domestic sheep are relatively small ruminants, usually with a crimped hair called wool, domestic sheep differ from their wild relatives and ancestors in several respects, having become uniquely neotenic as a result of selective breeding by humans. A few primitive breeds of sheep retain some of the characteristics of their wild cousins, depending on breed, domestic sheep may have no horns at all, or horns in both sexes, or in males only. Most horned breeds have a pair, but a few breeds may have several. Another trait unique to domestic sheep as compared to wild ovines is their variation in color. Wild sheep are largely variations of brown hues, and variation within species is extremely limited, colors of domestic sheep range from pure white to dark chocolate brown, and even spotted or piebald
Sheep
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Domestic sheep
Sheep
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Head of polled, domesticated sheep in the long grass
Sheep
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Skull
Sheep
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Suffolks are a medium wool, black-faced breed of meat sheep that make up 60% of the sheep population in the U.S.
5.
Shearing shed
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Shearing sheds are large sheds located on sheep stations to accommodate large scale sheep shearing activities. The shed also provides space where the wool is classed and pressed into approved wool packs, location of the shed is important as the site needs to be well drained and in an area reasonably close to most of the flock. It is helpful and will save a lot of money if the shed is located near to the electricity supply, at least some yards will be needed to facilitate shedding and count-outs. Regional variants of shearing shed architecture throughout Australia and New Zealand have been identified through different uses of building materials, during recent years occupational safety and health and animal welfare issues in Australia also have to be considered during shed building or renovating. There should be guard rails around raised shearing boards and loading landings should be fenced to prevent falls, separate facilities are to be provided for workers meals. It is usually regarded as necessary to be able to shed, wet or damp sheep may cause health problems for the shearers and damp wool cant be pressed. In many instances sheep are held under the shed or in an adjacent area known as a sweating shed, in the shearing shed the woolly sheep will be penned on a slatted wooden or woven mesh floor above ground level. The sheep entry to the shed is via a ramp, with good footholds. After shearing the shearing shed may also provide shelter for newly shorn sheep if the weather is likely to be cold and/or wet. In recent years shearing sheds have usually included improved penning systems to assist with the movement of sheep, a single sheep is sometimes penned in a small pen at the front of the forcing lane to coax the other sheep forward. The slats in a catching pen run in the direction that the sheep are to be dragged, modern sheds often include a catching pen floor that slopes towards the board to help shearers move their sheep towards their “stand”. Ideally shearers should not have to cross the board with their sheep or move them excessive lengths. Earlier shed plans often had the pen on the opposite side of the release chutes which necessitated shearers crossing the board. Nowadays the shearing board may be of a curved and/or raised style to save the roustabout extra walking and bending, Sheep may be released through the wall or through a chute in the floor, depending on the plan used. A tongued and grooved wooden floor is best for the board and wool processing area as it is easier to keep clean, especially with scrapers. This area is planned to reduce walking distances for all shed hands, the shorn fleece is picked up by the roustabout and cast onto a wool table for skirting, rolling and classing, before being placed in the appropriate wool bin. Wool bins should be made of a material in order that the different lines do not mix. Slatted wool tables are of two styles, round, revolving tables, which are handy if there is only one wool-roller, adequate lighting and ventilation is provided for all shearers and shedhands who work in the shed
Shearing shed
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A modern Australian shearing shed
Shearing shed
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Tom Roberts ' masterpiece,
Shearing the Rams depicts an Australian shearing shed in the late 1800s
Shearing shed
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Woolly Merinos penned for shearing
Shearing shed
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Roustabout removing a fleece from a curved, raised shearing board
6.
Wool classing
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Wool classing is an occupation for which people are trained to produce uniform, predictable, low risk lines of wool. This is carried out by examining the characteristics of the wool in its raw state, the characteristics which a wool classer would examine are, Breed of the sheep, Shedding breeds will increase the risk of medulated and/or pigmented fibres. Any sheep likely to have dark fibres should be shorn last to avoid contamination, the age of the sheep will have a bearing on the fibre diameter and value of wool, too. Chemical usage, Ensure that all rules have been followed, brands, seedy jowls and shanks, Must be removed from fleeces and broken. Stain, Must be removed from bellies and fleeces and identified in a separate line, Wool crimp, The number of bends per unit length along the wool fibre approximately indicates spinning capacity of the wool. Fibres with a fine crimp have many bends and usually have a small diameter, such fibre can be spun into fine yarns, with great lengths of yarn for a given weight of wool, and greater market value. Fine fibres may be utilised in the production of garments such as mens suits whereas the coarser fibres may be used for the production of carpet. Crimp is measured in crimps per inch or crimps per centimetre, average diameter or mean fibre diameter is measured in micrometres. For generations, English wool-handlers categorized wool along the above lines estimating spinning capacity by eye and this spread worldwide as the Bradford system. Wool Strength determines wools ability to withstand processing, weaker wools produce more waste in carding and spinning. Weaker wools may be used for production of felt, or combined with other fibres, Wool colour, Indicates whether wool is able to be dyed in light shades. Colour may be graded depending upon the colour, impurities. Severely stained wool decreases prices dramatically, however, it is difficult to assess colour accurately without proper measurement, since some stains will wash out in the processing, whereas others are quite persistent. The fleece is skirted to remove excess frib, seed and burr etc. to leave the fleece as reasonably even as possible in good respects, the parts of wool taken from a sheep are graded separately. Some of the wool growers do in shed wool testing. This enables wool classers to place wool into lines of a consistent quality, all Merino fleece wool sold at auction in Australia is objectively measured for fibre diameter, yield, staple length, staple strength and sometimes colour. Classers are also responsible for ensuring that a check is made to ensure that the wool. They are to supervise shed staff during shearing and train any inexperienced hands, at the end of shearing classers have to provide full documentation concerning the clip
Wool classing
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Parts of a Merino fleece
Wool classing
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Throwing a freshly shorn fleece onto a wool table for skirting and classing.
Wool classing
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Wool classing in
Australia, circa 1900
7.
Knossos
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Knossos is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and is considered Europes oldest city. The name Knossos survives from ancient Greek references to the city of Crete. The coins came from the Roman settlement of Colonia Julia Nobilis Cnossus, a Roman colony placed just to the north of, the Romans believed they had colonized Knossos. The second palace was built on a grander scale over the old Palace after an earthquake destroyed it. The structure and ruins we see today are from the second Palace, during the Bronze Age, the town surrounded the hill on which the palace was built. The site was discovered in 1878 by Minos Kalokairinos, the excavations in Knossos began in AD1900 by the English archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans and his team, and they continued for 35 years. The palace was excavated and partially restored under the direction of Arthur Evans in the earliest years of the 20th century. Its size far exceeded his expectations, as did the discovery of two ancient scripts, which he termed Linear A and Linear B, to distinguish their writing from the pictographs also present. The palace of Knossos was undoubtedly the ceremonial and political centre of the Minoan civilization and it appears as a maze of workrooms, living spaces, and storerooms close to a central square. The palace was abandoned at some time at the end of the Late Bronze Age. The occasion is not known for certain, but one of the disasters that befell the palace is generally put forward. The hill was never again a settlement or civic site, although squatters may have used it for a time, however, fieldwork in 2015 revealed that during the early Iron Age, Knossos was rich in imports and was nearly three times larger than indicated by earlier excavations. Except for periods of abandonment, other cities were founded in the vicinity, such as the Roman colony. The population shifted to the new town of Chandax during the 9th century AD, by the 13th century, it was called Makruteikhos Long Wall, the bishops of Gortyn continued to call themselves Bishops of Knossos until the 19th century. Today, the name is used only for the site now situated in the expanding suburbs of Heraklion. In the first palace period around 2000 BC the urban area reached a size of up to 18,000 people, in its peak the Palace and the surrounding city boasted a population of 100,000 people shortly after 1700 BC. The name Knossos was formerly Latinized as Cnossus or Cnossos, and occasionally Knossus, Gnossus and this site history is to be distinguished from the ancient. In Greek mythology, King Minos dwelt in a palace at Knossos and he had Daedalus construct a labyrinth, a very large maze in which to retain his son, the Minotaur
Knossos
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Restored North Entrance with charging bull fresco
Knossos
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A
labrys from
Messara.
Knossos
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View to the east from the northwest corner. In the foreground is the west wall of the Lustral Basin.
Knossos
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View to the south. The hill in the background is Gypsades. Between it and Knossos is the Vlychia. The South Entrance is on the left.
8.
Linear B
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Linear B is a syllabic script that was used for writing Mycenaean Greek, the earliest attested form of Greek. The script predates the Greek alphabet by several centuries, the oldest Mycenaean writing dates to about 1450 BC. It is descended from the older Linear A, an earlier script used for writing the Minoan language, as is the later Cypriot syllabary. Linear B, found mainly in the archives at Knossos, Cydonia, Pylos, Thebes and Mycenae. The succeeding period, known as the Greek Dark Ages, provides no evidence of the use of writing and it is also the only one of the prehistoric Aegean scripts to have been deciphered, by English architect and self-taught linguist Michael Ventris. Linear B consists of around 87 syllabic signs and over 100 ideographic signs and these ideograms or signifying signs symbolize objects or commodities. They have no value and are never used as word signs in writing a sentence. The application of Linear B appears to have been confined to administrative contexts, in all the thousands of clay tablets, a relatively small number of different hands have been detected,45 in Pylos and 66 in Knossos. It is possible that the script was used only by a guild of professional scribes who served the central palaces, once the palaces were destroyed, the script disappeared. Linear B has roughly 200 signs, divided into syllabic signs with phonetic values, the representations and naming of these signs have been standardized by a series of international colloquia starting with the first in Paris in 1956. Colloquia continue, the 13th occurred in 2010 in Paris, many of the signs are identical or similar to those in Linear A, however, Linear A encodes an as-yet unknown language, and it is uncertain whether similar signs had the same phonetic values. The grid developed during decipherment by Michael Ventris and John Chadwick of phonetic values for syllabic signs is shown below, initial consonants are in the leftmost column, vowels are in the top row beneath the title. The transcription of the syllable is listed next to the sign along with Bennetts identifying number for the sign preceded by an asterisk, in cases where the transcription of the sign remains in doubt, Bennetts number serves to identify the sign. The signs on the tablets and sealings often show considerable variation from each other, discovery of the reasons for the variation and possible semantic differences is a topic of ongoing debate in Mycenaean studies. Many of these were identified by the edition and are shown in the special values below. The second edition relates, It may be taken as axiomatic that there are no true homophones, the unconfirmed identifications of *34 and *35 as ai2 and ai3 were removed. Other values remain unknown, mainly because of scarcity of evidence concerning them, note that *34 and *35 are mirror images of each other but whether this graphic relationship indicates a phonetic one remains unconfirmed. In recent times, CIPEM inherited the authority of Bennett
Linear B
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Linear B
Linear B
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Linear B tablet discovered by Arthur Evans
Linear B
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Tablets
9.
Medieval English wool trade
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The medieval English wool trade was one of the most important factors in the medieval English economy. No form of manufacturing had an impact upon the economy. The trades liveliest period, 1250-1350, was an era when trade in wool had been the backbone, the wool trade was a major driver of enclosure in English agriculture, which in turn had major social consequences, as part of the British Agricultural Revolution. During the early Anglo-Saxon period, archaeological evidence for subsistence-level wool production using warp-weighted looms is extensive, dyes included woad for blue and less frequently madder and lichens for reds and purples. Some high-status woollen cloth is found, including gold brocade, new textile types appeared around the tenth century, prominently including diamond twills whose use continued into the thirteenth century. English wools, particularly from the Welsh Marches, the South West, as exports of raw wool fell, exports of cloths rose, from 10,000 cloths per year in 1349-50 to 60,000 in 1446-47, and c.140,000 in 1539-40. By the end of the century, the heavily industrialised areas of Europe could not have existed without the export of English wool. A halt in the trade could bring whole areas to the brink of starvation. The trade in raw wool, and the taxes charged on its export, financed the wars of Edward I, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the English wool trade was primarily with Flanders, and was dominated by Flemish merchants. Extending their activities to finance, the Riccardi, a group of bankers from Lucca in Italy, became prominent in English taxation. Among the most famous merchants participating in the English wool trade were Jean Boinebroke of Douai on the Continental side, the table charts English woolsack and broadcloth exports, in five-year means, 1281-1545. Key studies of the include, Eileen Power, The Wool Trade in English Medieval History, Being the Ford Lectures T. H. Lloyd
Medieval English wool trade
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Sheep shown here in 1240s or 1250s, became increasingly important to English agriculture.
10.
Squatting (pastoral)
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In Australian history, a squatter was typically a man, either a free settler or ex-convict, who occupied a large tract of Crown land in order to graze livestock. Initially often having no rights to the land, they gained its usage by being the first Europeans in the area. Eventually, the term Squattocracy, a play on aristocracy, developed to refer to some of these squatters, the term ‘squatter’ derives from its English usage as a term of contempt for a person who had taken up residence at a place without having legal claim. In its early derogatory context the term was applied to the illegitimate occupation of land by ticket-of-leave convicts or ex-convicts. From the mid-1820s, however, the occupation of Crown land without legal title became more widespread, as wool began to be exported to England and the colonial population increased the occupation of pastoral land for raising cattle and sheep progressively became a more lucrative enterprise. ‘Squatting’ had become so widespread by the mid-1830s that Government policy in New South Wales towards the practice shifted from opposition to regulation, by that stage the term ‘squatter’ was applied to those who occupied Crown land under a lease or license, without the negative connotation of earlier times. The term soon developed an association, suggesting an elevated socio-economic status. By 1840 squatters were recognized as being amongst the wealthiest men in the colony of New South Wales, many of them from upper, as unoccupied land with frontage to permanent water became more scarce, the acquisition of runs increasingly required larger capital outlays. Eventually the term came to refer to a person of high social prestige who grazes livestock on a large scale. In Australia the term is used to describe large landowners. Hence the term, Squattocracy, a play on aristocracy, when the British settled at Sydney Cove in 1788 the colonial government in Australia claimed all lands for the Crown. Governors of New South Wales were given authority to make grants to free settlers, emancipists. When land grants were made they were subject to conditions such as a quit rent. In line with the British governments policy of concentrated land settlement for the colony Governors of New South Wales tended to be prudent in making land grants. By the end of Governor Macquarie’s tenure in 1821 less than 1,000 square miles of land had been granted in the colony of New South Wales, during Governor Brisbanes term, however, land grants were more readily made. In addition regulations introduced during Brisbane’s term enabled settlers to purchase up to 4,000 acres at 5s an acre, during Governor Brisbanes four years in office the total amount of land in private hands virtually doubled. The impetus for squatting activities during early phase was an expanding market for meat as the population of Sydney increased. The first steps in establishing wool production in New South Wales also created a demand for land
Squatting (pastoral)
–
Archibald Clunes Innes
Squatting (pastoral)
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Warfare between squatters and Aborigines in South Australia
Squatting (pastoral)
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1845 political cartoon by Edward Winstanley, critical of Governor
George Gipps ' land reforms
Squatting (pastoral)
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Colonial artist
S. T. Gill supports
Aboriginal land rights and condemns the Squattocracy in Squatter of N. S. Wales: Monarch of all he Surveys, 1788 (above) and Squatter of N. S. Wales: Monarch of more than all he Surveys, 1863 (below).
11.
Station (Australian agriculture)
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In Australia, a station is a large landholding used for producing livestock, predominantly cattle or sheep, that need an extensive range of grazing land. It corresponds to American ranches that operate under the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 on public lands, the owner of a station is called a pastoralist or a grazier. Originally station referred to the homestead – the owners house and associated outbuildings of a pastoral property, stations in Australia are on Crown land pastoral leases, and are known colloquially as sheep stations or cattle stations as most are stock specific, dependent upon the country and rainfall. The operators or owners are known as pastoralists. Sheep and cattle stations can be thousands of kilometres in area. Anna Creek Station in South Australia is the worlds largest working cattle station, because of the extended distances, there is a School of the Air so that children can attend classes from their homes, originally using pedal powered radios to communicate with the teachers. The larger stations have their own school and teacher to educate the children on the station until at least they commence high school, large isolated stations have their own stores to supply workers with their needs. A station hand is an employee, who is involved in duties on a station. Some stations are in areas that are not easy to access. Accommodation for couples and families may be limited, consequently, many station employees are young and temporary. An important example is the jackaroo or jillaroo, a person who works on a station for several years in a form of apprenticeship. Aborigines have played a big part in the cattle industry where they were competent stockmen on the cattle stations. Nowadays staff on these stations may work in the homestead and in stock camps, stockmen, especially ringers, may be seasonal employees. Others include boremen, managers, mechanics, machinery operators, station and camp cooks, veterinary surgeons also fly to some of the more distant cattle and sheep stations. The long-running television drama McLeods Daughters is set on an Australian cattle station, the film Australia was set on a fictional station Faraway Downs, but parts were filmed on Home Valley Station. Jeannie Gunn arrived at Elsey Station in 1902, leaving after her husband died, Elsey also featured in the 1946 film The Overlanders, the crew set up camp on the property for a month. The river crossing sequence was shot at the Roper River, pastoral lease List of ranches and stations § Australia List of the largest stations in Australia Outstation Station Media related to Sheep and cattle stations in Australia at Wikimedia Commons
Station (Australian agriculture)
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A cattle station in northern New South Wales
Station (Australian agriculture)
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Border Collie and a collie cross working sheep in Queensland
Station (Australian agriculture)
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Noonkanbah woolshed, now the community centre in Western Australia
Station (Australian agriculture)
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Cattle and horses in stockyards at
Victoria River Downs Station circa 1985
12.
Burr (fruit)
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A bur is a seed or dry fruit or infructescence that has hooks or teeth. Some other forms of diaspores, such as the stems of species of cactus also are covered with thorns. Bur-bearing plants such as Xanthium species are often single-stemmed when growing in dense groups, burs catch on the fur of passing animals or the clothing of people. The hooks or teeth generally cause irritation, and some species commonly cause gross injury to animals, burs serve the plants that bear them in two main ways. Firstly, burs tend to some herbivores, much as other spines and prickles do. Secondly, plants with burs rely largely on living agents to disperse their seeds, most epizoochorous burs attach to hair on the body or legs of the host animal, but a special class of epizoochorous bur is known as the trample-bur. Several species of Tribulus, Harpagophytum, and Grielum produce fruit in the form of trample-burs, as the name suggests, they attach themselves to the animal when trampled. Burs are best known as sources of irritation, injury to livestock, damage to clothing, punctures to tires, some have however been used for such purposes as fabric fulling, for which the fullers teasel is a traditional resource. The bur of burdock was the inspiration for hook and loop fastener, common bur-bearing plants include, Bidens pilosa Acanthospermum australe Xanthium strumarium Cenchrus longispinus Tribulus terrestris Galium aparine Arctium lappa Geum canadense Geum aleppicum
Burr (fruit)
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Geum bur
Burr (fruit)
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Xanthium bur
13.
Ox-wagon
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An ox-wagon or bullock wagon is a four-wheeled vehicle pulled by oxen. It was a form of transport, especially in Southern Africa but also in New Zealand. Ox-wagons were also used in the United States, the first recorded use of an ox-wagon was around 1670, but they continue to be used in some areas up to modern times. Ox-wagons are typically drawn by teams of oxen, harnessed in pairs. The wagon itself is made of various kinds of wood, with the rims of the wheels being covered with tyres of iron, the back wheels are usually substantially larger than the front ones and rigidly connected to the tray of the vehicle. The front wheels are usually greater in diameter than the clearance under the tray of the vehicle so that the steering axle could not turn far under the tray. It also allowed a more robust connection between the hauling traces of the oxen and the rear axle of the wagon that is necessary for heavy haulage. Most of the area was covered in canvas supported by wooden arches. Bullock wagons were important in the history of Australia. Olaf Ruhen, in his book Bullock Teams remarks on how bullock teams shaped, bullocks were preferred by many explorers and teamsters because they were cheaper, quieter, tougher and more easily maintained than horses therefore making them more popular for draught work. In early days the flexible two-wheeled dray, with a centre pole, the four-wheeled dray or box wagon came into use after about 1860 for loads of 6 to 8 tons and was drawn by 16 to 18 bullocks. A bullock team was led by a pair of well trained leaders who responded to verbal commands as they did not have reins or a bridle, the bullock team driver was called a bullocky, bullock puncher or teamster. Many Australian country towns owe their origin to the bullock teams and these shanties were spaced at about 12-mile intervals, which was the usual distance for a team to travel in a day. The Voortrekkers used the wagons during the Great Trek north and north-east from the Cape Colony in the 1830s and 1840s, often the wagons where employed as a mobile fortification called a laager, such as was the case at the Battle of Blood River. After the discovery of gold in the Barberton area in 1881, james Percy FitzPatrick worked on those ox-wagons and described them in his famous 1907 book Jock of the Bushveld. In South Africa, the ox-wagon was adopted as an Afrikaner cultural icon, the ossewa is mentioned in the first verse of Die Stem, the Afrikaans poem which became South Africas national anthem from 1957 to 1994. When a pro-German Afrikaner nationalist organisation formed in 1939, to oppose South Africas entry into World War II on the British side, it called itself the Ossewabrandwag
Ox-wagon
–
Bullock wagon carrying wool in New Zealand, c1880.
Ox-wagon
–
Bullock Team drawing II Ton Marshall Engine (Australia early 20th century)
Ox-wagon
–
Bullock cart-racing in
Tamil Nadu, India.
Ox-wagon
–
Ox-wagon with four wagon wheels.
14.
Frederick York Wolseley
–
Frederick York Wolseley was an Irish-born New South Wales inventor and woolgrower who invented and developed the first commercially successful sheep shearing machinery. Carlow, and Frances Anne daughter of William Smith of Dublin and his eldest brother became Field Marshal Wolseley and a hero of the Victorian era, another brother became General Sir George Wolseley. Their father died in 1840 leaving their mother more than his army pension. The seven children remained close-knit throughout their lives and he married his nurse, Ellen Elizabeth Clarke, in Melbourne in 1892. She looked after him through his final illness. Frederick Wolseley, unassisted, went to Melbourne from Ireland, arriving in July 1854, aged 17, about that time, Wolseley set to work developing his ideas for a sheep shearing machine. By 1872, he had created a working model, having acquired an interest in them, Wolseley lived on Cobran and Thule until 1876,22 years in the same district. In 1871 he acquired Toolong in the Murrumbidgee district, five years later another property, now living at Euroka, he continued testing and on 28 March 1877 he and Robert Savage, the inventor of various items of mining and agricultural machinery, were granted a patent. Another patent was granted in December, however their machine was not a success and Wolseley continued to work on it and he made further developments with Richard Pickup Park and they patented an Improved Shearing Apparatus on 13 December 1884. The following year, Wolseley bought John Howards rights to his horse clipper, there Howard made improvements that were so effective that Wolseley began public demonstrations in Sydney and at Euroka. A William Ryley made suggestions for improving the handpiece, in 1887–1888, demonstrations were arranged throughout eastern Australia and New Zealand. This company was wound up in 1889 and ownership transferred to a new British company, operations remained in Australia, Austin studied the machinery while it was in use on sheep stations and made further patented improvements. Meanwhile Wolseley again visited England leaving Austin in charge, by 1893 they were facing a crisis when it was discovered they had sold a large amount of defective machinery, brought about by the failure of local suppliers to meet the required specifications. It was decided to leave John Howard in charge in Australia, in November 1893, Wolseley and Austin arrived there, Austin to manage the business from a small workshop in Broad Street, Birmingham. Handsome, likeable and well built, Wolseley was obliged to buy the engineering knowledge and his perseverance led to his machinery revolutionising the wool industry. Handicapped throughout his ten years by his battle with cancer, he resigned as managing director of his company in 1894. In the second half of the 1890s, Austin turned his attention to car manufacture as a way of stabilising the Wolseley businesss inherent seasonal fluctuations and this new business was incorporated with the name The Wolseley Tool & Motor Car Company Limited. After less than five years there, Austin set out on his own and built himself The Austin Motor Company Limited at Longbridge, Birmingham
Frederick York Wolseley
–
A shearing stand and machine
Frederick York Wolseley
–
Shearing with shears 1894
Frederick York Wolseley
–
Sixteen stands c.1900
15.
The Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Company
–
The Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Company Limited. Was a London-incorporated public listed company created to capitalize on a business established by Frederick Wolseley in Australia, the company has since been renamed Wolseley plc and remains listed on the London Stock Exchange. It is currently a constituent of the FTSE100 Index, wool was cliipped from the sheeps back by hand shears from time immemorial. Wolseley invented and developed the first satisfactory mechanical method using a power source away from the shearers hand, the first power source was a horse gin connected by belt and pulley and a carefully designed driveshaft to a handpiece held by the shearer. As well as relieving the shearers hand of the effort, the machine clips the wool at its full length. It also removes the wool in a fleece instead of chopping it into small pieces like the shears, the apparent simplicity of Wolseleys machine belies the decades of effort of many different inventors and engineers to create a satisfactory device. Herbert Austin, who had worked on the development in Melbourne Australia from 1887, was appointed its manager. Wolseley, owner of a sheep station, had set up a business of the same name in Sydney, Australia. He manufactured the sheep shearing machinery largely by assembling bought-in components, impressed by Austin, who managed one of the suppliers, Wolseley employed him at this business. His first sheep shearing machinery was driven by horse power replaced later by stationary engines. Following wide demonstrations in eastern Australia and New Zealand in 1887-1888, eighteen more woolsheds were equipped with Wolseleys invention in 1888. The Australian incorporation was wound up and the ownership transferred to the new London company in 1889. During the early 1890s Austin studied Wolseleys shearing machinery in use on a sheep station. Austin was sent to England to open an operation there. In November 1893 Wolseley and Austin arrived in England, where Austin managed the business from a workshop in Broad Street. Wolseley, with his Australian pastoral interests, resigned in 1894 because of poor health, Wolseley Shearing Machine Sir, —It may interest some of your readers to know how sheep are shorn by machines. Before writing about them, it will be as well to say something of hand shearing. Shearing on a station is the one busy time of the year
The Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Company
–
Traditional sheep shears
The Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Company
–
1888 (
Shearing the rams) the hard work revolutionized by Wolseley
The Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Company
The Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Company
–
Austin's first Wolseley car dated 1895 in this 1916 article
16.
Sheep station
–
A sheep station is a large property in Australia or New Zealand whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and meat. In Australia, sheep stations are usually in the south-east or south-west of the country, in New Zealand the Merinos are usually in the high country of the South Island. These properties may be thousands of kilometres in size and run low stocking rates to be able to sustainably provide enough feed. Sheep stations and sheep began in Australia when the British started raising sheep in 1788 at Sydney Cove. In Australia, the owner of a station can be called a pastoralist, grazier, or formerly. In the Australian and New Zealand context, shearing involves an annual muster of sheep to be shorn, and the shearing shed and shearers quarters are an important part of the station. A station usually includes a homestead, adjacent sheds, windmills, dams, silos and in many cases a landing strip available for use by the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Some of these items have regional variants, usually to deal with climate extremes, similarly, where the climate and vegetation allow, especially north of the dog fence, cattle stations are similar but run beef cattle rather than sheep. Some properties are not exclusively sheep or cattle stations but may have a mix of cattle, sheep, cropping, walter Peak is a notable old sheep station that was founded in 1860 on the south shore of Lake Wakatipu, South Island, New Zealand. It is 13 kilometres across Lake Wakatipu from Queenstown,40 minutes steaming time on the historic TSS Earnslaw steamship, management practices vary according to the location of the station and the season being experienced. For instance, drought necessitates decisions concerning the sale of stock or provision of supplementary feeding, routine procedures include supervising crutching, mating, shearing, treating for ticks, lice and maggots, lambing and lamb marking. Lambs are weaned at five months of age. Drenching for internal parasites is an important routine on a sheep station, other activities include ram buying and classing the sheep in order to determine the inferior types that are to be culled. Crops and pastures are also grown to provide additional feed for the sheep, especially those that will be raised. Fences require regular inspections to locate and repair any damage that has been found, sheep breeders may also need to undertake predatory animal control if crows, dingos or foxes are likely to be a problem. The term generally used by agricultural and environmental professionals for sheep station forms of landholding is rangeland, the term ranch is not used either. The term sheep run was also used during the early settlement period to describe sheep stations operated by squatters. For administrative purposes, many stations exist on pastoral leases, the word station is also a traditional Australian English term to denote a large and/or important landholding for any agricultural purpose
Sheep station
–
Shearing shed, meat house and shearers' quarters, on a station,
Northern Tablelands, New South Wales,
Australia
Sheep station
–
Walter Peak sheep station, South Island, NZ
Sheep station
–
Poddy lambs (orphaned lambs) drinking milk at a sheep station in rural Australia
Sheep station
–
Sheep grazing in rural Australia
17.
Crutching
–
Crutching refers to the removal of wool from around the tail and between the rear legs of a sheep. Sheep with heavy fleeces of wool often develop stains or dags on their ends from faeces. In ewes, urine can also stain the wool, to avoid discomfort to the sheep and damage to the fleece, graziers remove the wool from the sheep. Urine and watery faeces from eating spring grass can lead to myiasis, which occurs when flies lay eggs in warm, damp wool. Crutching is a way to help prevent this, in some areas, crutching is carried out at the start of the fly season. Rams and wethers may also be rung on the belly around the pizzle to prevent fly-strike there, wigging is carried out to prevent the sheep from becoming wool blind, in which the wool covers the sheeps eyes. It also prevents accumulation of grass seeds and burrs in wool around the head as a sheep grazes, both these problems are more severe in breeds with heavy wool growth such as Merinos. In addition, ewes are generally crutched prior to lambing if they are not offshears, crutching is generally carried out in shearing sheds, using shearers and the same tools as for shearing the entire fleece, as crutching is simply shearing only a portion of the animal. Blade shears may be used, especially where a sheep is particularly dirty. Generally, whole flocks are treated together, a mechanical shearing handpiece is used, and the crutchers sit the sheep between their legs and shear the required portion of the sheep, leaving the main fleece to continue growing. There are also varieties of crutching cradles which allow the sheep to be crutched with less physical strain to the operator. For small flocks, a grazier might do the work single-handedly, for large flocks and stud sheep, graziers will hire shearers, or use a contractor who provides professional shearing teams to do the required work. Super fine wool Merino flocks are often given a light crutch, docking sheeps tails has much the same benefits for the sheep as crutching. While this procedure reduces the care needed to keep wool clean, crutching is different to mulesing where part of the wrinkled skin is removed, although they are closely related in that mulesed sheep require much less crutching. It is the excess wool which gets most soiled from urination and faeces, Sheep shearer Sheep shearing Cottle, D. J. Australian Government website covering Basic management of pet sheep including crutching Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations website on crutching sheep
Crutching
–
Crutching a sheep that has been wigged (eye-wooled).
18.
Roustabout
–
Roustabout is a traditional term for a worker with broad-based, non-specific skills. Originally used to show or circus workers who handled materials for construction on fairgrounds, it is also applied to rural employment. Oil roustabout refers to a worker who maintains all things in the oil field, Roustabout is an official classification of natural gas and oil rig personnel. Roustabouts working in oil fields typically perform various jobs requiring little training, Roustabouts will set up oil well heads, maintain saltwater disposal pumps, lease roads, lease mowing, create dikes around tank batteries on a lease, etc. An oil roustabout has no limits in the oil industry and can, and will do any and all oil field work, including drilling, oil well completion and well service. An oil field roustabout will also do all things that an oil field pumper would have to do, however, they frequently turn out to be long-term employees and take on more difficult and sometimes dangerous jobs as they gain experience. Most go on to at least become “roughnecks” if they work for the rig company for more than a few months. An early 2010 survey by Careercast. com of the best and worst jobs — based on five criteria, environment, income, employment outlook, physical demands, nonetheless, the anecdotal and subjective experience of an actual roustabout reveals the excitement of a challenging, adventurous job. In Australia and New Zealand a roustabout can be any worker with broad-based, non-specific skills, however, they are most commonly found in rural employment, especially sheep farming, as in the film The Sundowners, where they leave town before the sun goes down. The term was used in Disneys 1941 animated film Dumbo, during a scene in which a group of labourers pulled circus materials off the train for construction. Roustabout was a 1964 musical movie starring Elvis Presley, Barbara Stanwyck, the term is used in the song The Mariners Revenge Song, by The Decemberists. Roustabout is also the name of a recorded by the bluegrass band, Open Road. The term is used by Beats Antique for two songs off of their album Collide. The Slamball team Rousties is named after a roustabout, in the musical theater production All Shook Up, the lead character Chad is often referred to as a roustabout. Roughnecks and Roustabouts is the second Album by Pete Williams, formerly bassist and vocalist with Dexys Midnight Runners, and currently performing as The Pete Williams Band
Roustabout
–
A roustabout throwing a freshly shorn fleece onto a wool table for skirting and classing.
Roustabout
–
Roustabouts unloading cotton from steamboat ca. 1900.
19.
Lismore, Victoria
–
Lismore is a town in Victoria, Australia, located on the Hamilton Highway 170 kilometres west of Melbourne. It is part of the Corangamite Shire local government area, the town is located at a point equidistant from Geelong and Warrnambool. At the 2006 census, Lismore had a population of 513, at the 2001 census, Lismore had a population of 262. The town which is now Lismore was first settled by Europeans when a John Brown was forced to stop to repair a wagon axle and it broke while he forded the creek now named Browns Waterholes. Lismore was surveyed and named in the 1850s, the settlement at that time was a rough grog shanty called the White Swan Hotel and a few houses near the crossing of Browns Water Holes. Lismore Post Office opened on 1 December 1864, Lismore grew through the years to become a prosperous service town for the surrounding fine wool producing properties. Its peak of population was probably in the 1950s when many of the properties of the area were divided up to make farms for returned soldiers. Since the late sixties, Lismore has slowly become more of a retirement town, though it still has a primary school. For its size, the town has an array of services and recreation. A small Hamilton Highway town, Lismore lies just a few kilometres from the northernmost lakes in the Colac Lakes system, there are more than 50 lakes in the chain that spreads across the huge sweep of volcanic plains to the north of Colac. The largest lake, Lake Corangamite, is three times saltier than the ocean and only a species of minnow which has a tolerance to salt can survive in its waters. The town features one of the states oldest private chapels, a Gothic revival style building built by Scottish emigrant Adam Robertson in 1867 from bluestone, there is also a large woolshed, capable of shearing 15,000 merinos, built by Robertson in 1841. There is a primary school and a P-12 college in nearby Derrinallum. There is a community centre with a visiting doctor and many preventative health program. There is a pool and several well laid out playgrounds. Sport in Lismore, includes golf, netball, football, cricket, squash, lawn bowls, the town in conjunction with neighbouring township Derrinallum has an Australian Rules football team Lismore-Derrinallum competing in the Mininera & District Football League. A severe level crossing accident at Lismore, where fog was a contributing factor, a truck failed to stop at a crossing with only passive protection, derailing the train and causing a massive pileup of wagons and killing the truck driver. Media related to Lismore, Victoria at Wikimedia Commons Community website
Lismore, Victoria
–
Lismore Hotel
20.
Muster (livestock)
–
A muster or a roundup is the process of gathering livestock. Musters usually involve cattle, sheep or horses, but may also include goats, camels, the group of animals gathered in a muster is referred to as a mob in Australia and a herd in North America. Mustering may be done on foot, with vehicles, horses or with aircraft. Techniques in mustering cattle or sheep will depend on region, culture, distances and the type of terrain involved, most sheep mustering nowadays tends to be done with utes, motorcycles or all-terrain vehicles, whereas cattle mustering lends itself more towards the use of horses. The most popular horse for this job would is a horse or a very hardy bush horse. The people who muster animals are referred to as stockmen in Australia and, depending on the animal gathered. Dogs are typically used where it is possible or helpful to do so, the hardy Australian Kelpie or one of its crosses is the most popular breed of dog for mustering sheep and cattle in Australia. The Australian Cattle Dog or blue heeler is a popular dog in the US, as is the Border Collie. It may be difficult or impossible to use dogs in hot, the use of some dogs on cows with young calves may be counterproductive as cows will chase dogs that work too close to them. Working dogs are essential in the rugged country and also in scrubby locations where dogs are able to flush out cattle from low brush. The flight zone, too, is an important principle to remember when working or mustering livestock, when mustering cattle in isolated gorge country a good dog will silently move ahead of the stockman and block up the stock until the rider appears to take control. In Australia, a stockwhip is usually carried and used as needed when mustering cattle with horses, in North America, a lasso is used from horseback, both to rope and move particularly recalcitrant animals, but also as a simple goad. However, a different style of whip, also called a stock whip, if only part of the mustered mob of cattle is required then the selected animals may be open campdrafted away or cut out from the mob while contained in a larged fenced area and driven away. This practice normally requires several skilled riders, but saves time and is better than yard drafting, the seasonal mustering of cattle with horses is still very important in remote country and the stockmen will spend long days riding and camping in isolated areas. When cattle have to be castrated or ear marked in country that is too remote from fenced-in areas and this is accomplished by various methods. In the US, roping the animal and tying up its legs once thrown is a common method, in Australia, the common method is getting the beast off balance either with the pressure of a horse or in open country with a vehicle. Lighter beasts may also be thrown by holding the tail to pull them off balance, when downed the beast may have its back legs hobbled if it is too big to hold otherwise. In South America, the animal is often tripped with a bola, Livestock can also be passively mustered by trap yards or holding corrals, which are set up at points where enticements such as water, molasses, fodder or salt are placed
Muster (livestock)
–
Mustering feral cattle can be very dangerous.
Muster (livestock)
–
A mustering camp with a freshly baked
damper. The
pack saddles and
oilskin coats are drying on the fence.
Muster (livestock)
–
Mustering
Corriedales in
Patagonia
Muster (livestock)
–
Horses in the
outback are not noted for their docility and this adds to the dangers of mustering.
21.
Lice
–
Louse is the common name for members of the order Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless insect. Lice are obligate parasites, living externally on warm-blooded hosts which include species of bird and mammal, except for monotremes, pangolins, bats. Lice are vectors of diseases such as typhus, chewing lice live among the hairs or feathers of their host and feed on skin and debris, while sucking lice pierce the hosts skin and feed on blood and other secretions. They usually spend their life on a single host, cementing their eggs. The eggs hatch into nymphs, which three times before becoming fully grown, a process that takes about four weeks. Humans host three species of louse, the louse, the body louse and the pubic louse. The body louse has the smallest genome of any known insect, Lice were ubiquitous in human society until at least the Middle Ages. They appear in folktales, songs such as The Kilkenny Louse House and they commonly feature in the psychiatric disorder delusional parasitosis. A louse was one of the subjects of microscopy, appearing in Robert Hookes 1667 book. Humans host three different kinds of lice, head lice, body lice, and pubic lice, Lice infestations can be controlled with lice combs, and medicated shampoos or washes. Sucking lice are wingless insects ranging from 0.5 to 5 mm in length. They have narrow heads and oval, flattened bodies and they have no ocelli, and their compound eyes are reduced in size or absent. Their antennae are short with three to five segments, and their parts, which are retractable into their head, are adapted for piercing and sucking. There is a pump at the start of the gut. The mouthparts consist of a proboscis which is toothed, and a set of stylets arranged in a cylinder inside the proboscis, contaiing a salivary canal and a food canal. The thoracic segments are fused, the segments are separate. Chewing lice are also flattened and can be larger than sucking lice. They are similar to sucking lice in form but the head is wider than the thorax, there are no ocelli and the mouthparts are adapted for chewing
Lice
–
Phthiraptera
Lice
–
A
louse (nit) comb
Lice
–
Drawing of a louse clinging to a human hair.
Robert Hooke,
Micrographia, 1667
Lice
–
Detail showing delousing from
Jan Siberechts ' painting Cour de ferme ("Farmyard"), 1662
22.
12-hour clock
–
The 12-hour clock is a time convention in which the 24 hours of the day are divided into two periods, a. m. and p. m. Each period consists of 12 hours numbered,12,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10, and 11. The 24 hour/day cycle starts at 12 midnight, runs through 12 noon, the 12-hour clock was developed over time from the mid-second millennium BC to the 16th century AD. The natural day- and night division of a calendar day forms the basis as to why each day is split into two cycles. Originally there were two cycles, one cycle which could be tracked by the position of the Sun followed by one cycle which could be tracked by the Moon and this would eventually evolve into the two 12-hour periods that started at midnight and noon which are used today. Noon itself is rarely abbreviated today, but if it is, the 12-hour clock can be traced back as far as Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. Both an Egyptian sundial for daytime use and an Egyptian water clock for night-time use were found in the tomb of Pharaoh Amenhotep I, dating to c.1500 BC, these clocks divided their respective times of use into 12 hours each. The Romans also used a 12-hour clock, daylight was divided into 12 equal hours, in Northern Europe these dials generally used the 12-hour numbering scheme in Roman numerals, but showed both a. m. and p. m. periods in sequence. This is known as the system, and can be seen on many surviving clock faces, such as those at Wells. Elsewhere in Europe, particularly in Italy, numbering was more likely to be based on the 24-hour system, the 12-hour clock was used throughout the British empire. During the 15th and 16th centuries, the 12-hour analog dial, the 24-hour analog dial was reserved for more specialized applications, such as astronomical clocks and chronometers. Most analog clocks and watches use the 12-hour dial, on which the shorter hour hand rotates once every 12 hours. Some analog clock dials have a ring of numbers along with the standard 1-to-12 numbered ring. The number 12 is paired either with a 00 or a 24, while the numbers 1 through 11 are paired with the numbers 13 through 23 and this modification allows the clock to be read also in the 24-hour notation. This kind of 12-hour clock can be found in countries where the 24-hour clock is preferred, in several countries the 12-hour clock is the dominant written and spoken system of time. Other countries use the 12-hour clock mainly in spoken time, while the 24-hour notation is written, in most countries the 12-hour clock is used in speech alongside the 24-hour clock. The 12-hour clock in speech often uses such as in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening. Outside of English-speaking countries, the terms a. m. and p. m. are seldom used and often unknown
12-hour clock
–
Exeter Cathedral Astronomical Clock, showing the double-XII numbering scheme
12-hour clock
–
A typical
analog 12-hour clock
12-hour clock
–
A typical
digital 12-hour alarm clock indicating p.m. with a dot to the left of the hour
23.
Wool classer
–
Wool classing is an occupation for which people are trained to produce uniform, predictable, low risk lines of wool. This is carried out by examining the characteristics of the wool in its raw state, the characteristics which a wool classer would examine are, Breed of the sheep, Shedding breeds will increase the risk of medulated and/or pigmented fibres. Any sheep likely to have dark fibres should be shorn last to avoid contamination, the age of the sheep will have a bearing on the fibre diameter and value of wool, too. Chemical usage, Ensure that all rules have been followed, brands, seedy jowls and shanks, Must be removed from fleeces and broken. Stain, Must be removed from bellies and fleeces and identified in a separate line, Wool crimp, The number of bends per unit length along the wool fibre approximately indicates spinning capacity of the wool. Fibres with a fine crimp have many bends and usually have a small diameter, such fibre can be spun into fine yarns, with great lengths of yarn for a given weight of wool, and greater market value. Fine fibres may be utilised in the production of garments such as mens suits whereas the coarser fibres may be used for the production of carpet. Crimp is measured in crimps per inch or crimps per centimetre, average diameter or mean fibre diameter is measured in micrometres. For generations, English wool-handlers categorized wool along the above lines estimating spinning capacity by eye and this spread worldwide as the Bradford system. Wool Strength determines wools ability to withstand processing, weaker wools produce more waste in carding and spinning. Weaker wools may be used for production of felt, or combined with other fibres, Wool colour, Indicates whether wool is able to be dyed in light shades. Colour may be graded depending upon the colour, impurities. Severely stained wool decreases prices dramatically, however, it is difficult to assess colour accurately without proper measurement, since some stains will wash out in the processing, whereas others are quite persistent. The fleece is skirted to remove excess frib, seed and burr etc. to leave the fleece as reasonably even as possible in good respects, the parts of wool taken from a sheep are graded separately. Some of the wool growers do in shed wool testing. This enables wool classers to place wool into lines of a consistent quality, all Merino fleece wool sold at auction in Australia is objectively measured for fibre diameter, yield, staple length, staple strength and sometimes colour. Classers are also responsible for ensuring that a check is made to ensure that the wool. They are to supervise shed staff during shearing and train any inexperienced hands, at the end of shearing classers have to provide full documentation concerning the clip
Wool classer
–
Parts of a Merino fleece
Wool classer
–
Throwing a freshly shorn fleece onto a wool table for skirting and classing.
Wool classer
–
Wool classing in
Australia, circa 1900
24.
Moccasin (footwear)
–
A moccasin is a shoe, made of deerskin or other soft leather, consisting of a sole and sides made of one piece of leather, stitched together at the top, and sometimes with a vamp. The sole is soft and flexible and the upper part often is adorned with embroidery or beading, though sometimes worn inside, it is chiefly intended for outdoor use, as in exploring wildernesses and running. Historically, it is the footwear of many people of North America, moreover, hunters, traders. Etymologically, the moccasin derives from the Algonquian language Powhatan word makasin, in the 1800s, moccasins usually were part of a Canadian regalia, e. g. a powwow suit of clothes. The most common style is that of the Plains Indians moccasin, Moccasins protect the foot while allowing the wearer to feel the ground. The Plains Indians wore hard-sole moccasins, given that their territorial geography featured rock, the eastern Indian tribes wore soft-sole moccasins, for walking in leaf-covered forest ground. Moccasins are usually all brown, the same color, in New Zealand and Australia, sheep shearers moccasins are constructed of a synthetic, cream-colored felt, with a back seam and gathered at the top of the rounded toe. These moccasins are laced in the front, and the lacing is covered with a flap fastened with a buckle at the outer side. The fastener arrangement prevents the shearers handpiece comb from catching in the laces, shearers moccasins protect the feet, grip wooden floors well, and absorb sweat. The word moccasin can also denote a shoe of deer leather adorned with laces, a driving moccasin is a contemporary version of the traditional Native American moccasin with the addition of rubber tabs on the sole. The addition of rubber-pad sole adds to the versatility and longevity of the shoe while maintaining the flexibility, there are many variations of the sole including, Rubber-dotted - These have a uniform covering of small, round rubber pads. Separated Pad - These have larger, flat rubber pads separated by small areas. Moc Toe Boots, commonly referred as a Moc Toe, the boots are normally combined with hard rubber compounded soles, the moccasin toe work boot is a style that reflects the Native American moccasin. Normally by weld stitching two pieces of leather or fabric, the pattern creates a U-shaped design around the toe box and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Moccasin. The Canadian Museum of Civilization - Moccasins Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa - Moccasins Creek - Seminole moccasins
Moccasin (footwear)
–
Osage (Native American). Pair of Moccasins, early 20th century.
Brooklyn Museum
Moccasin (footwear)
–
A soft-soled moccasin
Moccasin (footwear)
–
Hopi Pueblo (Native American). Dancing Shoes, late 19th century.
Brooklyn Museum
Moccasin (footwear)
–
Beaded moccasins original to the estate of
Chief Washakie,
Wind River Reservation (
Shoshone),
Wyoming, c.1900
25.
CSIRO
–
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation is the federal government agency for scientific research in Australia. Its chief role is to improve the economic and social performance of industry, CSIRO works with leading organisations around the world, and CSIRO Publishing issues journals with the latest research by leading scientists on a broad range of subjects. From its headquarters in Canberra, CSIRO maintains more than 50 sites across Australia and biological control research stations in France and Mexico, employing about 5000 in total. As of 1 July 2014, CSIRO is governed by a Board, chaired by David Thodey with nine directors inclusive of the CEO, daily management is led by a CEO, presently Dr Larry Marshall, with an executive team of seven. There are ten research flagships and twelve services areas, the CSIRO Flagship initiative was originally designed to integrate, focus and direct national scientific resources. In July 2014, all research Divisions and Flagships were merged into ten research flagships, the Bureau of Meteorology generates the high resolution weather forecasts and CSIRO has created computer models to calculate pollution levels. A precursor to CSIRO, the Advisory Council of Science and Industry, was established in 1916 at the initiative of prime minister Billy Hughes, however, the Advisory Council struggled with insufficient funding during the First World War. In 1920 the Council was renamed the Commonwealth Institute of Science and Industry, and was led by George Handley Knibbs, in 1926 The Science and Industry Research Act replaced the Institute with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. The CSIR was structured to represent the structure of Australian government, and had state-level committees. As well as this structure, the CSIR benefited from strong bureaucratic management under George Julius, David Rivett. CSIR research focussed on primary and secondary industries, early in its existence, it established divisions studying animal health and animal nutrition. After the depression, the CSIR extended into secondary industries such as manufacturing, CSIRO today has expanded into a wider range of scientific inquiry. This expansion began with the evolution of CSIR to the CSIRO by the Ben Chifley Labor government in 1949 which amended the Science and Industry Research Act, the amendment enlarged and reconstituted the organisation and its administrative structure. Under Ian Clunies Ross as chairman, CSIRO pursued new areas such as radioastronomy, in October 2005, the journal Nature announced CSIRO scientists had developed near-perfect rubber from resilin, the elastic protein which gives fleas their jumping ability and helps insects fly. On 19 August 2005, CSIRO and the University of Texas at Dallas announced they were able to make transparent carbon nanotube sheets that will bring carbon nanotube products to the masses, CSIRO had a pioneering role in the scientific discovery of the universe through radio eyes. A team led by Paul Wild built and operated the world’s first solar radiospectrograph, for three decades, the Division of Radiophysics had a world-leading role in solar research, attracting prominent solar physicists from around the world. CSIRO owned the first computer in Australia, CSIRAC, built as part of a project began in the Sydney Radiophysics Laboratory in 1947, the CSIR Mk 1 ran its first program in 1949, the fifth electronic computer in the world. It was over 1,000 times faster than the mechanical calculators available at the time and it was decommissioned in 1955 and recommissioned in Melbourne as CSIRAC in 1956 as a general purpose computing machine used by over 700 projects until 1964
CSIRO
–
CSIRO Corporate Headquarters in
Campbell, Australian Capital Territory
CSIRO
–
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
CSIRO
–
CSIRO
Darwin
CSIRO
–
CSIRO
Hobart
26.
Protein
–
Proteins are large biomolecules, or macromolecules, consisting of one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, responding to stimuli, a linear chain of amino acid residues is called a polypeptide. A protein contains at least one long polypeptide, short polypeptides, containing less than 20–30 residues, are rarely considered to be proteins and are commonly called peptides, or sometimes oligopeptides. The individual amino acid residues are bonded together by peptide bonds, the sequence of amino acid residues in a protein is defined by the sequence of a gene, which is encoded in the genetic code. In general, the code specifies 20 standard amino acids, however. Sometimes proteins have non-peptide groups attached, which can be called prosthetic groups or cofactors, proteins can also work together to achieve a particular function, and they often associate to form stable protein complexes. Once formed, proteins only exist for a period of time and are then degraded and recycled by the cells machinery through the process of protein turnover. A proteins lifespan is measured in terms of its half-life and covers a wide range and they can exist for minutes or years with an average lifespan of 1–2 days in mammalian cells. Abnormal and or misfolded proteins are degraded more rapidly due to being targeted for destruction or due to being unstable. Like other biological macromolecules such as polysaccharides and nucleic acids, proteins are essential parts of organisms, many proteins are enzymes that catalyse biochemical reactions and are vital to metabolism. Proteins also have structural or mechanical functions, such as actin and myosin in muscle and the proteins in the cytoskeleton, other proteins are important in cell signaling, immune responses, cell adhesion, and the cell cycle. In animals, proteins are needed in the diet to provide the essential amino acids that cannot be synthesized, digestion breaks the proteins down for use in the metabolism. Methods commonly used to study structure and function include immunohistochemistry, site-directed mutagenesis, X-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance. Most proteins consist of linear polymers built from series of up to 20 different L-α-amino acids, all proteinogenic amino acids possess common structural features, including an α-carbon to which an amino group, a carboxyl group, and a variable side chain are bonded. Only proline differs from this structure as it contains an unusual ring to the N-end amine group. The amino acids in a chain are linked by peptide bonds. Once linked in the chain, an individual amino acid is called a residue, and the linked series of carbon, nitrogen. The peptide bond has two forms that contribute some double-bond character and inhibit rotation around its axis, so that the alpha carbons are roughly coplanar
Protein
–
Proteins in different
cellular compartments and structures tagged with
green fluorescent protein (here, white)
Protein
–
A representation of the 3D structure of the protein
myoglobin showing turquoise
alpha helices. This protein was the first to have its structure solved by
X-ray crystallography. Towards the right-center among the coils, a
prosthetic group called a
heme group (shown in gray) with a bound oxygen molecule (red).
Protein
–
Constituent amino-acids can be analyzed to predict secondary, tertiary and quaternary protein structure, in this case hemoglobin containing
heme units
Protein
–
John Kendrew with model of myoglobin in progress
27.
Wool bale
–
A wool bale is a standard sized and weighted pack of classed wool compressed by the mechanical means of a wool press. This is the required method of packaging for wool, to keep it uncontaminated. A bale of wool is also the standard trading unit for wool on the national and international markets. Packaging of wool has not changed much for centuries except that the early wool packs were made from jute, jute packs were relatively heavy, weighing several kilograms each. In the 1960s polypropylene and high-density polyethylene packs were manufactured and used to make wool bales, each bale of wool packs contains 50 packs that measure 70 cm ×70 cm x 98 cm and have 46 cm flaps. Very early wool presses were made from wood boards and had a winch mechanism to compress the wool. During the late 19th century various forms of wooden wool press became the standard, most popular models were the Koerstz and the Ferrier. The Koerstz was a smaller press than the Ferrier, the Ferrier press was manufactured under license by Humble & Nicholson, Geelong, Victoria, and they had sold 2,000 presses between about 1871 and 1918. These presses were distributed throughout Australia, but were sent overseas to New Zealand, South America. The steel Ajax wool presses were also used, woolpressing with a manual woolpress was hard, tiring work that required tramping the wool into a box and then pressing it further with a manually operated lever activated cable. Nowadays power operated, self-pinning wool presses with inbuilt scales have made a contribution to shearing shed productivity. Wool bales have been transported by camel, horse teams, bullock wagons, paddle steamer, boats and later by rail, pressing and branding are typically carried out by a woolpresser in the larger shearing sheds. In small sheds, the pressing may be done by the woolclasser, a woolpresser may perform the combined duties of woolpressing and penning up the sheep for the shearers. The latter arrangement means less interruption to the flow of the wool across the table, the woolclasser oversees the duties of the woolpresser during the entire shearing. The presser ensures that the pack is free of any contaminants before he places it into the wool press. He then carries the wool from the selected wool bin, removing any contamination and it takes about 60 skirted fleeces to fill a wool bale, depending on the size and age of the sheep. The presser closes the bale with four internal and five external metal bale fasteners, before weighing the bale, the maximum wool bale length is 1.25 metres. Following shearing at the farm, woollen fleeces are placed together in sheets and these sheets are bulky yet are light and convenient for the small famer to transport to his local wool collection centre
Wool bale
–
Wool bales in a
shearing shed awaiting transport to market.
Wool bale
–
Sign for the Woolpack
public house, Fishbourne, West Sussex, showing the historic form of the modern wool bale
Wool bale
–
Wool bales at the broker's store in 1900.
Wool bale
–
A hand operated wool press in action, circa 1900.
28.
Shetland sheep
–
The Shetland sheep is a small, wool-producing breed of sheep originating in the Shetland Isles, but is now also kept in many other parts of the world. It is part of the Northern European short-tailed sheep group, Shetlands are classified as a landrace or unimproved breed. This breed is kept for its fine wool, for meat. Although Shetlands are small and slow-growing compared to commercial breeds, they are hardy, thrifty, easy lambers, adaptable, the Shetland breed has survived for centuries in difficult conditions and on a poor diet, but they thrive in better conditions. Shetlands retain many of their survival instincts, so they are easier to care for than many modern breeds. Up to the Iron Age, the sheep of the British Isles and other parts of northern and western Europe were small, short-tailed sheep were gradually displaced by long-tailed types, leaving short-tailed sheep restricted to the less accessible areas. These included the Scottish Dunface, which until the eighteenth century was the main sheep type throughout the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, including Orkney. The Dunface died out on the mainland, Scotland, in the nineteenth century, leaving its descendants limited to a few islands. The Shetland type of the Dunface has been regarded as distinct since the nineteenth century or before. By the early century, the Shetland was perceived as threatened by cross-breeding, leading to a decline in wool quality. To combat this, the Shetland Flock Book Society was formed in 1927, by the time the Rare Breeds Survival Trust was set up in the 1970s, the Shetland had become rare, and it was listed by them as Category 2. Since then, the breed has become popular with smallholders, and it is now classified as Category 6, on the mainland the breed is governed by the Shetland Sheep Society. A notorious Shetland sheep was a ram kept by United States President Thomas Jefferson for several years in the nineteenth century. Unlike modern Shetlands this ram had four horns and he was kept with about 40 other sheep on Presidents Square in front of the White House. In the spring of 1808, it attacked several people who had taken shortcuts across the square, injuring some and actually killing a small boy. Having been moved to Jeffersons private estate at Monticello, the ram was eventually killed after having killed several other rams, such aggressive Shetland rams, however, are unusual. In North America, the original Jefferson flock of Shetlands did not persist, other importations were made at the beginning of the twentieth century most notably to Mrs. W. W. Burch of Coopersville, MI, and Mr. L. V. Harkness of the Walnut Hall, there is record of these flocks surviving until 1916, and also record of another flock in Illinois in 1917
Shetland sheep
–
A Shetland ram lamb with the common " Moorit " brown color
Shetland sheep
–
Shetland ewe grazing on heathland: this "badgerfaced" pattern is called katmoget.
Shetland sheep
–
Shetlands appear in a wide variety of colors, many of which are called by their traditional names by breeders.
