The first shearers in New Zealand came from Australia, where farming fine-wool Merinos had already been established. This 1864 engraving from the Illustrated Sydney News shows shearers using hand clippers, and a worker is pressing wool into bales using only his weight. Later, mechanical wool presses would have been used.
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Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference:
PUBL-0169-1864-001
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.
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