Klah Radcliffe interviews Annette O’Sullivan about her new book Woolsheds: The historic shearing sheds of Aotearoa New Zealand for the Wairarapa Times-Age:
‘Three historic Wairarapa woolsheds have been featured in a new book documenting the history of New Zealand’s historic shearing sheds.
Woolsheds: The Historic Shearing Sheds of Aotearoa New Zealand was written by design historian Dr Annette O’Sullivan and photographed by Jane Ussher MNZM.
Launched on November 7 and published by Massey University Press, the book documents the main sheep farming areas in 19th century New Zealand, and featured sheds from Moanaroa Station, Bowlands and Lagoon Hill in Wairarapa.
All three stations offer a snapshot into the wool industry when it was booming.
Stepping into the buildings was “like going back in time”, O’Sullivan said.
“[These woolsheds] often have kept all of the old equipment, you know, just stored in there. It’s kind of like a shearing museum.”
The collapse of wool prices and the decline of the industry over the years has meant many woolsheds around the country have been out of use for years, however the Wairarapa ones in the book are still in use.
O’Sullivan said it was important to look into the history of the woolsheds and document what they had once been because many were now disappearing.’
Read the rest of the interview here.
