A unique project to show woolgrowers and other people the process of transforming greasy wool into fabric has got a new lease on life.
The Fibre to Fabric Project 2000 may have sat in storage for some 15 years, but a representative of the founding organisations Wesfarmers-Dalgety (now Landmark), Athol Frederick, said it was still of interest.
He said the Fibre to Fabric Project 2000 was a good example of the wool industry working together. Industry organisations including the Woolmark Company, CSIRO, Wesfarmers-Dalgety, Australian Wool Testing Authority (AWTA), the Department of Natural Resources and Environment and Best Wool 2000 partnered for the project.
Clyde Hammond, Bonvale Pastoral, Murchison, provided the sheep. Thirty sheep from mob of 400 were shorn six weeks before the Elmore Field Days and samples of greasy wool were taken.
Product samples were taken along the production line – of the top and noil, yarn and final the fabric that was produced.
“The basic process is still similar,” Mr Frederick said.
“Although it dawned on us that most of the large scale processors had since moved off shore.”
AWTA sampling operations manager eastern Australia Tim Steere said some small niche processors remained.
Mr Frederick said Landmark management saw the value of transforming the samples retained from the project into an educational display, and paid for its framing. The display is hanging in the dining room at the Melbourne Wool Auction Centre in Brooklyn.
“There was a lot of time and money put in at the time from all these organisations,” he said.
The project was unveiled at the Elmore Field Days in 2000. During the event, the remaining 370 of Mr Hammond’s sheep were shorn using the fibre direct preparation system. The sheep were also scanned using the CSIRO Fleecescan equipment that had only recently been released commercially.
The project was displayed at other field days and to industry groups.
Mr Hammond was very pleased to hear the project would again be displayed to inform more people, including the young people interested in the wool industry.
He said while some of the processing had probably become more mechanised, the processes were still fundamentally similar.
The Hammond family sold the farm some 10 years ago, and Mr Hammond said having the project on display made him think of the good times on the farm.
Back in 2000, they were running 2000 to 3000 wethers with 21-micron fleeces.
