Shearing legends to enter Hall of Fame

The latest round of inductees includes Cathryn Wendelborn from Quilpie, QLD, Gene Mills from Young, NSW, Ray Anderson from Crookwell, NSW, Bernard Walker from Euroa, Victoria and indigenous shearer George "Dan" Cooper from Moree, NSW.

Chair of the Shear Outback board Sam Barnes said the 2022 inductees were selected from a field of 28 nominations.

"These legends were famous in the world of shearing, and should be acknowledged for their outstanding contributions to the industry," he said.

Ms Wendelborn originally hails from South Australia and began shearing in 1982, blazing a trail for women shearers.

She travelled widely shearing across Australia and New Zealand as well as being very involved in the competitive shearing world.

These days she runs the OffShears Bakery in Quilpie after buying the business in 2004, when she retired from shearing.

Ms Wendelborn said she felt very honoured to be the first woman inducted into the hall of fame.

"I've always loved sheep and I've loved shearing," she said.

"You get the respect of your workmates and everyone else who's in the industry as well... it's overwhelming really.

Ms Wendelborn said it was great to see a lot more women involved in wool harvesting, both in the sheds and competitively these days.

"I always there to do my job and do it well, I did so basically whatever I did, [the boys] had to improve their attitude because I was there and was a fierce competitor and they knew how I could shear," she said.

"You still had a few guys that if they knew you were in the shed, they wouldn't work with them but it didn't bother me because that was their problem.

"I got told many times back in the early days women weren't allowed in the shed and I thought 'well, guess what, this chicky babe is'.... I just shrugged it off, I had more important things to do.

"It didn't bother me because my work was there to prove what I was like."

Ray Anderson was born in 1936 in Goulburn, NSW and died in 2016.

Mr Anderson shore in the Crookwell district for 45 years, then becoming a contractor in the same area.

He was a member of the Australian Team to New Zealand in 1980, and also represented Australia at Denver Colorado on three occasions.

As well as winning more than 200 competitions during his career, he was focused on quality shearing and spent a lot of time mentoring young shearers.

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Born in 1882, George "Dan" Cooper set a world record of 316 sheep at Bundoran Station in North Queensland in 1910 and in 1911 defeated South Australian Bill Day in a competition billed as the World Championship in Sydney.

Gene Mills, the only 2022 inductee still shearing, was born in 1954 at Crookwell and now lives at Young.

He has a top tally of 450 in lambs and has competed in over 300 open class competitions with great success.

His competition record includes being named Canberra Shearer of the Year five times, winning the Australian Open twice and the Australian Strong Wool twice.

Bernard Walker was born in Euroa in 1939 and began shearing at age 16.

Through Apex he became Chairman of the group which introduced the first open time event to Australia, leading directly to the establishment Golden Shears Australia and the bi-annual test matches between Australia and New Zealand.

He was awarded an OAM for his contribution to the industry.

Four life memberships will also be given out to Duncan Fraser, Allan Japp, Roly Desailly and Clive Davenport as part of the Festival of the Blades weekend.

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