WOOLSHED INFORMATION AT A GLANCE

• Built 1859, Jondaryan Woolshed is the oldest woolshed still standing in Queensland and the first purpose built woolshed in Australia.
• The first shearing in the shed was conducted without the roof in place.
• The galvanised iron for the roof was made in England.
• Shutters and many of the gates are made of red cedar.
• The uprights are made of iron bark and are in the ground seven feet (2.135 metres).
• The shed has never missed a shearing in its history.
• It is the only shed in Australia still shearing with steam power.
• In its peak, 650,000 sheep were shorn in one year in the 1880s.
• Woolpress has been in the same position since 1892. Originally here were two woolpresses side by side.
• In 1861, an average fleece weighed 1.8 pounds (0.8 kilograms). By 1881 they weighed 4.9 pounds (2.2 kilograms) and by 2002, 16 pounds (7.3 kilograms).
• In 1892 Jackie Howe was said to have shorn 321 sheep in one day. This equates to one sheep per 80 seconds.
• In 1998 at the Jondaryan Woolshed Sports Shear Competition it took 40 seconds to shear one sheep using a wide comb.