She is one of a growing number of women working in this field.Italy-born Marika Martini told SBS Italian she had never even seen a live sheep until she came to Australia and began working as a shed hand during the annual shearing in remote Rawlinna, 900km east of Perth in 2017.
Australia's economy was once said to "ride on the sheep's back" with the wool industry developing from just seven Merino ewes brought to the country in 1797 by British army officer and later New South Wales politician, John Macarthur. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there are now 1,260 women working in shearing sheds up from 698 a decade ago.Credit: Marika MartiniShe now works at the Western Australian College of Agriculture in Cunderdin, a small rural town 156km east of Perth, preparing students to work in the wool industry and assists them to enter national shearing and wool handling competitions.
"I found myself in a very big shed. There was only one other girl working there. Everything happened very quickly. There is no time to explain to someone like me - who has never seen anything like this in her life - what happens and what to do. Her days were long, from dawn to dusk, and for Martini they consisted of collecting wool fleece and keeping the shearing station tidy and clean.