Around with Andrew

Andrew Chapman has just released the follow-up to his 'Woolsheds' book - 'Around the sheds'. In the blurb Charles Massy states "The great organic cathedrals of the bush - Australian shearing sheds - are part of an 11,000-year process and tradition: a remarkable journey revealed in their very design. But a cathedral is nothing without people, and the photographer has brilliantly captured the essence of that combination of design, organisation and people that comprise our bush cathedrals".

When Murray Stapleton's uncle Charlie Elston passed on, Murray picked up his Colwyn Park  property at Wycheproof, which had a four stand woolshed. But when Murray heard about an old woolshed near Melbourne about to be demolished, he had the old shed dismantled and delivered by semi-trailers next to the Elston one.

Shearing board at Elston woolshed, Wycheproof

The remains of the Oxley shearing shed

Leased back in 1848, Oxley Station is on the banks of the Lachlan River north-west of Hay, in the Riverina region of New South Wales. 
The Oxley and Tupra shearing sheds and shearers quarters were virtually destroyed by a tornado/cyclone in December 2007 (The December storm created the huge hailstorm over Sydney). While jackaroos sheltered in the protection of the sheep chutes, the winds hurtled iron and timber up to 2kms away. In 2009 they built a new modern extension on the end of the original Oxley shed.

It is not just grand designs which catch Andrew's interest, he captures the whimsy too - the patina of age on posts and gates; the keenness of the kelpie; the inherent geometry of the shed environment.


Visit any shed and, tucked away somewhere, you will find a message from the past...names, dates, home towns, sheep tallies, and the seasons are all recorded in a haphazard smorgasbord on walls, posts, overhead beams and floors.

Glenburn shearing shed, Paradise, formerly owned by father & son Frank & Owen Raeburn

Andrew will be conducting an exhibition and talk at the St Arnaud Library @ 7:30pm on 31st January.
Andrew is no stranger to St Arnaud. In 2005, he was the instigator of 'Snapping St Arnaud' where a team of 16 professional photographers documented the town, and donated the 107 prints (which were exhibited in the old Kara Kara Shire offices) to the community as a visual record.
Check out more at Andrew's site