Shearing in the Riverina, New South Wales

In the heat of an Australian August, a once‑desolate sand‑hill in the Riverina suddenly hums with activity. A visionary leaseholder has turned the barren plain into a bustling station, hauling in fences, wells, and thousands of sheep, while carpenters, blacksmiths, and bullock‑drivers swarm the landscape like a traveling fair. The transformation is swift and purposeful, promising a season that will define the lives of everyone on the run.

The real drama begins the day before shearing starts, when the makeshift community assembles its essential crew. Jack, the shearers’ cook, arrives with a list of provisions that reads like a military supply catalogue, while the young storekeeper de Vere, fresh from aristocratic circles, learns the hard economics of station life. Together they must feed and equip seventy hungry men, each eager for the week’s work and the camaraderie that comes with the relentless rhythm of the shearing shed.