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West Aussies in Dubbo delight

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Bob GarnantCountryman
Damien Boyle, of Tambellup, will compete at the 2020 Golden Shears in New Zealand after qualifying at the national championships in Dubbo, NSW.
Camera IconDamien Boyle, of Tambellup, will compete at the 2020 Golden Shears in New Zealand after qualifying at the national championships in Dubbo, NSW. Credit: Countryman, Bob Garnant

WA shearers and wool handlers have shone on the national stage.

York wool handler Aroha Garvin and shearer Damien Boyle, of Tambellup, were among the best performances at this year’s Australian National Shearing Championships held last Thursday to Saturday at Dubbo.

The duo both qualified to represent Australia at the premier 2020 Golden Shears in Masterton, in New Zealand.

Garvin, who was runner-up in Saturday’s open woolhandling final at Dubbo will return to her country of heritage to defend her Golden Shears open title wins in 1988, 1990 and 1991.

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After settling in WA at the end of 1995 but still feeling the allure of the “Goldies”, Garvin said she was excited to be competing at the 60th anniversary of the Golden Shears, to be held March 4 to 7.

Garvin and her husband, Greg McAtamney, run Progress Shearing at York, which is shearing about 100,000 sheep a year and involves 60 staff during the peak spring season.

At Masterton, Garvin and his teammate Rachel Hutchinson, of New South Wales, will compete in her seventh trans-Tasman wool-handling test, which so far has included five of Australia’s 10 wins in a series dominated by New Zealand, which had its 33rd win in Dubbo on Friday.

During the 2012 World Championships in Masterton, Garvin placed third behind New Zealanders Joel Henare and Joanne Kumeroa in the individual final, while teamed up with Hutchinson, the Australian team was runner-up to New Zealand.

During the shearing competition at Dubbo, Boyle, who placed third in the open machine shearing final, also qualified for the Australian team for the Golden Shears trans-Tasman competition.

The three-man Australian team will also include Daniel McIntyre, of New South Wales, who placed first in the open at Dubbo, and Nathan Meaney, of South Australia, who placed second.

Taking victory over the New Zealand at Dubbo, was the Australian trans-Tasman machine-shearing team of McIntyre, Jason Wingfield, of Victoria, and Callum O’Brien, of WA.

During the team championships at Dubbo, Boyle and Jeff Banks, of Williams, won the prized title, with NSW shearers Luke Foster and Wayne Hosie as runner-ups.

In the team wool-handling competition, Garvin and her brother Joe Garvin, took out the title.

During the novice final competition at Dubbo, Ethan Gellatly, of Woodvale, won his first individual title, while Dwayne Humes, of Wandering, placed runner-up in the individual intermediate final.

Overall, the WA team took out the most points at Dubbo.

SHEARING AND WOOL-HANDLING CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS

Shearing

Open final (12 sheep): First — Daniel McIntyre (NSW) 12min 24.35sec, 54.468pts, Second — Nathan Meaney (South Australia) 11min 34.43sec, 55.138pts, Third — Damien Boyle (West Australia) 13min 5.35sec, 55.684pts, Fourth — Sam Mackrill (Vic) 12min 35.31sec, 57.849pts, Fifth — Jason Wingfield (Vic) 12min 21.61sec, 64.664pts, Sixth — Luke Foster (NSW) 13min 30.71sec, 66.202pts.

Blades final (3 sheep): First — John Dalla (South Australia) 14min 42.27sec, 52.45pts, Second — Ken French (Vic) 17min 8.53sec, 69.09pts, Third — Andrew Murray (NSW) 17min 18.9sec, 76.61pts, Fourth — John Burns (NSW) 19min 2.36sec, 82.45pts, Fifth — Malcolm Griffiths (Vic) 18min 4.23sec, 86.88pts, Sixth — Jim Murray (NSW) 21min 57.41sec, 93.2pts.

Wool handling

Open final: First — Racheal Hutchison (NSW) 20.445pts, Second — Aroha Garvin (WA) 23.532pts, Third — Kellie Hazel (Tas) 25.184pts, Fourth — Mark Purcell (Vic) 26.076pts, Fifth — Angela Wakeley (NSW) 26.511pts, Sixth Alexander Schoff (Qld) 26.57pts.

Teams

Shearing (3 sheep each): First — West Australia (Damian Boyle 5min 11.1sec, 24.22pts; Jeff Banks 4min 37.53sec, 27.88pts), 52.1pts, Second — New South Wales (Luke Foster 3min 52.41pts; Wayne Hosie 4min 24.14sec, 28.54pts) 54.16pts, Third — Queensland (Phil Schoff 6min 19.4sec, 33.97pts; Jason Schafer 5min 46.37sec, 39.65pts) 73.62pts.

Woolhandling: First — West Australia (Aroha Garvin, Jo Garvin) 20.42pts, Second — New South Wales (Racheal Hutchison, Angela Wakeley) 24.67pts, Third — Queensland (Bruce Lines, Alexanda Schoff) 26.56pts. Shearing and Woolhandling: First — West Australia 72.52pts, Second — New South Wales 78.83pts, Third — Queensland 100.18pts.

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