On the Wool Track

This section of our web site focuses on the Australian wool industry.

Australia rode to prosperity on the sheep's back. Proceeds from wool sales built private fortunes and funded many of the finest buildings in both regional and metro Australia. The industry provided a backdrop for Waltzing Matilda, Australia's best known song. Conflict within the industry played a major role in the emergence of the Australian Trade Union Movement and the creation of two of Australia's political parties, the Australian Labour Party and the National (previously Country) Party.

Today the industry is, in relative terms at least, much smaller. Yet it remains a key part of Regional Australia. Fine Australian wool is a critical input to the Italian fashion industry. High quality lamb forms an important component in many regional menus. The buildings created, many now in National trust hands, form a key part of the built environment throughout Australia. 

We want to use this section to introduce you to wool industry. We want to show you not just why wool is important, but to give you a feel for the texture, the very smell, of the industry. We want to encourage you to visit wool sites, to buy wool clothing, to understand our passion.

We have adopted the title "On the Wool Track" as the name for the overall section. This is the title of a famous 1910 book by Charles Bean, the Australian war historian and founder of the Australian War memorial.

Then a journalist, Bean reluctantly accepted as assignment to do a series of articles on the wool industry in western NSW. He became fascinated with the character of the men working in the industry, and turned his articles into a book. Bean would later conclude that the character of men such as these were central to the success of the Australian diggers during the First World War, something that he encapsulated in what would become the ANZAC legend.

We have faced two major problems in creating this section of the site.

First, while there are a large number of wool related sites, they are generally fragmented, so a fair bit of effort is required to pull things together.

Secondly, with so much potential richness, how should we organise the material? Should we organise it thematically? This is easier, but Australia is such a big country that this creates its own problems for those who actually want to experience wool in particular areas. Should we then organise it geographically? This makes it easy to review particular areas, but creates difficulties for those interested in particular aspects of wool. 

In the end we have decided to follow a mixed approach. We have therefore broken this part of the site into two supporting sections.

• Wool in Australia provides an overview of the wool industry, its history and structure. We plan to develop this as our thematic section.
• Explore the Wool Track focuses on the wool experience in different areas.

No doubt this structure will change. But it provides a starting point.