There have probably been plenty of woolclassers with 50-year careers under their belts but not many can say they've classed at one shed for a half century.
That was a feat achieved by Chris Britnell at Teviot, west of Winton last week, which was marked with great fanfare by the Sorensen family with purple singlets for the shearing team complete with details of the years served, and stubbie coolers bearing the same message.
Alex Sorensen said they thought it was pretty special, so much so that Mr Britnell had become like family to them.
He remembered first coming up from Victoria to the property in 1972 as a young married man, driving a short wheel base Toyota with a caravan hooked on behind, camping beside the quarters with his wife, and pushing Alex Sorensen's older sister down the track in a pram after work.
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"It was just typical Winton in those days and I quite liked it up here so I kept coming back," he said.
He'd had a classing ticket for about 12 months at that stage and had come up from Victoria in search of work, which the then-UNGRA Longreach manager Bernie Willersdorf gave him plenty of.
In those days Mr Britnell attended night school and worked in the wool stores at Geelong, completing a four-and-a-half year course, to get his ticket.
"Now you do it in five minutes," he said.
He added that classing lines had been simplified greatly over the years, thanks to the flock classing done by growers.
"It's only a seasonal thing now that you've got to make an extra line for something."
For the Sorensens, having Mr Britnell on the job meant the job was being done right.
"Chris isn't just throwing fleeces in bins and getting numbers through," Ken Sorensen said. "You know your lines are right, and everyone always comments how well the wool sells."
From Mr Britnell's point of view, that was the whole point, to finish the job off properly.
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Sally Gall
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
