Teaching life skills through shearing an example for many industries

Laurie Bateman's first day as a police liaison officer at Cunnamulla, after 28 years as a shearer, was spent helping conduct random breath tests.

"I was like a fish out of water," he said. "I identified young men coming and going from school, and I worked out they were my target audience. Sheep shearing was my strength so I thought, why not do that with them."

That was the birth of the Blue Light shearing program, which teaches shearing and so much more.

In the words of Caitlin Crowe, the ag coordinator for the St George State High School, as well as credits towards a certificate II in rural operations, which provides credits for their QCE, it gives students skills to make them work-ready, and builds post-work contacts.

"We work on managing emotions, how to manage frustrations and looking at problem solving," she said.

"It's a life skill, really, and communication and working as a team, they're all skills that are transferable between any career, it doesn't matter if you end up in a shearing shed or not.

"Because we are camping together and living together, respect is a huge thing that we focus on.

"You are living with people for a week and if you do end up in the shearing sheds, it could be weeks of time that you're living with people, so cleaning up after yourself, doing the dishes."

AWI representative Karl Goodman, who has had 38 years in the shearing industry, said the eight-week course run over two years taught them to pull their boots on in the morning.

"An employer wants them to be sitting on their esky at 6.30am - this teaches them structure and teamwork," he said.

The program began at Cunnamulla in 2017 but has expanded throughout south west Queensland in recent years, utilising facilities at Tambo, Dirranbandi and St George as well as a new location at Croxdale near Charleville.

SQ Landscapes growth facilitator Geoff Reid said that as the trustee for the state government-owned 4500ha property on the town's outskirts, with an historical shearing shed on site, their involvement went hand-in-hand with the program's aims.

While the property's fencing needs upgrading to operate the course, the 20 students involved in the latest school, from St George, Charleville, Bollon, Dirranbandi and distance education, stayed at Croxdale.

"We're all about flourishing landscapes and helping communities, so helping an industry that impacts a lot of communities, that's the connection," he said.

"The region's really crying out for skilled labour and what we wanted to help out with is, give these kids an opportunity to learn the basics, so that if they were to go onto a property, the landholder wouldn't have to teach them.

"They'd hit the ground running and maybe help with some of the labour shortages out here at the moment."

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Senior constable Bateman, now working as the district crime prevention coordinator with the Charleville Police patrol group, said when the program started it was for disengaged youth.

"But now people from all walks of life are rubbing shoulders, which is a good thing," he said.

"As far as I know, it's unique and my bosses want to keep it going, they can see the benefits.

"Any sheep area across Australia, we could do this."

As well as being able to see the sheep shorn and take pride in the job done, Snr Const Bateman said there was no better way of teaching young people to control their emotions than one like shearing, in which animals were involved.

"Those of us who work with animals know, it doesn't work if you're tense or upset, or try to force anything," he said.

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The program got a thumbs up from Dani Hennessy recently relocated from Fingal Head at the southern end of the Gold Coast to Charleville, whose 16-year-old son Max was one of the team on the shearing board.

"He did this with Laurie last term too," Ms Hennessy said. "He came home very motivated, very organised."

The comparative cheapness of houses at Charleville is what attracted Ms Hennessy, her partner Reuben and Max to Charleville, where they could buy a house without having a mortgage hanging over their heads.

There was immediate work for Reuben as a mechanic and Ms Hennessy was snapped up for work at the RSL.

She said another of the benefits of the Blue Light shearing program was evident when exploring the limited businesses to undertake work experience at in a small town, and the lulls in activity through the day.

LEARNING HUB

The week at Charleville helped prove the potential for the Croxdale property as a learning hub, with the potential to host schools in a variety of activities, Snr Const Bateman said.

SQLandscapes' Geoff Reid said there were already plans to expand the program to a wider audience, especially as people from areas such as Toowoomba and Roma were now ringing asking how they could be involved.

"We want to see if we can actually get some funding to run additional schools - it could be just a short upskilling or introduction to shearing, because a lot of schools and kids want to be part of it," he said.

"Croxdale is a community asset and so we want to redevelop it back to a learning innovation hub for agriculture."