Book Review : The Ringer's Stand by Godfrey Bowen

Godfrey Bowen was a co-founder of the Agrodome, Rotorua.  He and his brother (Ivan Bowen) pioneered the Bowen Technique, still used by shearers today.

In 1982 Godfrey wrote “The Ringer’s Stand”, a fictionalized account of a sheep shearing competition.  The book starts off with:

“Old Sam was a contractor of 30 years standing and he really knew his shearers. He had employed them all – good, average and indifferent – and occasionally the no-hoper." So begins the story of "the ringer".  The ringer must prove himself worthy of his reputation and he proceeds to do just that; along the way sending the previous No.1 shearer back to No. 2 with some resentment but also grudging respect, for the ringer is clearly the better, faster shearer.

Throughout the story some shearing slang is used. These are just a few:

“Strangers” – the neighbour's sheep with their owner's earmark

“Fleeco” – a skilled shedhand who takes away the shorn fleece

“Wet ewes” – ewes suckling a lamb

“Fadge” – an incomplete bale of unpressed fleeces, oddments or pieces

“Strides” – a shearer's trousers

These slang terms give the reader a clear picture of the shearing shed and what is involved in shearing 800 sheep a day! Not a place for the unfit and fainthearted.

A copy of “The Ringer’s Stand” is held in the Don Stafford Room on the 2nd Floor of the Rotorua Library, Te Aka Mauri.

Post written by Alison. 2014, Dec 3