The Shearers

The Shearers is a colourful account of the men and women, past and present, who have committed their lives to shearing in New Zealand. Their voices – in their own words, often brutally honest reflections on what it is to be a shearer – are at the heart of this book: their training, their tools, their camaraderie, and the gruelling, itinerant nature of the job. Old hands like Brian ‘Snow’ Quinn, Tony Dobbs and Peter Casserly, and Peter and Elsie Lyon, as well as those newer to the scene, offer personal insights, often for the first time. The Shearers invites readers to the world of the New Zealand shearer – ‘the only job where you take a sweat towel to work’.