An indigenous shearing team from Australia arrives next month to take part in the 2023 NZ Merino Shearing and Woolhandling Championships.
Māori shearer and former titleholder Samson Te Whata is facilitating their involvement.
Te Whata of Ngāpuhi remembers the first time he saw a merino sheep.
“I saw these things that scared the heck out of me, and I thought, ‘no, I will do a haka’,” Te Whata says.
Te Whata is a former champion shearer, with four New Zealand shearing titles. But he crossed the ditch to Australia to learn new skills.
“There was a different platform there in Australia, and it was called a narrow comb, and there’s quite a difference, and in New Zealand, we had grown up with the wide comb. Not bringing about the disputes of that, wide comb narrow comb, not interested in it. However, the skill discipline I was interested in.”
Now he’s coaching Australia’s first all-Aboriginal team and plans to bring another team to the NZ Merino Shearing and Woolhandling Championships in Otago next month.
“We can look at the DNA of Māori, that’s the quality we have in this type of work, like the indigenous people here in Sydney. Same DNA here, second to none in the world for this type of job.”
“Our issue that we will face is the season: What’s the season over there? How is that going to pose a threat to us in terms of getting our equipment ready, being mentally and physically ready to participate against our New Zealand team over there, which is pretty on to it?”
Te Whata is looking forward to the competition and coming home.
“Although I am here, my heart and thoughts are with everyone at home.”