Northlakes High School were lucky enough to be allocated wool as our fibre to study throughout the 2015 Archibull Prize.
Australian Wool Innovation supplied us with the most wonderful educational resources to use in our classroom during our regular Archi lessons and also fabric samples which have been included in our artwork.
Many of the students had not even felt real wool before, however through the wide variety of woollen samples we recieved from AWI, we now have all touched wool in the various stages of processing….what a wonderful thing!
We have broadened our knowledge and understanding of the Australian wool industry. We just wanted to say thank you for supporting us in our 2015 Archibull endeavours. It would not have been possible without your help.
Kind regards, 8WL Northlakes High School
If you would like to learn more about Australian Wool Innovation (AWI), or contact them for a free educational resource pack please click here
In class on Friday, we watched a video clip of Chris the Merino Sheep and his new world record. The following information is collected from a whole class discussion on the topic. There were a number of interesting observations made from what we have learnt so far in our journey through the Australian Wool Industry and also from our time with Bessie Thomas when she visited us at Northlakes High School.
We all agree that no matter how amazing Chris’s record is; it is also sad because in order for him to get the record, he was not properly looked after and his health and welfare was put in danger. He is definitely one lucky and tough sheep.
Chris the Sheep 07/09/2015
There are a lot of lessons we can all learnt from the recent story in the news about “Chris the Sheep”.
Chris was found wandering in a paddock and the RSPCA was notified straight away. They were informed because Chris had an enormous amount of excess wool covering his body. Chris had obviously not been properly cared from by his owners, resulting in his poor state.
Through the Archibull Prize in 2015 we have learnt about sheep and their needs. We have learnt Merino sheep need to be shorn every year, this is for a number of reasons; firstly sheep will over heat in summer; also in summer if the sheep are not shorn and properly cared for they can become fly blown. This can be fatal for the animal and terrible for their health; secondly their wool is used to make a variety of woollen products which are exported all over the world. Australian Merino wool is among the finest in the world and is extremely pliable.
It was lucky for Chris, which he was a Merino, because his fleece was that long that a lot of people had to squish his wool down so he could fit through the doors of the RSPCA. His fleece was over 42 cm long – that was the depth of the fleece.
To even eat and drink would have been a major ordeal for Chris. Not to mention he would have found it incredibly difficult to see as well.
When Chris was sedated and flipped over onto his back for a physical examination, the vets realised he had some open sores from the sheer weight of the excess wool pulling at his skin. Chris also had a very bad odour about him because his fleece was damp and ridden with all types of matter from the paddock he was living in.
Vets from the RSPCA said it was lucky Chris was discovered when he was because with the enormous weight of the wool he would not have been able to walk around freely for much longer. They also stated; it was lucky to find him now because, if Chris was left in another hot Australian Summer, he would have surely passed away from heat stress.
Chris had a world record breaking 42 kilograms of excess wool removed from his body. It took a team of 6 Australian champion shearers, 45 minutes to shear him. When our Young Farming Champion, Bessie visited us she taught us about the life of a shearer. She told us it took one shearer 2 minutes to shear one sheep; so for 6 men to take 45 minutes to shear Chris, that was a massive job.
The fleece that was taken off Chris is not going to be sold and really doesn’t have any monetary value because it is littered with waste. However it is going to be kept for its historical value as Chris is now the new world record holder for the most wool shorn off a sheep.
Chris will now be rehomed by the RSPCA, so he can live out the rest of his life in peaceful surrounding and be well cared for.
As a class we are going to make up a survey to give our Young Farming Champion, Bessie and Nan Bray from the White Gum Wool farm in Tasmania.
We want to find out as much information as we can so that we can compare and contrast the different methods of Australian Wool farmers. We are going to produce a written piece as a class (complete with a venn diagram) and in groups create an electronic visual presentation to share our findings.
There are a number of things we want to know more about:
We want to find out how they run their farms.
We need to know what farming practices they mostly use.
What makes their farm unique and different from others?
How big is their farming operation and how many are employed?
What are the weather conditions and seasons like through the year?
Are there any geographical features that make your farm unique?
How many heads of sheep do they run?
What is the biggest expense on your farm? Why?
What do your sheep eat?
How does the environment and the climate impact on the growth of the fleece?
How do you treat sheep when maggots and flies land on their fleece? Is that a huge problem on your farm?
What is the message you want everybody to know about wool farming in Australia?
What is your biggest challenge being a wool farmer in Australia?
How are the sheep on your farm grouped? Why?
What do the sheep use for shelter?
Are there any natural threats to the sheep on the farm?
How do you control those threats?
At what age can the sheep first be shaun?
When does a sheep become too old to sheer….is there an age limit?
Does the quality of the fleece change as the sheep matures?
How many years have you worked on your farm?
What is the best thing about being an Australian wool grower and working on your farm?
We have emailed this set of questions to both farmers and from their answers we will formulate a response.
Below are the responses sent back to us from Bessie and Shannen. We now have a lot to discuss in class….we love learning more and more about what Bessie does on her farm. We are very grateful for being part of the Archibull Prize in 2015, because otherwise we would never have learnt all these things about wool farming in Australia!
We want to find out how they run their farms.
Our farms are family owned and operated farms, run by my husband, his dad and mum, and me. The health of our animals is our main priority and for our animals to be heathy their environment has to be healthy too, which means the health of our environment is vital to our operations as well. Most of the farm and animal welfare decisions are made around the weather, food and water availability, and any environmental impacts (drought, flood, pests and weeds etc).
We farm across three properties – let’s call them Farm A, B and C. In March each year we shear at farm B and crutch (shear just around the sheep’s bottom to keep it clean) at farms A and C. In September each year we shear at farms A and C and crutch at farm B.
Shearing and crutching in March and September means the weather is more predictable in our region and it’s unlikely to be become dangerously hot or cold for the sheep when they’ve just been shorn. They also have to do a lot of walking in and out of the paddocks to get to the shearing shed at these times, so it’s important for the weather to be moderate when the sheep have to walk long distances.
Our main lambing season is April – before the weather gets too cold and to give the best opportunity for tasty grasses growing on the ground for the new mums to keep healthy – and lambs are marked in June, when the flies are usually still asleep before spring and summer!
We need to know what farming practices they mostly use.
Having healthy and happy sheep is the most important part of our farm and so their welfare is at the forefront of our minds when we wake up every day. We farm in a very challenging environment with a highly variable climate, which means managing our sheep in a way which can help them cope with everything from high rainfall events to long periods of extended drought, as well as extremely hot summers.
Our aim is to give them the best whole life experience we can. Do to this, our practices currently include marking lambs, mulesing or tail docking lambs, and shearing and crutching sheep every year.
When new lambs are two months old our first job is to mark them. This means putting a farm name tag and number in one ear, taking a little snip out of the other ear (neighbouring farms have different ear mark shapes specific to each farm, so if a sheep is found on someone else’s farm the farmer knows where to return it to), castrating the male lambs so they don’t become rams (to maintain quality breeding genetics), and tail docking or mulesing the merino lambs.
Caring for sheep in our challenging environment means it is currently best practice for us to mules or tail dock or lambs. Mulesing or tail docking is just one safe and quick measure we can do to as part of our responsibility to care for a sheep’s health for its whole life. Mulesing is the removal of the lamb’s tail and a small section of skin around the lamb’s bottom and this is highly useful in preventing fly-strike. Fly-strike is when flies lay eggs (which turn into maggots) in the woolly, moist or dirty areas of a sheep. The tail and bottom region of a sheep is very susceptible to fly-strike if it is left woolly and long and once the maggots hatch in the sheep’s wool it can be very painful and even deadly. Mulesing or tail docking greatly reduces the chance of this happening by creating a bare area around the bottom instead of a woolly, wet area. Marking and mulesing a lamb takes about 30 seconds and then they go straight back to mum for a cuddle and a drink of milk. We constantly monitor the lambs and their mums after these procedures to make sure we get the best outcomes for our sheep.
Our sheep are first shorn at about six months old and then crutched and shorn once every year after that. Our geographical location and climate means our sheep are susceptible to fly-strike, worms and lice, so we treat them all with special sheep products – like preventative medicine – after every crutching and every shearing to make sure they’re well protected all year.
What makes their farm unique and different from others?
The thing that makes our farm different and unique is the same thing that makes every farm different and unique – the people! More than 98 percent of Australian farm businesses are family farms and this means we get an amazing array of people, skills and personalities running Australian agriculture. I think this is fantastic because it means everyone has the opportunity to use their own skills to the best of their abilities on their farms. It means people can really connect with their farms, their animals and their environment, which makes running a farm a personal, emotional and special thing.
How big is their farming operation and how many are employed?
Our farms are very average in size compared to all the other farms in our region. Altogether the three properties we farm sheep on add up to more than 180,000 acres which is about the same as one third of the urban/suburban area of Sydney. The four of us are the main workers for most of the year but we have a team of 14 people who come in to help with shearing and crutching, and during busy times such as lamb marking and mustering we do sometimes employ contract farm workers to help, as well as mustering pilots.
What are the weather conditions and seasons like through the year?
Summers in far western NSW can easily be 40 degrees and hotter for many weeks at a time. In winter we do get frosts and have negative degree weather with cold winds and sleeting rain, but it doesn’t usually last for long and it doesn’t snow here. It is not usually humid, but rain at certain times of the year can cause humidity which then increases the chances of some pests and diseases. Our annual average rainfall is about 275mm (11inches), which is very marginal compared to the coastal areas of Australia, many of which receive more than 1000mm of rain a year.
Are there any geographical features that make your farm unique?
Every paddock on our farms looks different from the next. On the farm where I live, one end is quite open and grassy but 30 kilometres away at the other end of the farm there are big rocky hills, deep washed out gullies, totally different soil types, trees and vegetation. There are red sandhills and spinifex in some areas, open clay pans in other areas, and thick gum trees and scrubby bush areas in others. None of our farms have any natural watercourses such as rivers or lakes. There is a seasonal creek on one farm but it only flows once every ten years, on average, when there’s exactly the right amount of rain at exactly the right location!
How many heads of sheep do they run?
How many sheep we have depends greatly on the weather and seasonal conditions (food and water availability) from season to season and year to year. When conditions are at their best we can have up to 20,000 sheep. When there is drought we may only have a couple of thousand or even couple of hundred sheep – depending on how bad the drought is. On average we try to keep around 14,000 breeding ewes (female sheep who will have a lamb each year).
What is the biggest expense on your farm? Why?
Tough question! The biggest ongoing expense is probably electricity and fuel. We have to run a lot of equipment and machinery and do a lot of driving to run the farms. And it takes a lot of power to run the extra bedrooms, kitchens, bathrooms and shearing sheds needed when we are shearing and crutching – which can be for two to three months of the year.
Shearing is another huge yearly cost, at about $6.50 per sheep overall.
What do your sheep eat?
Our sheep eat the wonderful array of grasses, herbs and plants that grow naturally in this area. Some of their favourite foods are native spinach and the leaves of the rosewood tree.
How does the environment and the climate impact on the growth of the fleece?
Generally when a season is drier a sheep’s wool becomes finer. Stress and food both influence the growth of wool, so when a sheep is more stressed or there is not enough grass to eat, the individual fibres in a fleece become finer (thinner). Big changes in the climate or environment causing lots of stress can cause a break in the staple of the wool – this is basically a breaking point where if you pulled the fibre from each end it would snap at that point, which is not good because we want a fibre that is strong and the right length to be processed and made into many different things.
How do you treat sheep when maggots and flies land on their fleece? Is that a huge problem on your farm?
Flies can be a big problem in far-western NSW with our challenging climate and weather patterns but we always do everything we can to prevent them from becoming an issue. We do this by tail docking or mulesing our lambs when they are young, and then by spraying them with preventative fly-strike treatments twice a year (after crutching and after shearing). If sheep do get fly-strike (where flies lay maggots in the wool) then we have to catch every sheep that has it and treat them with a liquid that kills the flies and maggots by applying it onto the affected area of the sheep.
What is the message you want everybody to know about wool farming in Australia?
Australian wool is a 100% natural, sustainable, renewable and bio-degradable product that is beautiful to wear and use. Australian wool farmers love and care about the health and happiness of their sheep. We care about the environment and healthy future of their farms. And we care about ensuring everyone – including you – has access to natural, safe and affordable fibres for your clothes, homewares and hundreds of other products.
What is your biggest challenge being a wool farmer in Australia?
The biggest challenges are the weather and changing climate (extended drought periods), declining natural resources (including less rain), and biosecurity (various diseases and pests such as flies). All of these things can threaten a farm to the point of not being able to farm at all.
Other animals (such as kangaroos, rabbits and feral goats) competing for the same foods the sheep eat is also a big challenge, especially when the numbers of those animals builds up to unsustainable levels.
How are the sheep on your farm grouped? Why?
Sheep are really social animals and you’ll often find them hanging out together in groups even when they have kilometres and kilometres of space to spread out in. On our farms lambs live with their mums until they are old enough to be weaned – which is once they’ve been taught by their mums how to eat grass and drink water from a dam or trough and no longer need to drink their mum’s milk. At about five months of age the lambs go into a paddock with all their friends from the same age group. We do this to give the mums a break and time to get fit and healthy for having another lamb next year.
What do the sheep use for shelter?
All of our paddocks have lots of trees so they use these for shelter from the heat and cold. Wool is a great insulating fibre so their wool keeps them warm in winter and cool in summer and it also naturally protects against the sun’s harmful rays.
If the sheep have just been shorn and the weather forecast is predicting extreme heat or extreme cold, then we would keep the sheep in or near the shearing shed for a few extra days so they can be protected from the extreme weather.
Are there any natural threats to the sheep on the farm?
Pests and diseases can be an issue on any farm, which is why we take biosecurity very seriously. Foxes, wild pigs and wild dogs can all be a threat to young lambs, as can some protected native animals such as wedge tailed eagles. Flies are the biggest ongoing threat every year.
How do you control those threats?
Controlling threats is important not only for the health of the sheep but also the health of the environment. We control feral animals such as foxes, pigs and cats by participating in government run baiting/poisoning programs.
We try our best to keep the sheep disease free by making sure any new animals introduced to the farm are properly fit and healthy before they are allowed to mix with other animals. When diseases do occur we call in a vet to help treat and manage the issue.
At what age can the sheep first be shaun?
Mentioned above.
When does a sheep become too old to sheer….is there an age limit?
There is no age limit to shearing a sheep but sheep do grow less and lower quality wool the older they get. We sell our sheep at about 7 years old, which is when they become less physically fit to survive at their best in our environment. They start to loose teeth as they get older too – just like humans! – and this can make it difficult for them to eat and live a healthy life.
Does the quality of the fleece change as the sheep matures?
Wool quality does tend to decrease as the age of a sheep increases, but bloodlines (genetics), diet, the environment (including seasonal changes) and management practices are also extremely influential factors on the quality of wool.
How many years have you worked on your farm?
I have lived and worked on our farm for four and a half years, since February 2011.
What is the best thing about being an Australian wool grower and working on your farm?
The best thing about working on our farm is that it’s almost impossible to get bored! We get to work in a beautiful environment with animals and people that we love, with huge, fun machinery and toys, and lots of space to be ourselves… and there’s always something different to do every day.
The best thing about being a wool grower is being a part of the amazing group of people who provide consumers around Australia and the world with a beautiful, natural, renewable fibre that can be made into SO many different things.
Here are Nan Bray’s answers to the same survey questions….
When school goes back we will be comparing and contrasting both farming styles…it will certainly be a wonderful and insightful whole discussion.
Only a woolgrowing/grazing operation. No cropping. Only sheep. Wool is made into hand knitting yarn and sold by me. (I maintain ownership of the wool all the way through the “supply chain”, investing as needed to pay the processing costs, but then being able to se the price at which I sell the yarn.)
We need to know what farming practices they mostly use.
Ethical: no chemical fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides used. Sheep are not mulesed or tail-docked. Lambs remain with their mothers through their lifetime (no weaning), flock stays together as a single entity (except rams, of course). Nutritional choice and diversity of forage is a priority, leading to good nutrition, which means no need to drench (for intestinal parasites), sound wool and lots of it, and generally very healthy sheep.
What makes their farm unique and different from others?
See previous question
How big is their farming operation and how many are employed?
1000 superfine Saxon merinos (mixed age and gender). I employ 2 shearers, 2 roustabouts (casual labour for a total of 2 weeks per year) and one person, 4 hours per week, to help with the yarn business. Otherwise, I’m on my own. I’m 63, female, and this is my second career, after being a marine scientist until 12 years ago. Oh, and 7 working dogs 😉 without whom this would not be possible!
What are the weather conditions and seasons like through the year?
Rainfall is about 600 mm per year on average. Average rainfall is evenly spread through the year, but doesn’t in fact fall that way. We can get precipitation in any season, or dry conditions in any season. Winters are severe—heavy frosts (as much as -9 deg C), wind, rain, snow. Summers are not as hot as on the mainland—35 is an unusually warm day for us.
Are there any geographical features that make your farm unique?
Not really. I do have an area of dolerite soil which has a lot of native plants—helps with the nutritional diversity, and is also rather pretty bush country
How many heads of sheep do they run?
1000 at the moment. 1200 max. 3 dry years in a row have kept numbers down
What is the biggest expense on your farm? Why?
Shearing. Labour costs.
What do your sheep eat?
Grass, perennial herbs, shrubs, trees. No hand feeding.
How does the environment and the climate impact on the growth of the fleece?
Nutrition is the main determinant of wool quality. Climate has a direct influence on what grows when. How much plant diversity there is in the environment has a direct impact on nutritional quality.
How do you treat sheep when maggots and flies land on their fleece? Is that a huge problem on your farm?
Flystrike is limited by using an organically approved compound called Extinosad, which is applied with a jetting machine 2 or three times during fly season—Nov to March. Animals are checked every couple of days in summer to be sure none are struck, or to treat any that are. Treatment is clipping away affected wool, and using a concentrated application of Extinosad
What is the message you want everybody to know about wool farming in Australia?
It’s possible to do it ethically and profitably
What is your biggest challenge being a wool farmer in Australia?
Managing the interaction between landscape, weather and grazing needs of the sheep. It’s a very dynamic system!
How are the sheep on your farm grouped? Why?
All in a single mob, to keep families together. Sheep are highly social animals who learn from each other, protect each other, and like each others’ company. They are much better off in a single big mob with all generations than in “year classes”.
What do the sheep use for shelter?
Land forms, sags, shrubs, gorse, trees
Are there any natural threats to the sheep on the farm?
No
How do you control those threats?
At what age can the sheep first be shorn?
1 year
When does a sheep become too old to sheer….is there an age limit?
don’t know, but I’m working on finding out. Merinos can live to 16-18 years, and their wool seems to be ok at least until they are 12-15, maybe longer, but there isn’t a lot of evidence. I’m now trying to let my sheep live out their natural lives on the property, so ask me again in a decade 🙂
Does the quality of the fleece change as the sheep matures?
Yes, younger sheep (less than 3 years) grow less wool of finer micron
How many years have you worked on your farm?
What is the best thing about being an Australian wool grower and working on your farm?
I love shepherding the sheep—being out in the open, on the land, and working with the animals.
One very tried Archibull Prize events team is sending a big shout out to Katie McRobert Editor of Farmonlne this morning for helping us meet our commitment to share the news from the 2014 Archibull Prize Awards with the world as soon as possible
Katie has done some a great job showcasing the event in the media and I have cheekily ‘appropriated’ ( love that word) her story for The Land found here
Bull, baas take out Art4Ag prizes
14 Nov, 2014 04:55 PM
‘It is an inspiring event to be able to support and promote’ Hon Katrina Hodgkinson . The crew from Hurlstone Agricultural College – Jahanui Khatkar, James Blight, Darrelyn Nguyen and Jessica Chau – with their winning entry, “Ni Cow”.
WINNERS of the 4th annual Archibull Prize were announced in Sydney today at the national awards ceremony for the world famous agriculture themed art and multimedia…
We begin our Archi Artwork journey for 2015 with inspiration from an interesting, colourful image of an elephant. The way the lines are used in this image reminds us of woollen yarn. Wool is our fibre for 2015, so this is perfect!
Also one of the big fads or rages at the minute is mindfulness colouring in books. They also use lines in a beautiful and wonderful way, which could also translate quite nicely into our artwork and work well with our concept of “The journey from fibre to fashion”.
Below is our first initial sketch, after we were inspired by using paint like lengths of yarn, we then came up with the idea of using a basket of wool which is spilling over onto the platform. We are also considering running a few lengths of yarn up the leg, incorporating it into our artwork.
It is a rough sketch….but it is all part of where it started for 2015.
As a class we sat down and discussed the possibilities and each had a go at taking inspiration from the elephant image and designing our own onto a small Archibull template.
Some of us began transferring our ideas onto out life size Archibull. Our first group of students to work on the artwork were Josh, Reef & Brandon B.
Ethan,Nathan, Zac & Brandon Br. soon took over responsibility for this. These boys had the patience to produce some beautiful images for us to continue with later.
We have even put a surprise for Bessie in our artwork!
As I have mentioned earlier, we are recording all information and ideas in our art journal as well, so below are some more ideas including;
making a 1.5mx0.70m wooden platform with wheels;
chicken wire and paper Mache structure which will be a valley or Australian farmland covered in crocheted patches of wool;
a basket of knitting yarn; hand-made authentic raw woollen sheep and trees
And lastly our costume made and designed, 100% Australian Merino wool – sourced directly from the grower.
Our Mathematics lesson Thursday, consisted of calculating the area of the wooden platform and then computing how many 10cm x 10cm crocheted squares we would need to get Jade’s Nan to knit to cover the woven valley.
Area = 1.5 m x 0.70m
Area = 1.05 m2
That equals 105, 10cm x 10cm crocheted squares for Jade’s Nan to make! Wow that’s a lot!
The photographs above are from the actual lesson that we were taught in class.
One of our main focuses for 2015 is organisation and following procedure. So as a class (lead by Mrs Dowe) we formulated our “Plan of Attack” as follows;
I have typed up our list below…….above is the lesson we did as a class; we all contributed to the sequence of events; there was a lot of discussion and I don’t think we realised the amount of things we have to do!
Image traced on Archibull-doing
Start painting artwork carefully
Get measurements for the platform-done
Get platform made…-being done
Once the platform is at school we need to position our Archibull on it.
Place an attach the cane basket to the Archibull’s hoof
Attach the archi and the basket to the platform with bolts.
Construct and make the hills and valleys on the wooden platform using chicken wire and newspaper.
Paper Mache the hills + valleys around our Archi
Undercoat hills + valleys.
Give woollen patches over the hillside.
Place our raw woollen sheep on the landscape.
We will be ticking things off our list as we complete them and we will also be adding to it as we move along our journey in 2015 and find more things to add.
Below is a photograph of a more detailed sketch with dimensions for the platform, as well as an idea for the 100% Merino Woollen beanie. It is important we take accurate measurements for all of this, because we are getting other people to make it for us.
So at the end of our first week, working as a whole class we were able to achieve a lot. We have almost completed the designing processing, transferring all the information onto the Archibull surface.
Jade’s Nan is busily crocheting 105 squares,
Mrs Dowe’s Husband is constructing our wooden platform,
Mrs Dowe is sourcing our wool for the project.
WOW! What a busy week it was for all of us! We have reached all of the goals we set at the end of Week 2!
Week 3 – Term 3 – 2015
Again we were all working in teams to complete all blog entries as well as finalise the design on our woollen inspired Archibull, who at this stage is still nameless.
Day 1 – Ethan, Nathan and Zac working together again complete the designing process. This has been one of the most time consuming tasks so far. We are focusing on getting the lines, design and form exactly how we want it – we are making sure as we that each mark relates to the Australian Industry and is easily recognisable to an audience. We aim to make our theme “The journey from fibre to fashion” very clear and precise.
The three boys came up with an ingenious idea to place the Archibull up on the tables. This made it much easier to draw the detail onto the legs of the cow and make sure they didn’t miss a spot! What a wonderful idea boys! Wonderful teamwork!
Day 2– The arrival of our wooden platform! Luckily we got all the measurements correct. It was able to fit through our classroom door and the perfect size to showcase our Archi.
Stacie and Rebecca started adding the woollen detail on the head. Our idea is to spiral small sections of wool to mimic the sheep’s fleece; in an artistic and fun way, also using our allocated fibre. The girls made a great start…..students were very excited to see our vision for 2015 coming to life!
Zac and Macarthur worked diligently on separate areas to perfect our design. Zac focused on the “ugly” scarf around Archi’s neck; while Macarthur made sure the Aboriginal inspired designs on one of the front legs were ready for painting. Macarthur was concentrating very hard to do the very best work he could.
Other students in 8WL were busy working on their posters all about the Australian Wool Industry. Some students preferred to work individually, while others liked the idea of working in the team. Either way, all students produced beautiful information posters which are now being displayed in our classroom.
At the conclusion of Day 2, we achieved a lot. Our Archi was positioned on the newly made wooden platform, however it hasn’t been secured yet. We have more things to complete before that can happen.
Day 3 – Stacie and Rebecca were again taking the lead covering the Archi’s head in woollen spirals. They are getting much more efficient and productive at this task.
We also had the pleasure of welcoming our Korean exchange student “Su”, who is staying with Jade and her Grandparents while attending Northlakes High School. Su loves to draw and is so accurate. She can copy almost anything from an image and does it so quickly. We all think she has some sort of magical drawing powers!
Macarthur and Ash again took it in turns to complete the designs on one of the front legs of the cow. Ash focused on putting a very finely detailed Aboriginal inspired pattern within the drawn strands of woollen fibre.
We were very happy at our progress after our activities on Day 3! Great job team Northlakes!
Day 4 – Our focus was on finalising fine detail. Adding fine – lots of them; they are going to be the fine strands of woollen fibre. This is very time consuming and frustrating at times, but if we concentrate it can also be quite relaxing.
We kept working on the woollen detail on the cow’s head and came up with the idea to put more than one layer of woollen detail. This gives the artwork more detail and is very interesting to look at. We love it….everybody really enjoys touching and feeling it!
Nathan added some small sheep images on the other side of the Archibull. It is very important for us to remember to focus on our artwork as a whole. Each area has to be as good as the part next to it, and it all must link together to illustrate a cohesive story about the Australian Wool Industry. Mrs Dowe always says this, we are beginning to see her point. This is very hard work, but we love it!
Stacie and Rebecca showed Reef and Taleah how to make the woollen spirals to cover the head, so they took over that task. They are doing a wonderful job.
We also had more guest helpers come into our classroom to offer assistance; Miss Alley and the Year 11 Photography students were a great help and we really enjoyed working with them on Friday.
This is our progress at the end of Week 3, Term 3. We are getting ever closer to the part we all want to do …..the painting!
We are all eager to get our classwork finished, so we can spend time working on our Archibull.
Week 4 of Term 3 was another busy week for our Archibull artwork.
Week 4 saw us add a few more artwork team members. Amy W, Tamar, Piper and Ashlee P were all welcomed with open arms. We are very excited to see their artistic contributions they can add. Each girl has a wonderful talent in visual arts and will surely be an asset to team Northlakes!
Day 1 – Amy W (Year 8) and Tamar (Year 7) were the lucky ones who started colour blocking our artwork.
Colour blocking gives us a solid base to create our artwork. Because there is going to be a lot of fine painted detail, in form of painted woollen yarn, it’s important to use a base colour beneath, so we don’t have to paint and repaint the surface to cover pieces of white.
We used a flow medium to give the paint a wash like look. We needed to leave all of the pencil underlines visible for the other artists. This was a very relaxing and wonderful way to start the week.
The girls also had a go at covering our Archi’s head in white woollen swirls, it’s getting there but seems to be a never ending task at this point! We will get there, it takes very patient people for this task; it can be very frustrating!
Jenna (8WL) also helped with colour blocking the legs. She did a great job!
Day 2- More teamwork; we were all assigned different parts of the project to work on.
The students got very excited because today we started adding the first bit of detail in our artwork.
Tiana, Jenna, Jade and Claudia all worked together placing small woollen swirls on lamb, which will used in the woven, woollen valley platform supporting our Archi.
Ash and Jordon worked independently on their information posters that are now displayed proudly in our classroom.
Ethan, Zac, Brandon Br. and Waide started with the detail on the back end of the Archi. They needed so much concentration, lots of patience and of course a very steady hand for this task. Great job guys!
We realised that the scarf Mrs Dowe was wearing was very similar to the pattern of the “ugly” scarf around our Archi’s neck.
Jade’s Nan completed all of the coloured crotcheted patches for our knitted valley platform. She is one fast knitter; it only took her a week and a half to knit 120, 10x10cm squares. Thank you so much Nan!
So at the conclusion of Day 2, we achieved a lot. We worked as a team and individually to achieve all we did.
Day 3 – This was a special day at Northlakes High School. Year 7 & 8 celebrated bookweek, so there were a few different characters in our class today.
Ethan worked again, concentrating on the fine detail of tangled yarn. He finds it easier to concentrate if he is listening to music while painting.
Our regulars continued working on the back end detail. They are all getting very good at working with a steady hand and some very fine brushes to produce some colourful impressions of wool.
Mac tried his best to master the art of swirling the woollen spirals for the cow’s head. He did give it a good go! This was a lesson in patience! Well done Mac!
Mrs Bayly & Mrs Hanson were even roped in, or yarned into helping today….they too learnt how difficult it was to swirl the thin strands of wool.
Waide & Zac put the first coat of paint on the cow’s udders. We have some big plans for these udders, but we can’t reveal the plans just yet….stay tuned!
Day 4 – Our artwork is developing nicely; we are really enjoying work together.
It is definitely bringing us closer together as a class and a group of people. Mrs Dowe says we are becoming more tolerant of our differences as well.
Piper from Year 9 came into our classroom to work on our Archibull.
She is one of the talented students responsible for the Aboriginal artwork detail. We think it is very important to include native animals in our artwork and design because in class we are learning lots about environmentally friendly farming practices, which includes looking after all animals that inhabit the land, not just the livestock.
This is Brandon B. & Lloyd getting involved in some Archi action. Lloyd was a bit shy to start with, but I managed to get a sneaky photograph of him.
This concludes another busy week for team Northlakes….we have some huge plans for week 5! Stayed tuned……
Week 5, Term 3
Wow! What a massive week; I seems no sooner are we finished one section of our artwork we are onto another and the wonderful thing is we have no shortage of willing helpers. This week saw us expanding our operations and including even more of our school population…..but more about that later.
Day 1 – A special delivery!
The week began with a very special delivery from White Gum Wool in Tasmania. It was our much awaited balls of Merino wool!!! The colours were absolutely magnificent and the yarn was so soft!!
We cannot wait to see what our Archi’s woollen beanie looks like! It will be perfect to keep her head warm in winter and cool in summer…..lets hope that Jade’s Nan can understand the instructions, diagram and measurements! Jade told us, her Nan is eagerly starting work on the beanie this weekend; we can’t wait to see the finished product.
These are the new and improved instructions for the beanie. Hopefully all the measurements are correct, so Jade’s Nan is able to make the perfect pattern.
Our Archi, peacefully resting in the morning sun; early on Monday waiting for the classroom to come to life.
One of our focuses this week was to begin construction of the framework of the “woven woollen valley” on the platform that supports our Archi artwork. The first thing we needed to do was mark out the position of our cow. We allowed enough room around each hooves, so the Archi can be slotted back in after the chicken wire structure for the valley is complete.
We decided to work on the platform separately from the artwork, because it can get very crowded around the cow, making it difficult to work. It is much more productive for us to divide into groups and work in different areas of our classroom. As you can see we are in a regular classroom, not an art room. We have limited space and have to work and think smart with what we do. So this was the best solution.
One of the problems we have encountered is the fiddly job of making the wool swirls which cover Archi’s face and head. This job is very time consuming and you need lots of patience to do it properly. So we came up with the idea of using adhesive contact to stick the swirls on and then transfer them onto her face. This meant lots of us could work independently making the swirls and others could place them on the cow. We have it streamlined now.
The other issue we had was painting the PVA glue onto the surface to make the swirl stick….we found it very difficult to do this neatly and many times we got more glue on our fingers than anywhere else. We now have three small squeezy bottles with fine nozzles and are able to squirt the PVA directly underneath the swirl, pasting it down with less fuss.
Day 2 – Get your staple guns ready!
Today we began construction of the valley structure. We were super excited about this. The chicken wire is recycled (not new); this very important because by reusing the wire we are saving money, but furthermore we are also saving space in landfill sites (as we learned this week), because metal does not breakdown over time.
The boys started working in the classroom, but found they needed more room so they moved out to the corridor.
Give them a staple gun and they will build!
While the boys were working outside, the rest of the class were busy making countless woollen swirls….. Mrs Hanson took charge of the gluing; we had a real production line happening!
Our new system worked wonderfully and saved so much time.
On this day, we also welcomed Piper and her friend (both in Year 9) back into our classroom to continue working on the Aboriginal artwork. We feel the Aboriginal artwork is an important element in our artwork because we want to represent the link between environmentally friendly and sustainable farming that looks after all animals; native and livestock. We first learned about this when our Young Farming Champion, Bessie visited us and in class we are learning more including feeding sheep on native plants etc.
The girls are doing such a wonderful job! Great work!
Day 3 – What a load of rubbish!
Initially we were going to stuff the chicken wire structure with newspaper (which would have been fine) because we would have been recycling the paper. But newspaper is more easily recycled than other waste in our environment.
In class, we learnt about landfill and the fact that plastic and metal didn’t breakdown over time and that inturn produced a multitude of greenhouse gases – adding to climate change and global warming ( in greater detail in another post). So we thought, why not fill the chicken wire structure with rubbish from our playground. In the breaks a group of students and Mrs Dowe walked around the school ground collecting plastic food wrappers and explaining to students what we needed them for…I’m sure a few thought we were crazy!!!
Here is a lovely photograph of Zac, Ethan & Nathan…they are slowly warming to having their pictures taken!
And stuffing the mountains of rubbish into our valley.
The girls had a go at working on the artwork at the back end of the Archi. This is another job that is taking a while and needs lots of concentration to achieve the fine detail needed. It’s coming along nicely!
Day 4 – We have it covered!
Continuing on with our idea of recycling waste, we decided to take it a step further and use the plastic bubble wrap that covered our Archi upon it’s arrival to Nortlakes High School. We go into further detail in a later post. But yet again we are solving more than one problem in doing this….
Saving money because we don’t need to buy glue for Paper Mache.
Recycling the bubble wrap and not wasting space in landfill and helping the environment.
The bubble wrap is also light weight, so it will not add unnecessary weight to our completed cow; which is important when it has to be moved up and down stairs.
Piper and her friend come back to add some more beautiful detail and colour to their portion of the artwork.
This is Reef concentrating very hard while working on the fine detail of the woollen yarn. This artwork certainly is a team effort!
Here are Rebecca and Taleah back at work on the woollen swirls.
Day 5 – All wrapped up!
As you can see, Waide has it covered….or at least himself!
The last day of a busy week saw us bringing together all the lose ends from the last week. We have certainly made a lot of progress this week and it is great to see all our hard work coming together in a cohesive way.
The boys decided to put the platform up on the tables because it was much easier to cover the chicken wire with the bubble wrap. Because we are not using any glue , they needed to make sure that the bubble wrap was anchored to the wooden platform across the valleys.
Mrs Dowe worked on the detail in Bessie’s dog….he is really coming to life!
Taleah and Rebecca worked together on colour blocking a large area of blue wash ready for lots of fine detail next week!
We have many more exciting surprises in store next week, but you’ll have to stay tuned to see………
As another action packed week comes to close, we clean up our classroom; put our books away; close the blinds and give our Archi some much needed peace and quiet.
Week 6, Term 3 – This week was a relatively quiet week for us when compared to previous weeks along our Archibull journey so far.
Day 1 – Pulling it all together!
Today we all worked on consolidating and tidying up our artwork; we still have a lot of woollen swirls to make to full cover the cow’s head and the tangled wool strands of the back end are beginning to work their way into the rest of the artwork.
Our aim is to have our entire artwork painted in fine brushstrokes to imitate the appearance of wool. We think that way our key concept and message behind Australia’s woven woollen landscape will become clear.
Day 2 – Special Delivery
Jade arrived to class with the beanie her Nan had knitted for our Archi. There was one problem; we didn’t account for the width of Archi’s horns….so it’s back to the drawing board!
After considering our options; we decided that the best way to solve issue was to use buttons and button holes down each side, under each horn and ear. Then there is no need to stretch it over the horns, it can fit around and be fastened into place.
Another sketch with the revised plan was sent home with Jade that afternoon. Sorry Nan…xx
In the meantime, Reef had some fun with the beanie posing for a photograph and after being begged by the class, Mrs Dowe did as well…..
On this day, Reef also started working on making a series of small wire cubes which will be covered in wool to represent pressed bales of wool from the farm for the valley landscape on the platform.
We have almost completely covered our platform in the recycled bubble wrap. It is coming together just how we planned it! This will be an awesome base for the woven, woollen patchwork valley to lay on!
Day 3 – Getting our wool on!
Keeping with our theme of up cycling, recycling and environmentally responsible sustainability we have decided to use some woollen items purchased from the op-shop. Our plan is to some how hang these garments from a gigantic pair of wooden knitting needles.
All the woollen garments have been stitched onto an old yellow blanket which is made from 100% Merino lambs wools. We were very lucky to find that piece!
We also purchased two woollen tapestries which lucky depict early Australian farming life.
Day 4 – Learning to hand sew!
Today was the day we started sew our crotched patches together. Not one student in the class knew how to hand stitch, so Mrs Dowe taught us. This was fun because we got to sit on the floor with our group of friends and learn how to do something new. Some of us got in a real tangle, but it was fun!
Claudia and Stacie continued working on the woollen swirls and artwork and Ash made some of the chicken wire cubes for the wool bales.
So, here we are at the end of another week; all tired and eager to see what the next week holds.
Week 7, Term 3
Day 1 – Quiet rumblings and bold decisions!
Not our usual start to the week, not a lot of activity today – but we were just getting warmed up. Macarthur did master the fine art of making a woollen swirl though, with a great deal of concentration and will power, he did it!
Day 2 – New painters and old, called to action!
Tuesday started with a small group of painters working on our cow. Macarthur, Reef, Ethan (from 8WL) and Julieanne (from Year 9) all banded together to begin the day. They were all eager to get started and add more splashes of colour to our already colourful Archi.
Julieanne wanted to focus on gluing down our never ending supply woollen swirls on our Archi’s face. We have been working on this section for so long and it was great that Julieanne wanted to help us, because 8WL are so tired of making a gluing swirls!
Ethan put a light magenta wash over sections of the unpainted surface. This makes the task of painting less daunting, because there is already a light wash down and makes the lines easier to see.
Mac worked on painting the light orange wash over the surface of the front leg.
Reef preferred to listen to music while making some very fine woollen swirls. He and Julieanne had quite a production line going, one making and one gluing!
Great teamwork guys!
We took the idea of using washes a step further; instead of just applying as a basecoat we thought it would be an idea to add it over the top of the painted woollen surface. I think it was a great idea! It has added another dimension to the artwork and made the colours really pop!
This was the first of our bold decisions in this week.
Later that afternoon our entire class worked in Archi groups. We really look forward to this time, because although we all have to work really hard, we get to work in groups with our friends!
Ash was tasked with fixing the staple gun, it was very badly jammed and Mrs Dowe thought she was going to have to buy a new one. Ash pulled the entire tool apart – it was in about 50 pieces and took him 2 x 75 minute lessons to fix, but he did it!
Jade, Jenna, Aaron and Josh work together on joining their individual patches together to make larger sections for our woven patchwork valley. We decided to use red wool as a contrasting colour to stitch the patches together because it symbolises the Australian Wool farmers being the link that binds wool and fashion together in wool’s journey from “Fibre to Fashion”
Renee from Year 9 came to spend the afternoon with us as well. We get a lot of extra visitors in our classroom these days; maybe it’s because of our Archibull.
We also stated to over paint balls of wool into areas on the surface. Our aim is to have the entire surface appear as if it is painted from individual strands of wool; sort of like organised chaos
.
Day 3 – Go Team Northlakes – Patching and stitching it all together!
Fitting all these woollen patches together is like playing a game a tetris. Aaron has taken the lead, with Mrs Hanson (our wonderful teacher’s aide) instructing which piece fits where. Aaron only learnt how to sew last week and now he is our sewing group leader!
So this is what Rebecca and Stacie get up too when Mrs Dowe puts them in charge of taking photographs for the afternoon! Nice editing, girls!
After fixing the broken staple gun, Ash decided to have a go at painting as well!
By the end of our afternoon session, there were a few things we learnt….
Aaron was exhausted…
Zac can now sew as well….
And we didn’t allow for shrinkage when sewing the patches together…
We needed lots more patches…
Jade had better ask her Nan very nicely to knit us more patches!
Day 4 – Working on the woollen details!
We continued with layering our colours and strands of woollen detail; building up the detail and depth in our artwork. We are learning that this is not a process that we can rush and every little bit counts.
Each section of our artwork must be as good as the last. We are being encouraged to stay focused on all of the small details to make our artwork as great as it can possibly be.
Day 5 – The day for bold choices and decisions.
We began the day with Mrs Dowe showing us the Art Judge, Wendy Taylor on a YouTube clip explaining exactly what she is looking when she is judging our Archibull in 2015.
We had a very constructive whole class discussion about what we have done, what we need to do and what if anything could possibly be taken off.
We were all in agreement that the front orange leg was a problem and was taking away from the entire artwork, not adding anything to it. So we brainstormed what could go in its place and add to our work.
Reef suggested an Aboriginal artwork and specifically a reproduction of the artwork that he and other Aboriginal students in the school created and won 1st place for recently. We all agreed that was a wonderful idea, as it ties directly with our central idea as well as our theme for 2015.
Reef stated that he had to paint the entire surface for the Aboriginal artwork black, because that was the colour for the 1st place artwork. So we all gave him the green light to do it.
Here is a photograph of our 1st place getting artwork we are using for inspiration. We are lucky enough to have Reef in our class, he was one of the original artists.
Waide joins in the fun painting large amounts of black.
Mrs Hanson and the others work on the woven valley, attaching the finally squares, Lloyd decided to paint the horns black as well, so we can continue the Aboriginal design on there as well.
The girls work hard on the last lot of woollen swirls for our Archi’s face.
Reef sits down after we run out if black paint and begins to sketch a rough plan and design for our newest addition…..
So I’m sure you would agree, we have had an action packed and fun filled week. We are exhausted and need to relax over the weekend, so we are full of great ideas and energy for Week 8!
Week 8, Term 3
Day 1 – Gathering more images and completing jobs
After going through our 10 C’s as a class from the list we got from Lynne, we realised we were missing a few key points from our story. Wool’s journey from “fibre to fashion” obviously involves shearers, so we needed to find images that we could include in the artwork; below are a few of the images, now the challenge will be to integrate them into the artwork, seamlessly of course.
We got a wonderful image from Bess (YFC) showing a truck load of wool being collected from her farm, so we have also decided to include this somewhere in our artwork.
We were able to finish preparing the black undercoated surface, ready for the application of the Aboriginal artwork. We have decided to weave the Aboriginal artwork from the head right through to the tail of the artwork.
In doing this we are sticking with one of our central ideas; that being the reciprocal relationship between the farmland and the livestock (sheep) and the native Australian flora and fauna. We discussed it and thought it was necessary to include sections of traditional Aboriginal art to communicate this to the audience. And let’s be honest….it looks really cool as well, and we are lucky enough to have Reef in our class; he is a very talented Aboriginal artist.
We also worked more detail into others areas of the artwork. It seems we are always reworking sections as we go, but we are seeing the benefits.
Day 2 – The dreaded woollen swirls…..
This day was fairly quiet as far as our Archi artwork goes.
We are still working on woollen swirls to cover Archi’s face. Mrs Dowe instructed all the students in 8WL to make 3 swirls each; Mrs Hanson was tasked with gluing ….however we still are not finished. We are very close though!
We will all be so happy when this job is complete! We are all so over the woollen swirls, but we know they look awesome on our artwork. Ashlee from Year 9 also made some much needed swirls and then put another coat of paint on Archi’s udders.
Day 3 – Archi gets grounded!
Today was a special day…we had been waiting for this since the start of the term. Our woven woollen platform had the final patches attached to the recycled rubbish valley and Archi was attached (bolted down) over the top.
We asked Mr Louie (who is a timber teacher) and one of his students to come and do this for us. He was only too happy to help and got the job completed straight away. We wanted to make sure it was secured properly, because the woven patchwork valley is now our Archi’s only form of transport! Luckily for us, in keeping with one of our central ideas and concepts she uses people power to move around, environmentally friendly and sustainable.
NO GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS HERE!!!!!
GREEN ALL THE WAY!!!
Day 4 – Special guest @WEAR IT PURPLE DAY
With her newly attached set of environmentally friendly wheels, our Archi had a change of scenery for today. She was out and about in our school grounds to celebrate “Wear It Purple Day”. We are also very lucky to have the San Remo Neighbourhood Centre across the road from our school, so they came across to celebrate and educate students and teacher about purple day.
We certainly took purple day as an opportunity to promote our involvement in the Archibull Prize and we had loads of students lining up at the photo booth to get their pics taken with our star. She was an interesting talking point and we also got a lot of suggestions for her name. Just a heads up… her name will not be Betsy, Bessie (even though there is a strong link to our Young Farming Champion), Lucy or Eric!
We decorated Archi’s head with loads of purple props and let her loose in Northlakes High School. She certainly gained a lot of attention and created quite a stir as she moved past the classrooms of D Block and down into the Common Room for her first official appointment of the day; visiting the Student Representative Council (SRC). We introduced Archi to the SRC, because they are going to brainstorm ways they can help in our Archibull Prize journey for 2015. It will be wonderful to see what they can come with and also have some more help!
We also found out that Mrs Hewitt (Careers and SRC roll call teacher) was once a Wool classer!!! We can’t wait to learn more about her career in the Australian Wool Industry and plan to interview her in the coming weeks. If it wasn’t for the Archibull Prize, we would have never have had a conversation about wool or found out this very interesting piece of information.
We had to very carefully carry our cow up and down stairs from one place to the next. It is actually quite difficult to move a 45kg Archibull attached to a platform as you can see from the pictures below!
Her wheels allowed her to move effortlessly through the corridors and across the quad, though!
It was a lot of extra work for all of us (especially the ones moving Archi up and down stairs), however it was very worth it. We all had a wonderful day celebrating “Wear It Purple Day” with the whole school community and the San Remo Neighbourhood Centre from across the road joining in the festivities. We celebrated Purple Day by wearing purple mufti and different accessories that were purple. Down outside the hall there were stalls set up where students could sign their names on purple pieces of paper and form links in a chain; there was also a canvas set up where students could stamp purple paint which created an artwork; they were handing out purple jelly beans and windmills; and lastly there was a photo booth where students could have pictures taken with different purple props with their friends.
Above is a picture of 8WL with Mrs Dowe, today even the students who are usually camera shy posed for photographs!
After an exhausting and rewarding day our Archi returned to D55 to retire for the evening, but not before getting a little bit more of the painted detail added onto her surface. The fresh air gave us some great ideas!
Little did she know she had been booked for another public engagement tomorrow!
Day 5 – Introducing Archi
Another early morning start to get our Archi positioned in the Library for an 8:30am start.
Today it was a very special and important public engagement; being on display for the “Secondary Principals Network Meeting” at Northlakes High School.
By all accounts, Archi gave the Principals lots to talk about and discuss over morning tea.
This brings to an end another busy week for all involved in the Archibull Prize at Northlakes High School. Can’t wait to see what week 9 brings.
Below is a video clip of our Archibull artwork journey through week 9 of term 3.
We thought it would be a great idea to put a few movies into our blog as well. And it was fun to put together.
Hope you enjoy….and keep tuned for week 10’s efforts.
Ethan, Zac, Brandon Br. and Waide started with the detail on the back end of the Archi. They needed so much concentration, lots of patience and of course a very steady hand for this task. Great job guys!
symbolises the Australian Wool farmers being the link that binds wool and fashion together in wool’s journey from “Fibre to Fashion”
Northlakes High School Archibull 2015 
