Shearers fighting suicide
The Herlihy family lost a son and a brother. Leighton Keith reports.
The buzz of clippers went silent and was replaced by cheers and applause in a Taranaki woolshed as a 24 hour shearing marathon came to an end.
The event, held just out of Whangamomona on Sunday, had been organised by John Herlihy to raise awareness for suicide prevention following the death of his son Michael in January 2016.
Michael’s death, a suspected suicide, shocked New Zealand’s close knit shearing community and came just 10 days before he and his five brothers, Paul, Mark, Craig, Tim and Dean were planning to set a new world record by shearing 3000 lambs in just eight hours.
Hundreds of people from right around the North Island converged at the home of the Whanga Shears, along the Forgotten World Highway between Whangamomona and Tahora, to offer their support for the event and a worthy cause.
The shearers started at midday on Saturday and when the clippers fell silent 24 hours later, 3722 sheep had been shorn.
The shearing shed was a hive of activity with four-stands in operation, a gang of roustabouts and supporters making sure there were enough sheep on hand and woollen fleeces were removed while a single Roland speaker blasted out music.
John said he had been overwhelmed by the support shown.
‘‘It was pretty humbling to have so many people here,’’ he said.
People had continued to arrive throughout the night including a couple from Katikati, 40 kilometres northwest of Tauranga.
‘‘They have been in the same situation as we were a couple of years ago and they said they wanted to come down and support us.’’
He said the event had surpassed the $10,000 they hoped to raise and donate to various charities including LifeLine and Key to Life.
‘‘One young fella was here yesterday and he said `my grandmother gave me this money and I want you to have it’.’’
A tired and emotional John choked back the tears when asked what Michael would have thought.
‘‘He would be pretty rapt. We shouldn’t have had to do it but we did.’’
Mark Coplestone said there had been a continual flow of people at the event.
‘‘There has been heaps of them, I don’t know if anyone kept an official count but there has been heaps of them,’’ Coplestone said.
He said most of them had known Michael, a former national lamb shearing junior champion, and it was a good cause.
Kendrick Bradford, of Gisborne, said he had travelled back to take part in the event after growing up with the Herlihy boys and attending school with Michael.
He said many had just pushed through the pain barrier and continued on without sleep.
‘‘There’s a lot of people who haven’t slept, they’ve just been going solid, they’re zombies some of them now,’’ Bradford said.
‘‘Most of them don’t do it for a living now, they just came back and they are going hard.’’
Dixie, Steven Dix, said after attending the RATS (Riders Against Teen Suicide) rally which passed through Whangamomona, where they had received a donation, the previous weekend he came out to offer his support in turn.
‘‘We wanted to come back out and pay the same respects,’’ he said.
Dixie said the event was ‘‘bloody awesome’’ and it was all about making people aware.
‘‘Everybody knows somebody that has been affected by suicide,’’ he said.
‘‘I take my hat off to them, they are an awesome family.’’