Ringer gets the ultimate honour

FNQ legend set to be inducted into Australian Shearing Hall of Fame

A FAR North Queensland man has been recognised as one of the country’s top sheep shearing legends.

Veteran shearer and Mission Beach man David Ryan began shearing when he was just 16 years old when growing up in Balmoral, Victoria.

He travelled all over the country shearing, always learning by watching the best shearers.

He soon established himself as one of the fastest shearers in the business and proved it when he tallied 466 sixmonth-old merino lambs in August 1978. The following year he pushed the tally up to 501 using narrow gear.

Then in September 1984, he reclaimed the record when he shore 625 merino lambs.

But Mr Ryan’s shearing career was interrupted by two years of national service, which included a year in Vietnam.

Now retired and living at Wongaling Beach with his wife Regina, Mr Ryan will be inducted into the Australian Shearers’ Hall of Fame in April.

He said he still loved getting the chance to take the shears out.

“I always believed in doing the best I could, working my way up and having a go,” he said. “Now I’m retired, I mainly do it for fun at rural shows.

“People like watching and it keeps me fit. I’d say nowadays I might do it once every couple of months.”

Mr Ryan will be one of five shearing legends from around the country inducted into the Hall of Fame at the Festival of Blades in Hay, New South Wales, in April.

The formal induction ceremony on Easter Sunday (April 21) will start at 10am in the historic Murray Downs Shearing Shed at Shear Outback.

Families, friends and associates of the inductees will be able to join other shearing identities in honouring the legends whose names will be added to the growing number in the Shearers Hall of Fame.

Anyone fascinated by the shearing industry and its history, the world of sheep and wool, and the people who continue to work the sheds, is invited.

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Main photo: DIANNE MAULONI

SHEAR TALENT: Mission Beach man David Ryan pictured shearing at Carnival on Collins in 2016. Bottom, left, when he was younger and, right, in latter years.