The Shearers

Get up close and personal with New Zealand shearers, from now and decades gone by.

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’.

About the Author

Ruth Entwistle Low is a Timaru-based freelance oral historian and writer. Following the completion of her Master's in History from Massey University, Ruth set about recording life histories, researching and conducting projects funded by the Oral History Awards administered by Manatu Taonga | Ministry for Culture & Heritage, as well as completing projects for the South Canterbury Museum. Although a townie by birth, Ruth has always had a fascination with farming, which perhaps naturally led her to seek the voices of those who work in the industry. Her latest book is The Shearers- New Zealand Legends. Her first, the bestselling On the Hoof- The Untold Story of Drovers in New Zealand, was published by Penguin in 2014.