Photo’s struggle to do this huge old 44 stand woolshed justice.

On Sunday, 16^th October, with skies clear and blue, 9 happy snappers, finally after 3 previous washed out attempts, left Gunnedah heading for Windy Station at Pine Ridge.  An extra was picked up at Breeza and we were joined by 2 others when we arrived and of course Little Miss Lucy was our mascot.

When we arrived at Windy Station, we were greeted by this huge, wonderful old wooden shearing shed.  The shed was built in 1901 and still stands in all it’s glory today.  This shed operated 44 stands in it’s hey day and was and still is the largest shearing shed in the southern hemisphere.

We checked in with the managers wife and she told us “to go for it” and go for it we did.

Windy Station was originally part of Warrah Station and in 1850’s the company wasn’t doing too well and in 1860 it was decided the only way to improve Warrah was to grow wool and breed sheep.  Construction of Windy Woolshed started in 1901 and was described as gigantic and the biggest woolshed ever seen with 24 men cutting off the golden fleeces.  Pressure to subdivide Warrah Station was mounting to be used for closer settlement in the early 20^th century. Around 1909 the Government wanted to subdivide another 45,000 acres of Warrah Station and this action was taken to court of which the Government won and the land was eventually sold in 1911. Further subdivisions were in 1914, 1935 and 1967. In 1969 Windy Station in the far north west corner of the original grant was left with 33,000 acres.

The Woolshed complex is vast and has a majestic presence in the landscape and  has state historical and technical/research significance and still stands stately at the entrance to Windy Station today.

As you can see by the photos, it had a lot of interesting things to photograph and each of us seemed to have a different take on things that were the same.  There are some amazing photos.  We spent a good few hours here and a great day was had by all.

We extend our sincere thanks to Cye (manager of Windy Station) for allowing us to visit and enjoy our pic taking excursion.

Pat Timmins

Follow this link for more history on Windy Station and the AACo http://www.warrah1912subdivision.com/89585971