Another five shearing legends have been inducted into the Australian Shearers’ Hall of Fame.

The induction took place during the Festival of the Blades event on Saturday, with a visit to Shear Outback on Sunday morning.

The new inductees are Peter William Black, Damien Patrick Boyle, Peter William Orcher, Brian Anthony Sullivan and Alan Arthur Williams.

These men represent the cream of the shearing industry as instructors, state champions and contractors.

Peter Black has had a lifetime of involvement in the shearing industry as a shearer, trainer, advisor, judge and software development.

Peter managed/coached the Australian Shearing and Wool Handling Team at three World Championships.

Quick to apply technology to the betterment of shearing he developed the website shearingworld.com and also created the app LOJIK Shearing.

Damien Boyle is an inspiration to the shearing industry with his competition shearing record which will be admired and stand alone in the Western Australia shearing industry for many years to come.

At age 37, Damien had 22 years of competition shearing under his belt and has made the finals of 99 per cent of competitions he has entered.

In 2003, 2005 and 2006 Damien won every Australian Open competition he entered, totalling 31 wins.

Peter Orcher began his shearing career at age 17 and mainly shore in North Western New South Wales with narrow combs.

Peter became a contractor, with his teams being in great demand due to the high standard he set and expected from his shearers and shed staff who on occasions were all indigenous.

Brian Anthony Sullivan, known as ‘Sully’, is a left-handed master shearer always shearing with precision placement of blows.

Brian has won eight State titles and 60 Open Shearing titles.

As a shearer trainer for AWI, Brian is dedicated to support young learners training at shearing schools and in-shed training support.

He is widely known for dropping in and assisting learners on the job.

Alan Williams is a NSW State Champion (1965) and in 1970 won the Australian Strongwool Championship at the Melbourne Royal Show where he also reclaimed the NSW title.

As a shearing instructor from 1973 at Echuca Technical College, Alan worked throughout the Riverina and Victoria and was very widely respected.

A total of 53 legends have now been inducted at the Australian Shearers’ Hall of Fame since its was opened by Member for Riverina, Kay Hull and Patron Tim Fischer on Australia Day, 2002. 

This article appeared in The Riverine Grazier, 9 October 2024.