Australia’s wool industry has been an important part of the economy since it was established in the early 1800s.

By the 1840s, Australia exported in excess of two million kilograms of wool, and come 1870, was the largest global wool producer and supplier.

Large-scale pastoral, or sheep ‘runs’ became a feature of the northern South Australian landscape. One such property, ‘Black Rock Run’, south east of Orroroo, was settled by John Williams in 1851 with 3,000 sheep; by 1864 Williams was shearing 30,000. ‘Black Rock Run’ had a substantial stone homestead, store, eating house, four cottages, school, blacksmith, fruit garden, cemetery and large woolshed.

The stone and native pine woolshed constructed by Williams at ‘Black Rock Run’ remains today. After the sheep were shorn in a timber and bough structure attached to the main shed, wool was sorted and pressed in the imposing one tonne wool press.

The Black Rock Wool Press

It is believed the press was manufactured in England in the 1840s, disassembled, shipped to South Australia in the late 1850s, and transported to Black Rock by bullock wagon where it was then reassembled.

To operate the press, a jute wool pack was placed inside the bottom iron ‘box’, filled and refilled with wool and compressed by a square cast iron plate (the ‘monkey’) until deemed full by the presser. The monkey was attached by a two-metre long steel screw. It took up to four men on a wooden platform in the shed’s roof space pushing a solid iron handle in a clockwise direction to turn the screw. The monkey was raised by turning the screw anticlockwise.

With wool held in place by long skewers, the pack was fastened and a jute ‘cap’ stitched to the top of the pack using a large, curved needle and twine. The hinged iron doors on the front and back of the press were then opened and the bale hauled out. The bale would be branded on its top and side with the property name, wool description and bale number, and moved to a storage area ready for sale.

While modern day wool presses employ similar principles, advances in hydraulic technology means operating them involves little more than pulling a lever or pressing a button to raise or lower the monkey.

The press was donated by Black Rock Station custodians Tony and Barbara Nutt and rescued from its deteriorating 160-year home in the former Black Rock Woolshed by local volunteers in 2018. After many hours of blood, sweat and toil, the press was repaired and restored back to its former glory by Dean and Brian Keatley of Jamestown.