History
In 1788 the first sheep arrived in Sydney with the First Fleet. The first Spanish Merinos brought to Sydney from South Africa in 1797 were acquired by John Macarthur and Samuel Marsden. In 1800 Governor King saw Australia’s potential for producing wool and shipped fleeces from Macarthur’s and other flocks to England for appraisal.
It was in November 1807 that Reverend Samuel Marsden arrived in England with a barrel of Australian wool – this was to be Australia’s first export of Australian wool.
By 1815 the demand for Australian wool had increased as a result of the Napoleonic wars. One battlefront was in Spain, which impaired the export of Spanish wool, while the English naval blockade of continental Europe lessened exports of German wool, therefore giving Australia a small foothold in the English market. It was around this time, with the opening of the track from Sydney to the far side of the Blue Mountains, sheep began to move inland, where vast areas of grasslands stood.
1821 saw the first sizeable auction of Australian wool held in London. To gain higher prices on the London market and to save freight charges many wool growers began to wash their sheep before shearing so they didn’t have to pay for shipping soil and grease as well as wool.
In 1830 the Australian sheep population was close to 2 million and increasing rapidly. The 1830s also saw the opening of Victoria, South Australia and southern Queensland, which multiplied the grasslands available for sheep. 1835 saw wool replace whaling and sealing as Australia’s main export industry.
Thomas Mort set up the first regular wool auction in 1843, prior to this all wool had been shipped to England for sale in auction rooms or by private deals. In 1847 Richard Goldsborough, a wool stapler form Yorkshire, migrated to Melbourne and set up a business as a classer and packer of wool for sale in England. In 1850 he set up the first regular wool auction in Bourke St, Melbourne.
After gold was discovered near Sydney and Melbourne in 1851 it overtook wool as Australia’s main export industry. The labour shortage due to the gold rush encouraged many wool growers to build fences instead of using shepherds.
In the 1860 George and Fred Peppin were creating a distinctive flock at their Wanganella stud in the saltbush plains of the Riverina, NSW. Breeding from carefully-chosen large ewes that adapted well to the dry conditions of the plains and selection of expensive rams resulted in the Peppin Merino strain – ideal for the more arid environment and yielded long wool which was suitable for the increasing demand from worsted mills in England.
During the long pastoral boom the sheep in Australia increased from 40 million in 1879 to 106 million in 1892. However 1902 saw the driest year ever recorded and sheep numbers fell by half.
By 1914 nearly 70% of Australian wool was sold by auction within Australia. New auction centres opened in Perth in 1920 and Newcastle in 1929.
In the First World War wool was urgently needed for military uniforms and other military purposes. In 1916 the British Government purchased the entire Australian wool clip at a fixed price for the duration of the war.
The International Wool Textile Organisation (IWTO) was established in 1928 as the first arbitration body for the international trade of wool and wool products. It was born out of an agreement signed between the representative bodies of the British and French wool-textile industries in 1927.
By 1934 the sheep population exceeded the previous record of 106 million sheep set in 1892. There was a new urgency to promote wool in order to compete with synthetics. At the request of Australian wool growers a tax was levied on all wool produced and sold in Australia.
The funds collected were to be devoted to promoting wool but not marketing it. The Australian Wool Board was established as the promotion agency and consisted of one government and six grower representatives.
In 1947scientists in Europe and the United States developed instruments for measuring the mean fibre diameter.
The Australian Wool Testing Authority was set up by the federal government in 1957 to test wool for export. This reflected the growing belief that wool for sale should be tested and graded by scientific methods as opposed to the old method of eye, hand and experience.
In 1958 -1959 Britain was overtaken as the main buyer of Australian wool by Japan and approximately three years later Japan purchased twice the wool Britain did.
Standard sampling and testing systems were developed in 1960, procedures measured included:
Wool base – the dry weight of wool free from impurities eg vegetable matter, dust, moisture, grease
Vegetable matter base – established when a sample of wool is placed in a boiling solution of 10% caustic soda, the wool is dissolved and the remaining vegetable matter is dried and weighed
Fibre diameter – average diameter expressed in microns, developed and approved by IWTO
In 1970 Australia had a record 180 million sheep.
The Australian Wool Corporation (AWC) purchased all wool not reaching the minimum reserve price at auction, where the wool was later sold during years of higher prices.
A reserve price was introduced in 1974 with the intention to guarantee Australian wool growers a minimum price for their wool.
By 1976 wool ceased to be Australia’s major source of export income, regularly being passed by black coal and occasionally wheat, alumina and iron ore. In the 1980s the processing of Australian wool was experiencing significant changes. Europe as a whole was being challenged by East Asia where China, with its economy slowly reviving began to emerge as a major market for Australian wool.
The price of wool in the mid 1980s was close to 1000 cents per kilogram, subsequently the AWC increased the price from 350 cents to 850 cents per kilogram.
The end of the Cold War had a major impact on wool. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was a major purchaser of Australian wool, however when it dissolved it could no longer afford to maintain imports of Australian wool. In February of that year the wool market collapsed and the reserve price scheme was suspended after the stockpile reached 4.75 million bales. The Australian Government in consultation with industry agreed the scheme could no longer be maintained.
During 1980-94, the real value of output of the Chinese wool textile industry recorded an average annual growth rate of over 10 per cent, while wool imports into China increased at an annual average growth rate of 17.8 per cent. The main contributing factor was the rapid increase in domestic demand for wool textile products as a result of strong increases in household incomes.
In 1997 The Woolmark Company Pty Ltd was established, the Company was originally a subsidiary of Australian Wool Research and Promotion Organisation (AWRAP) but later became a subsidiary of Australian Wool Services Ltd.
In 1998 the Australian Government announced its intentions to privatise Wool International and pass ownership of the wool stockpile to shareholders. Parliament legislated a freeze on stockpile sales until 30 June 1999 and appointed an interim advisory board to facilitate a smooth transmission from Government to private ownership.
Australian wool growers pushed for a new enquiry into the industry in 1998, the taskforce to undertake the enquiry was led by Hon. Ian McLachlan AO. The outcome resulted in another restructure of the Australian wool industry.
On 1 January 2001 Australian Wool Services (AWS) replaced AWRAP which had been operating since 1993. Two AWS subsidiaries The Woolmark Company and Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) were also established.
In 2002 AWI became a fully independent public company limited by shares.
In 2002 the last bale in the stockpile was donated to the National Wool Museum in Geelong.
China has now become the dominant source of global demand for wool. It is by far the world's largest importer of raw wool fibre, where in the mid 1990s only approximately 20 percent of Australia's wool exports, by volume, were going to China. In 2007, the figure had risen to nearly 70 per cent.
AWI acquired The Woolmark Company from AWS in October 2007.
It was in November 1807 that Reverend Samuel Marsden arrived in England with a barrel of Australian wool – this was to be Australia’s first export of Australian wool.
By 1815 the demand for Australian wool had increased as a result of the Napoleonic wars. One battlefront was in Spain, which impaired the export of Spanish wool, while the English naval blockade of continental Europe lessened exports of German wool, therefore giving Australia a small foothold in the English market. It was around this time, with the opening of the track from Sydney to the far side of the Blue Mountains, sheep began to move inland, where vast areas of grasslands stood.
1821 saw the first sizeable auction of Australian wool held in London. To gain higher prices on the London market and to save freight charges many wool growers began to wash their sheep before shearing so they didn’t have to pay for shipping soil and grease as well as wool.
In 1830 the Australian sheep population was close to 2 million and increasing rapidly. The 1830s also saw the opening of Victoria, South Australia and southern Queensland, which multiplied the grasslands available for sheep. 1835 saw wool replace whaling and sealing as Australia’s main export industry.
Thomas Mort set up the first regular wool auction in 1843, prior to this all wool had been shipped to England for sale in auction rooms or by private deals. In 1847 Richard Goldsborough, a wool stapler form Yorkshire, migrated to Melbourne and set up a business as a classer and packer of wool for sale in England. In 1850 he set up the first regular wool auction in Bourke St, Melbourne.
After gold was discovered near Sydney and Melbourne in 1851 it overtook wool as Australia’s main export industry. The labour shortage due to the gold rush encouraged many wool growers to build fences instead of using shepherds.
In the 1860 George and Fred Peppin were creating a distinctive flock at their Wanganella stud in the saltbush plains of the Riverina, NSW. Breeding from carefully-chosen large ewes that adapted well to the dry conditions of the plains and selection of expensive rams resulted in the Peppin Merino strain – ideal for the more arid environment and yielded long wool which was suitable for the increasing demand from worsted mills in England.
During the long pastoral boom the sheep in Australia increased from 40 million in 1879 to 106 million in 1892. However 1902 saw the driest year ever recorded and sheep numbers fell by half.
By 1914 nearly 70% of Australian wool was sold by auction within Australia. New auction centres opened in Perth in 1920 and Newcastle in 1929.
In the First World War wool was urgently needed for military uniforms and other military purposes. In 1916 the British Government purchased the entire Australian wool clip at a fixed price for the duration of the war.
The International Wool Textile Organisation (IWTO) was established in 1928 as the first arbitration body for the international trade of wool and wool products. It was born out of an agreement signed between the representative bodies of the British and French wool-textile industries in 1927.
By 1934 the sheep population exceeded the previous record of 106 million sheep set in 1892. There was a new urgency to promote wool in order to compete with synthetics. At the request of Australian wool growers a tax was levied on all wool produced and sold in Australia.
The funds collected were to be devoted to promoting wool but not marketing it. The Australian Wool Board was established as the promotion agency and consisted of one government and six grower representatives.
In 1947scientists in Europe and the United States developed instruments for measuring the mean fibre diameter.
The Australian Wool Testing Authority was set up by the federal government in 1957 to test wool for export. This reflected the growing belief that wool for sale should be tested and graded by scientific methods as opposed to the old method of eye, hand and experience.
In 1958 -1959 Britain was overtaken as the main buyer of Australian wool by Japan and approximately three years later Japan purchased twice the wool Britain did.
Standard sampling and testing systems were developed in 1960, procedures measured included:
Wool base – the dry weight of wool free from impurities eg vegetable matter, dust, moisture, grease
Vegetable matter base – established when a sample of wool is placed in a boiling solution of 10% caustic soda, the wool is dissolved and the remaining vegetable matter is dried and weighed
Fibre diameter – average diameter expressed in microns, developed and approved by IWTO
In 1970 Australia had a record 180 million sheep.
The Australian Wool Corporation (AWC) purchased all wool not reaching the minimum reserve price at auction, where the wool was later sold during years of higher prices.
A reserve price was introduced in 1974 with the intention to guarantee Australian wool growers a minimum price for their wool.
By 1976 wool ceased to be Australia’s major source of export income, regularly being passed by black coal and occasionally wheat, alumina and iron ore. In the 1980s the processing of Australian wool was experiencing significant changes. Europe as a whole was being challenged by East Asia where China, with its economy slowly reviving began to emerge as a major market for Australian wool.
The price of wool in the mid 1980s was close to 1000 cents per kilogram, subsequently the AWC increased the price from 350 cents to 850 cents per kilogram.
The end of the Cold War had a major impact on wool. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was a major purchaser of Australian wool, however when it dissolved it could no longer afford to maintain imports of Australian wool. In February of that year the wool market collapsed and the reserve price scheme was suspended after the stockpile reached 4.75 million bales. The Australian Government in consultation with industry agreed the scheme could no longer be maintained.
During 1980-94, the real value of output of the Chinese wool textile industry recorded an average annual growth rate of over 10 per cent, while wool imports into China increased at an annual average growth rate of 17.8 per cent. The main contributing factor was the rapid increase in domestic demand for wool textile products as a result of strong increases in household incomes.
In 1997 The Woolmark Company Pty Ltd was established, the Company was originally a subsidiary of Australian Wool Research and Promotion Organisation (AWRAP) but later became a subsidiary of Australian Wool Services Ltd.
In 1998 the Australian Government announced its intentions to privatise Wool International and pass ownership of the wool stockpile to shareholders. Parliament legislated a freeze on stockpile sales until 30 June 1999 and appointed an interim advisory board to facilitate a smooth transmission from Government to private ownership.
Australian wool growers pushed for a new enquiry into the industry in 1998, the taskforce to undertake the enquiry was led by Hon. Ian McLachlan AO. The outcome resulted in another restructure of the Australian wool industry.
On 1 January 2001 Australian Wool Services (AWS) replaced AWRAP which had been operating since 1993. Two AWS subsidiaries The Woolmark Company and Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) were also established.
In 2002 AWI became a fully independent public company limited by shares.
In 2002 the last bale in the stockpile was donated to the National Wool Museum in Geelong.
China has now become the dominant source of global demand for wool. It is by far the world's largest importer of raw wool fibre, where in the mid 1990s only approximately 20 percent of Australia's wool exports, by volume, were going to China. In 2007, the figure had risen to nearly 70 per cent.
AWI acquired The Woolmark Company from AWS in October 2007.