Back Road’s Lisa Millar.
The Hilltops Region of NSW takes in the towns of Boorowa, Young and Harden. Locals are proud of their heritage and there is a lot worth preserving, from the many historical landmarks the region offers to the emerging arts and cultural projects. With its rolling hills the region is suitable for farming and agriculture. These are the words of Back Roads presenter Lisa Millar, an outsider’s view on our area which is far more simplistic than the complicated nature which binds us, but when focussing on the beautiful Running of the Sheep and Woolfest, the ABC veteran isn’t far off the mark.’ The show detailed the festival and what makes Boorowa special.
“Hilltops is predominately Sheep country, led by experienced shepherds and their well trained sheep dogs. Ashley Corkhill and his brother run a farm on the outskirts of town and Ashley has built up a reputation as the “dog father”. He and his dogs have been entrusted with Boorowa’s premier running of the sheep event. In celebration of the Hilltops farming culture the Corkhill brothers held the event on Sunday the 5th of October 2024.
Ashley said “I’ve been doing the event for about 20 years now behind the sheep. There’s 150 sheep there, they all have an ear tag and when 12 o’clock comes around, gates open and the race is on.”
The sheep race down the Main Street past thousands of excited fans holding tickets that match the ear tag numbers.
“I try and control the sheep and the dogs and keep them moving. I have to do my best to get them around the roundabout, but I don’t think sheep know how to go around a roundabout”.
The event has become quite an iconic thing for Boorowa. It’s been running for a long time and community members from all around the region travel out to celebrate the day.
Ashley continues “the dogs names are Doogan who is 8 and Boss is about 15 and there’s the younger pups as well, the young guns are coming through strong hopefully. I think it’s about time that Boss, the poor old fella retired and has a bit of a vacation and we bring in the youth.”
“I ought to retire from the event myself soon. My eldest child keeps telling me every year “just hang in there for a few more years dad and I will get some dogs going and I will take it over.”
“I am hoping I will be able to sit back at the pub and watch him do it. At just 14, Billy my son is already training up his dogs to take over the reins.”
The event has become a tradition for the community “It’s a good way to bring everyone together and give back to the community.” Ashley stated “It’s just in the family now you don’t want to let it go. It’s something I’ve dreamt about since I was five and I just want to keep it going.”
Volunteering is the lifeblood of rural Australia, so it’s great to see the younger generation so keen to get involved. Ashley’s son Billy is not too far off running the event himself, but the jury is still out on Billy’s youngest dog Clancy, who is a trouble maker. He’s never been off the farm and at just twelve months he’s still an excited pup. It takes just one rogue sheep and it could all go pear shaped and small communities have long memories. “There’s a lot of people watching and if something goes wrong you will never live it down,” Billy said.
There is plenty more on the day to enjoy than just the sheep race. You can’t miss the Irish flavour, there’s an Irish accent competition, pipe bands, Guiness pie eating competition.
The story goes that former convicts were amongst the first Europeans to settle in Boorowa in the early 1800s. Pretty soon a whole host of cousins and friends from the old country arrived to join them. Today their descendants still live here and are responsible for the town’s Irish flavour. Of all the Festival highlights, seeing Buster a local Boorowa kid with a big mullet expertly hand clip a sheep.
In front of an audience, Buster is a bit of a local celebrity. At just 11 years old, he’s already a shearing competition veteran.
Buster says “I used to be in the novice event, so that’s the lowest grade, but I had to move up a grade because I won four shows. I’m not versing kids my age anymore, I’m versing adults. It’s just been my passion since I was little. I used to go to the sheds with mum and dad when we were shearing lambs or something and dad would give me a go. I think I shore my first whole sheep when I was four. It was only a lamb and dad just knocked the belly wool off it and I shore the whole thing. It’s just how I’ve been brought up and it’s stuck.”
Fortunately Buster has a good teacher on tap, his dad Scotty Halls is a shearer. Scotty says “He had a poddy sheep at home there for a long time and usually you shear your sheep every twelve months, well this one got a haircut every twelve days I think. Every time he could catch it he shore it. To see him at his age and do what he does is pretty good. You can poke the chest out a little bit. He’s improving and getting better all the time. Shearing is a tough job and these days not many young people are taking it up. We need to get more younger generation into it.”
If you missed the Back Roads story on Boorowa, log in to ABC IVIEW and catch it up. There’s more to come.
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