Shearers excited about new Campbell Town Show facilities

The State’s top shearers and wool handlers are ready to take to the boards and tables for the first time on Friday and Saturday in Campbell Town Showground’s new shearing shed.

Sports Shear Tasmania will conduct one of the highlight events of the Campbell Town Show on Friday - the State Shearing and Wool Handling Championships, which will decide the team to send to the 2026 Sports Shear Australia National Shearing and Woolhandling Championships in Warrnambool in October.

The top two from six grades and top three from the open will make up the state team.

Following the championship event, Saturday will see the same competitors plus many more jump straight into the first Sports Shear competition of the 2026/2027 season.

Two top contenders, novice leader Tom Matthews from Cressy and senior leader Jackson Jones, from Western Creek, are excited about competing in the new $1.5 million facility which was officially opened in September last year as a Centre of Excellence for Shearing and Wool Handling.

Tom, who grew up on a farm at Lower Marshes, Jericho, and worked on a farm at Bothwell before moving with his partner to Cressy, has only been shearing for a year-and-a-half.

At age 30 he’s a late starter but he showed natural ability and coped well with the physicality to make his presence felt at his first Sports Shear competition at Campbell Town last year.

He’ll be shearing in the novice championships today and will move into intermediate tomorrow.

Jackson Jones was also originally from Bothwell and went to school with Tom, but has been shearing for 12 years - a career that he said has earned him good money and taken him around the country, including as part of the Tasmanian team.

“This will be my last competition as a senior before moving into open going forward,” he said.

“We’re all looking forward to being in the new shed with more space, more competitors and spectators and hopefully we can get a national competition here.”

Below: Top shearers in action at Westlands, Red Hills on Tuesday. (pinch to zoom out full screen)

With a modern, seven-stand raised board designed to maximize efficiency and ergonomics, the shearing contest will see at least six competitors go blow-for-blow, rather than three at a time which was the maximum in the old shed.

Sports Shear Tasmania president Scott Jones (Jackson’s brother) said the state finals will see 28 qualifiers shear 80 sheep today with the top guns like Sam and Jack Byers and Robbie Glover expected to be pushed by emerging talent.

Wool handlers Victoria Lang, Jess Whatley and Tiffany Collins are among the fastest finessers of fleece who will be working in unison with the shearers.

They will be judged on their efficiency, accuracy and fleece presentation which ensures the wool clip reaches the highest commercial value.

Another 350 sheep, all supplied by David Taylor from local property Kenilworth, will be shorn on the Saturday with Sports Shear entries well up on previous years.

“Sports Shearing is fast, exciting to watch and with the music pumping and the crowd cheering the atmosphere is great,” Scott said.

“We hope to see plenty of onlookers over the two days of the show.”