DEEARGEE
Old wool sheds are like churches.
The air thick with the scent of aged wood and lanolin, dust dancing in shafts of filtered light. Their stillness offering sanctuary and inviting moments of quiet reflection.
There is a sense of quiet reverence and history, where the rituals of hard work and tradition, generations of sweat and toil, are laid down in the timber itself. The patina of time there to touch and to smell.
If sheering sheds are like churches then the 150 year old Deeargee Wooshed is a cathedral.
Originally part of Gostwyck Station, The Deeargee Station took its name from the old Gostwyck wool brand, DRG (Dangar, Gostwyck). The unique octagonal sheering shed was built in 1872 and sits gently on a hillside overlooking Salisbury Waters and Gostwyck Chapel just outside Uralla on the New England Tablelands.
Standing in the vestibule of this 150 year old building is quite an experience. The entrance to the woolshed records the station’s annual yield, every year from year one, a tally of bales is stencilled onto the wall.
This beautiful old building has always been kind of special to me. It is a local landmark on the road out to the remote property that was my first home, and a place that remains very special to me.
It is also a stones throw from the picturesque Gostwyck Chapel where I both met and married my husband.
I have photographed the familiar architecture of this woolshed from the outside many times. On this day I was lucky enough to spend an afternoon shooting inside this very special building.
