shedhand

English

Etymology

shed +‎ hand

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Noun

shedhand (plural shedhands)

1. (Australia, New Zealand) A worker in a sheep-shearing shed.
   • 1950, Graziers' Association of New South Wales, The Graziers′ Annual, page 187,

     Thus if an employee is engaged as a woolpresser and shedhand he must for the whole of his work be paid at the woolpressers′ weekly rate, since that is higher than the shedhands′ weekly rate.

   • 1980 September 11, Paul Hudson, Technology brings home the wool harvest, New Scientist, page 768,

     The sheep still have to be mustered and penned in a shed; the shearer still grabs sheep from the pen and shears them; the shedhands remove the fleece and pieces.

   • 1996, John Fowler, Australian Woolclassing, page 23:

     The Board can be kept much cleaner if two shedhands work together.

   • 1999, David Palmer, Ross Shanahan, Martin Shanahan, Australian Labour History Reconsidered, page 26:

     Shearers took the best cook and accommodation, refusing to share either with the shedhand.