ABORIGINAL shearing legend Bobby Pepper is the "proudest black fella in Australia" after nine of his students graduated the first Mid West shearing training school last week.
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The Geraldton-based not-for-profit Mhunga Whalla Incorporated, which Mr Pepper established, and the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development organised the two-week camp at Greg Teakle's Northampton farm.
The success of the course has prompted Mhunga Whalla Inc to consider developing a permanent training facility in the Mid West.
Agriculture and Food Minister Alannah MacTiernan was at the graduation and said the "Mid West training camp may serve as a prototype for creating both Aboriginal economic development and new shearing labour".
Ms MacTiernan congratulated camp graduates Jamaine Narrier, Clinton Narrier, Taharna Mitchell, Leeson Flanagan, Brentley Comeagain, Rob Ronan, Kahsan Stack, Edward Ponta and Robbie Speight.
She said "with wool prices on the rebound, demand is growing for shearers".
"Many young Aboriginal people today had grandparents in the industry - and they live in sheep growing regions," Ms MacTiernan said.
"It makes sense to offer this employment opportunity for young Aboriginal people across our regions and particularly in the Mid West.
"This program responds to the projected 10 per cent per annum growth in demand for shearing labour to meet the increases in wool production.
"Congratulations and thank you to Bobby Pepper and the Mhunga Whalla team, the Teakle family for hosting the camp, and the dedicated departmental staff for their efforts.
"This is the first step towards realising the government's vision of creating permanent Aboriginal-focused shearing training hubs in the Mid West and other parts of the State."
Participants aged 16 to 29 completed the two-week course facilitated by accredited trainers from Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) Amanda Davis and shearing legend Kevin Gellatly, and are now looking to gain work in WA's shearing industry.
The State government will support a similar shearing camp in Brookton in the near future, and has plans to further expand the model in conjunction with the WA Shearing Industry Association (WASIA).
The Mid West camp attracted strong financial and logistical support from AWI and many local businesses and individuals.
WASIA president Darren Spencer, speaking at WASIA's annual meeting in Perth on Saturday, said the association had been working towards getting more training opportunities across WA and encouraging more younger workers into the system.
Mr Spencer attended the graduation and said it was "great to go up to the school and see what was happening".
"Part of the work with the school is to try and bring some of the indigenous kids into the system that have fallen out of place, and other kids and well," Mr Spencer said.
"It's just about trying to get as many young ones into the system as we can.
"We have been working with DPIRD and the minister is on board - she wants to see more training and after talking to her (Friday) she's really keen to keep it going."
Guest speaker at WASIA's meeting was Mr Pepper, who said he grew up in the Kalbarri area and had a family history of working with sheep.
"I've always been involved with sheep," Mr Pepper said.
"My grandfather was a sheep man working all through the stations of the Murchison, and my father also, Tom Pepper, took over with the shearing.
"Unlike my brothers, I followed the tradition of the Pepper family in the Mid West with the sheep."
While he "stuck with the sheep" he also had a few different jobs here and there, working at Main Roads for 10 years and then joining the WA Police in 1996.
"I retired from there two years ago," he said.
Mr Pepper said he had been asked to return to the force, "so in the next couple of weeks I'll probably go back to where I left off as an Aboriginal liaison officer working with about 50 kids in the Mid West area".
Mr Pepper said he had "dealt with a lot of kids over the years" which led him to be awarded the Citizen of the Year Award in Geraldton in 2018.
"I've always had a saying all my life that Aboriginal kids, to do anything, they have got to use their eyes, their hands and their feet - which involves everything in sheep," he said.
"You need those three things to shear a sheep."
Mr Pepper has been in the shearing industry for 45 years and recently was awarded a contract to work on the State Barrier Fence by DPIRD.
"Hopefully we can get a lot of sheep back into the Mid West area," he said.
"If that happens they have got to be shorn.
"The past few months we have been working on the shearing school and from day one we just got positive results from everybody, everywhere.
"I'm the proudest black fella in Australia at the moment - for what has happened (Friday) with the graduation."
Mr Pepper said they started out with 11 students - one pulled out the first day - but nine turned up everyday and were able to graduate.
"Three weeks ago they didn't even know where a lamb chop came from - now all those nine kids can all shear a full sheep," he said.
Mr Pepper said there were a lot of Aboriginal youth from various areas, some where there are no sheep, "screaming for something" and he hoped that they could keep running more shearing schools to give them that option.
