60
GOLDEN SHEARS
The World’s Premier Shearing and Wool Handling Championship
MASTERTON
2020
47
Fifty years of Golden Shears: fifty years of service Golden Shears pays tribute to three of the architects of its longevity at the 2020 Golden Shears. When Bruce Christensen (70) and Gavin Tankersley (68) played in the Mikimiki school grounds in the early 1960s, little did they imagine a life time of association with Wairarapa’s premier event. Within a year or two of leaving school in the mid-1960s both teenage lads were ensconced alongside Murray Tomlin (72) from Taweru, in the machinery of the Wairarapa Young Farmer’s Club and Golden Shears. All three teenagers were willing helpers at the YFC night, originally the Wednesday night entertainment of the Make’n’Model, the Miss Golden Shears and the Blue-Ribbon shearing and Wool Handling events. They each eventually ascended to YFC leadership positions gaining places on the Golden Shears Committee, and each were very involved in the wool management and pressing during their early contributions to the annual competition. Bruce has been involved in the wool packing and pressing and tracking the different farm fleeces almost continuously for fifty years, although at the recent events he has handed on the actual physical wool pressing to the next generation. Both Gavin and Murray are past Presidents consecutively; Gavin from 1993 until the 1997 Championships, followed by Murray from 1998 until 2000. They oversaw a sea change of modernisations from the early 1990s, when operating on a ‘shoestring budget’ significant structural modifications were made. Inside the stadium saw the original shearing board modified and sheep chutes redesigned, and with international judging rules refined (from three to one judge per sheep), they were relocated from the outside
FROM LEFT: Murray Tomlin, Bruce Christensen and Gavin Tankersley tents into the stadium behind the enlarged shearing stand. Their review of sound and lighting saw many technical improvements, included large TV viewing screens introduced and ultimately placed above the shearing board. Outside the back entry of the stadium, the temporary tents covering the yards were replaced with generous funding acquired to fully cover the holding yards at the back entrance, steel flooring was acquired from the then recently closed Waingawa Freezing Works, and they concreted the same holding yards area for ease of use. Murray was particularly instrumental in the revival of the prestigious Wool Handling competitions at the Golden Shears; Wool Handling becoming a crowd favourite and coveted event at both national and international levels. Under their stewardship, Golden Shears renewed and reinvigorated itself and increased its value as a prestigious and professional event. While Bruce has remained a modest and reliable back room volunteer, both Gavin and Murray also made their mark on the international scene, first as Golden Shears team managers
to Australia. As President in the early 1990s, Gavin visited Armidale, NSW and Esperance, Western Australia and put much effort alongside his Trans-Tasman cousins to reintegrate the Australian test after the turbulent wide gear strikes of the mid-1980s and saw the birth of Sport Shear Australia during his tenure. Murray represented New Zealand as Manager to Millicent, South Australia 2005. His legacy has been co-developing the international Wool Handling rules that saw him eventually judging Wool Handling in Bjerkreim, Norway, at the 2008 World Sheep Shearing and Woolhandling Championships. On 7 March 2020, at the 60th Golden Shears, all three, Bruce Christensen, Gavin Tankersley and Murray Tomlin will receive their Fiftieth Anniversary badges to honour their lifelong contributions to the Masterton Golden Shears.
