Wool Bale - History

History

Very early wool presses were made from wood boards and had a wire winch mechanism to compress the wool and also hollow logs where the wool was tramped into a pack. During the late 19th century various forms of wooden wool press became the standard. Most popular models were the Koertz and the Ferrier. The Koertz was a smaller press than the Ferrier. The Ferrier press was manufactured under license by Humble & Nicholson (later Humble & Sons), Geelong, Victoria, and they had sold 2,000 presses between about 1871 and 1918. These presses were distributed throughout Australia, but were also sent overseas to New Zealand, South America, and North Africa. The steel Ajax wool presses were also used. Woolpressing with a manual woolpress was hard, tiring work that required tramping the wool into a box and then pressing it further with a manually operated lever activated cable. Nowadays power operated, self-pinning wool presses with inbuilt scales have made a major contribution to shearing shed productivity.

Wool bales have been transported by camel, horse teams, bullock wagons, paddle steamer, boats and later by rail and trucks.