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Jackie Howe

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Jack "Jackie" Howe
Gravesite memorial inscription for Jack Howe in Blackall cemetery
Born(1861-07-26)26 July 1861
Killarney, Queensland
Died21 July 1920(1920-07-21) (aged 58)
OccupationShearer
Known forSheep shearing

John Robert Howe (10 July 1861 – 21 July 1920) was a legendary Australian sheep shearer at the end of the 19th century. He shot to fame in pre-Federation Australia in 1892 when he broke the daily and weekly shearing records across the colonies.

Howe was considered one of the three wonders of Queensland, along with Eulo publican and personality Isabel Gray (c. 1851–1929), and the cook and Barcaldine hotelier Jimmy Ah Foo.[1][2]

Life

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Jackie Howe newspaper cuttings, 1890s

Howe was born at Killarney near Warwick, Queensland. Jackie Howe's father, Jack Howe, was also a shearer and a clown with La Rosier's circus,[3] claiming to be the first clown to travel the Australian colonies, and was town-crier in Warwick.[4][5] His mother, Miss Stokes, was a lady's companion in 1840 at Canning Downs station and one of the first European women in the area, before marrying a second time to Jack Howe senior.[3] He grew up as a shearer around Warwick and the Darling Downs, before a short time at Tambo, trying gold prospecting.[3] It was there that he commenced professional shearing.[3]

Howe was active during the shearer strikes of the 1891[6] and 1894, and was a committed trade unionist.[7][8]

Later on Howe owned a public hotel, The Barcoo Hotel, in Blackall, Queensland.[5][when?] There is now a statue there of him holding a sheep.[9] He also at one time was a licensee of the Universal Hotel.[5] However publican life was not for him,[7] and he went onto purchase the property Shamrock Park, and then Summervale.[5]

After an extended illness, Howe died at Blackall in July 1920, leaving behind a widow, six sons, and two daughters.[5] After Howe's death, friend Queensland Premier T. J. Ryan[3] said, in a telegram to Howe's widow, "I have lost a true and trusted friend and Labor has lost a champion".[citation needed]

One son was John Henry Howe, but also known as Jack Howe.[5] He started as a chemist, but also went into shearing, and wrote a book on his father.[5] He later became a publican.[8] Another son, Leslie John Howe got married in March 1925.[10] The second son, Darsey John Howe, wed in September 1927.[11]

Shearing record

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Howe was described as being "one of the best physically built men in Australia".[5] Weighing about 14 stone (200 lb; 89 kg), he measured 47.5 inches (1,210 mm) around the chest and 26 inches (660 mm) around the thigh.[3]

On 10 October 1892, Howe had shorn 321 sheep in seven hours and 40 minutes at Alice Downs station, near Blackall, Queensland.[12] This was a faster tally than any other shearer had achieved before. In the week beforehand, Howe also set the weekly record, shearing 1,437 sheep in 44 hours and 30 minutes.[12] Howe's daily record was beaten by Ted Reick in 1950,[13] but Reick was using machine shears, while Howe's hand shears were little more than scissors.[5][3]

Legacy

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Jack Howe's gravesite in Blackall cemetery

Jackie Howe is depicted by a bronze statue in Blackall.[citation needed]

After his death in 1920, a poem was penned in 1940 in his honour, as King of the shearers.[14]

In October 2015, Howe's record was reported as still unbeaten after 123 years.[15]

Howe became the name given to navy blue singlet tops.[16][17] According to legend,[citation needed] this is what Howe was wearing on the day he broke the shearing record. It has also been indicated in a woolshed, a big shearer took his shirt and snipped off the sleeves with a pair of shears, saying "I'll make a Jackie Howe of it", with the name associated since.[3]

References

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  1. ^ "The back country. A visit to Eulo. The Queen and Her Day". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 27, 472. New South Wales, Australia. 22 January 1926. p. 10. Retrieved 4 April 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ^ "Famous ringers of the studs". Weekly Times. No. 3759. Victoria, Australia. 14 October 1939. p. 9. Retrieved 4 April 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h "The Don Bradman of the Shearing Sheds—Jack Howe". Sunday Mail (Brisbane). No. 424. Queensland, Australia. 5 June 1938. p. 1 (Magazine section). Retrieved 4 April 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ "Personal". Warwick Examiner And Times. No. 4473. Queensland, Australia. 6 September 1913. p. 5. Retrieved 18 January 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Barcoo seat". Warwick Daily News. No. 7315. Queensland, Australia. 8 January 1943. p. 2. Retrieved 4 April 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ "Local and general news". Warwick Examiner and Times. Vol. 25, no. 1757. Queensland, Australia. 30 September 1891. p. 2. Retrieved 4 April 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ^ a b "The Barcaldine and General Budget". The Western Champion and General Advertiser for the Central-Western Districts. Vol. XLII, no. 1489. Queensland, Australia. 31 July 1920. p. 12. Retrieved 4 April 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ a b "Personal". The Toowoomba Chronicle and Darling Downs Gazette. Vol. LXV, no. 174. Queensland, Australia. 22 July 1926. p. 4. Retrieved 4 April 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ^ The Day the Llama Spat in Jack Howe's Hair Archived 2006-05-01 at the Wayback Machine, Queensland heritage stories on abc.net.au Archived 1997-06-13 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 29 April 2006.
  10. ^ "Blackall News". The Western Champion. Vol. XLVI, no. 1729. Queensland, Australia. 7 March 1925. p. 11. Retrieved 4 April 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ^ "Blackall News". The Western Champion. Vol. XLVIII, no. 1862. Queensland, Australia. 24 September 1927. p. 10. Retrieved 4 April 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. ^ a b "Shearing records". The Evening Telegraph (Charters Towers). No. 5751. Queensland, Australia. 27 May 1920. p. 2. Retrieved 4 April 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. ^ "New shearing record". The Riverine Grazier. New South Wales, Australia. 29 January 1952. p. 2. Retrieved 4 April 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. ^ "On the track". Townsville Daily Bulletin. Vol. LXII, no. 129. Queensland, Australia. 30 May 1940. p. 2. Retrieved 4 April 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
  15. ^ "Legend of Jackie Howe lives on 123 years after shearing record". ABC News. 12 October 2015. Archived from the original on 5 March 2018. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  16. ^ Jacky Howe Archived 2011-01-02 at the Wayback Machine, entry on Australian National Dictionary Centre website. Accessed 4 June 2007.
  17. ^ "Echoes of the past". Balonne Beacon. Vol. 32, no. 33. Queensland, Australia. 12 November 1936. p. 8. Retrieved 4 April 2025 – via National Library of Australia.

Sources

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  • MacDougall, A. K., (2005), An Anthology of Classic Australian Folklore.
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