Shear Outback The Australian Shearers’ Hall of Fame

Hay, NSW

DESIGN

Architects: Paul Berkemeier Pty Ltd

Landscape: Jane Irwin Landscapes

Exhibition: Bannyan Wood Pty Ltd

Graphic Design: Marianne Hawke

Lighting: Peter McLean

Project Director: Sara Hector

WINNER

2002 Royal Australian Institute of Architects National Awards

Best commercial building.

BHP Colorbond Steel Award.

"the building is formally powerful and essentially rural in character without resorting to cliché. The building has a beautiful economy of materials and form - it could not have been conceived in any material other than steel and the exuberant use of it throughout the building has created a regional landmark".

RAIA National Awards citation

WINNER

2002 Royal Australian Institute of Architects NSW Awards

Commendation Public and Commercial Buildings category.

BHP Colorbond Award for the Innovative Use of Steel in Architecture.

Shear Outback was built to honour Australia’s shearers, their past, present and future.

Developed with assistance from a $4.66 million Centenary of Federation grant, it opened on the 26th of January 2002.

In its first year of operation the museum has welcomed 40,000 visitors.

The museum incorporates:

the new building, which houses the Shearers’ Hall of Fame, permanent exhibition, temporary gallery, café and shop…

The original 1926 Murray Downs Woolshed, where shearing demonstrations and shearer training are held…

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Outdoor exhibits and a homestead-inspired garden…

… and 45 acres of the Hay Plain.

The building was designed to boldly break the flatness of the plain with its massive steel blades,

And reflect the vaulting open

spaces and shafting light of

the shearing shed.

The use of wood and metal mirrors historic sheds, complementing John Sulman’s innovative iron house, Bishop’s Lodge, built in Hay in 1888.

Like Bishop’s Lodge, Shear Outback was built to combat the region’s fierce climate and be environmentally-sustainable

The tall blades protect the museum from highway noise, while vents mounted on the back regulate air flow and pressure in the Hall of Fame.

The broad, gutterless roof acts as a rainwater collector. Runoff gathers in a drain and flows into the dam.

It is then pumped by the windmill to water the garden and revegetated saltbush plains.

The museum’s design emerged from a fruitful collaboration between

the architect, landscape designer,

exhibition team, project director and

Hay community.

The site, structures, exhibits and

landscape were developed

simultaneously.

The result is an integrated whole that visitors find satisfying and uplifting

(as well as fun!)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Truly a new museum landmark

To find out more, visit our website: www.shearoutback.com.au

This slide presentation was developed by Dr Martha Sear, Community Curator, Hay & Sara Hector, Board Director Shear Outback. Architectural photographs by Brett Boardman reproduced courtesy of Paul Berkemeier.© Shear Outback 2003