Delegate Shearers Front western australia Workbenches and forgotten tools sit

Workbenches and forgotten tools sit under a layer of dust in the upstairs workshop of the Northcote Shoe Factory

from 1957 until it closed on 28 March 2010

photographed in 2015

The building is one of the rural vernacular structures Brett Patman photographed across the Hunter Valley between 2016 and 2019

corrugated iron roof striped with rust

Delegate Shearers Front western australia Workbenches and forgotten tools sitThe weathered timber and corrugated iron facade of the Delegate shearers' quarters, its empty windows and peeling paint marking the end of seasonal work that once brought gangs of men together each year. Delegate sits at the southern edge of the Monaro, one of the earliest pastoral frontiers in New South Wales, with European settlement reaching this far south from 1827. Part of the A Place to Call Home series.