Located near the modern-day township of Millmerran, Yandilla was one of several sheep stations – the Australian equivalent of a ranch – in the Darling Downs, a vast region of farmland in southern Queensland. The station was established by Irish brothers St George and Ralph Gore, who settled in the area in 1841. At its height in the late 19th century, Yandilla had 1,780 square kilometres of land and was a self-contained community, with its own store, telegraph station, church and school. (The world’s largest still-working station is Anna Creek in South Australia, a cattle station that covers 24,000 square kilometres.) It appears that this shearing shed is equipped with mechanical shears, which were invented by Ireland-born Frederick Wolesley in 1885 and were powered by a stationary steam engine. Today, Australia is the world’s biggest producer of wool, supplying a quarter of the global wool clip

Photograph from the archive of the Royal Geographical Society