Shearing great Ray Alabaster dies

The sheep shearing scene across New Zealand and throughout the World is mourning the loss of former great Ray Alabaster who died on Wednesday. From Taihape, Mr Alabaster competed as a teenager at the first Golden Shears in 1961 and became one of the greatest shearers to compete at Masterton's iconic event without winning its coveted Open title.

He was in the six-man, 20-sheep final nine times from 1971 to 1981, and was runner-up to two-times winners Norm Blackwell and Martin Ngataki in 1974 and 1979 respectively, and third in 1978 to inaugural World champion Roger Cox, when less than six-tenths of a point covered the first four placings. In the year of his last final there were strong hopes of a dream result when he was top qualifier of the 12 for the semi-finals, but he had to settle for sixth in the showdown won by Ivan Rosandich. He was to finally achieve victory on Masterton's famous War Memorial Stadium board in Masterton two years later when he and Rei Rangiawha won the Golden Shears Maori-Pakeha teams event.

He also represented New Zealand in two transtasman shearing tests, in 1979, in Masterton and in the Victorian town of Euroa, where Australian shearing identity Bernie Walker in 1983 penned Just a yard of purple ribbon, an ode to the nine men who had shared the 23 Golden Shears Open titles to that time - with Ray Alabaster the only non-winner to rate a mention.

A man of classic modesty, he would say it would have been nice to have won the Open, but alot of World-class shearers had never made the final, and he was one of the lucky ones. He was also known for his woolshed tallies as a young shearer, firstly taking part in a five-stand an unofficial World record north of Gisborne. Aged just 17, he contributed more than 300 of the 2133 ewes shorn in the nine hours.

Then in late 1969 he led his own gang to an official four-stand record, with 417 of the 1562 shorn that day in a shed near Waiouru. Having left school to work on the family farm at the age of 14, he became a long-time contractor in the Taihape area, and since his competitive days had maintained a strong association with the sport, becoming a judge along with wife Libby, who officiates at woolhandling events.

The pair's daughter, schoolteacher Sheree Alabaster, is one of the country's top woolhandlers, winning the World individual and teams titles in Norway in 2008. Last year the couple were in Wales to see their daughter come second in her individual title defence and win a second teams title. His funeral will be held in Taihape on Monday.

ENDS

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