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