Kid's corner

Australia is the largest producer of wool in the world followed by New Zealand, China and Russia. Find out more about Australia's wool industry.

Last year 106 million sheep were shorn, producing 480 million kilograms of wool - the same weight as 75,500 elephants. That's alot of woolly jumpers!

Clothes made from wool insulate, or protect, you against against heat and cold.

Type of sheep:
More than 84 per cent of sheep in Australia are Merinos - Merinos derive their appearance from the Royal Sheep Flocks of Spain. The spanish word for sheep is oveja.

The first fat-tailed sheep into Australia arrived in 1788 with the First Fleet. The first Merino arrived in 1797 with only 13 sheep being purchased from the Spanish.

People have used wool for shelter, clothing, floorcoverings and decoration since ancient times. The Babylonians, Romans and Greeks all used wool.

Download the wool fact sheet (pdf - 266Kb, new window)
Visit the Woolmark site for more useful info on sheep and wool.
Lots of photos to download!

More information: