CAMP OVEN COOKING IN AUSTRALIA (COCIA®)

For over 100 years, wool was the product that earned the most money for Australia. "Riding the sheep's back" was the wool term people used to use, which meant wool supported the country. Whilst the Wool Industry no longer supports Australia, it is still a very important industry.  However with the decline of the wool industry so the decline of the shearing shed started. 

These photos show what once would have been a thriving shearing shed now abandoned on the Riverina.  Many shearing sheds were huge with large numbers of shearers working however this was only a four man shed.  I stood for some time gazing around and imagining what it must have been like.  The kitchen was over in one corner where many a camp oven meal would have been eaten, several bales of wool lay around abandoned and the rotting timbers of what once would have been a thriving shed.  It had a presence of the past.