PIP COURTNEY, PRESENTER: There's a reason the term "black sheep of the family" means outcast, for in the wool industry, a black or brown sheep in the flock is rarely welcomed. But while most woolgrowers aim for snowy white fleece, there's a small core group breeding coloured sheep in varying shades of grey, brown and black. They mostly service the rekindled interest in handcrafts. But as Prue Adams found, the breeders of black and coloured sheep are not always embraced by the wider wool community.
HELEN WRIGHT, COLOURED WOOL PRODUCER: I trained as a professional wool classer, so I was travelling over Victoria and into New South Wales classing and I had friends that were craftspeople and they'd say to me, "Oh, you'll see a nice coloured fleece in the flock you're doing. Will you see if you can buy it for us?" So I'd bring wool home and take money back. But my father actually said to me at one stage, "Well you're not making any money out of this. You might as well have a few of them."
PRUE ADAMS, REPORTER: Helen Wright grew up on this Victorian property between Ararat and Avoca. Her parents ran merinos - white merinos. In the early 1980s, the young wool classer was surprised when her father allowed her to bring coloured sheep onto the place. It was a move that sparked a passion that would last a lifetime.
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