The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #17189   Message #4209444
Posted By: Robert B. Waltz
08-Oct-24 - 01:05 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Billy Brink / Bluey Brink
Subject: RE: Origins: Billy Brink / Bluey Brink
Guest wrote: I haven't checked a recording but I am pretty sure Bert sang verse 1 line 3 as "He could shear his two hundred a day without fear". That would make sense, because (AFAIK) a tally of one hundred was a typical target so a much larger number would make sense for a mythical larger-than-life character.

Shearing a hundred a day was to "make the century," and yes, it made you a "gun," although the ringer in a shed would probably be able to shear more than a century.

Two hundred, though, is extraordinary. Yes, Jackie Howe once did 321 in a day with blade shears, and 200+ with machine shears, but he was close to superhuman.... To shear 200 was within the realm of possibility, but I don't think a native Australian would have been likely to claim that. I think that's Bert Lloyd being Bert Lloyd.