Ethical Outback Wool shines from Coonong Station

The beautiful Dohne wool from Coonong Station is transformed into magnificent garments. Picture by Maggie Lahore.

It was a conversation in the middle of the dusty yards that changed the future for Coonong Station.

And it’s a pretty impressive future – taking a fleece grown on the brown grasslands and blue skies of the Hay Plains and transforming it into magnificent blankets and clothing.

For Coonong Station’s Sophie Holt, it is a dream come true, and with her husband Tom, son Thomas, as well as her incomparable business manager Maggie Lahore, they are creating something very special on Urana soil.

Coonong Station used to be the home of a Merino stud, but shifting to Dohnes brought on a new era for the station on the edge of the Hay Plains.

Mrs Holt said the fact Dohnes were dual purpose was the main factor.

“It was the fact they could just survive,” she said. “They were easy care and had doability. No matter what you throw at them, and the Riverina throws a lot of things, like drought, and more drought – they would survive and rear lambs. Year in and year out – they just keep on going.”

Running 32,000 head of Dohnes meant not only producing a beautiful 19 to 20-micron wool, with a comfort factor (CF) of 99, but also the ability to finish weaners on grass.

Coonong Station’s Sophie Holt and Maggie Lahore. Picture by Nacho Debuchy.

“Because of all the things you don’t have to do with Dohnes, it gave us the chance to do other things,” she said.

And this chance popped up one unlikely day about four years ago – Mrs Holt and Ms Lahore were standing in the middle of the dusty sheep yards during the drought.

“We were talking about how it was impossible to find a baby blanket made from wool,” she said. “Then we said ‘we could make it from our wool’.”

And Ethical Outback Wool was born. As fate would have it, Mrs Holt was handling the wool sale at the same time. She said she got a phone call from her Elders wool broker Lachie Brown, saying that some of the lambs’ wool hadn’t made the reserve. “I said ‘I’m going to make baby blankets’,” she said.

She began calling every mill and spinner she could find. “I knew nothing about processing wool. But it was a chance to turn something negative – the drought – into something positive.”

It turned out the lambs’ wool was too short, but after sending four bales of fleece wool to a processor, the dream became a reality.

The wool is washed at Riversdale Mill, Geelong, then turned into tops at Bacchus Marsh. It is spun at Wangaratta, and then travels to Melbourne to be knitted.

Ethical Outback Wool uses around 12 bales domestically, while the remaining 500 bales are exported. It is especially popular in the US.

Their wool is not only certified with Responsible Wool Standard, it is also the only Certified Humane wool in the whole of Australia.

Maggie Lahore hard at work in the yards at Coonong Station. Picture by Emily Hurst.

She said the beauty of being Certified Humane was the fact they were already doing all the things it required – from no mulesing to recording body score conditions on sheep.

“It was just taking that extra level of care,” she said.

For Mrs Holt, there is something special about seeing wool you have grown transformed into magnificent garments.

“We grow and select the fleeces – it’s more than just knowing it’s our wool. We literally know the sheep it came off,” she said.

Their pure Dohne wool has been transformed into a range of beautiful garments, from soft jumpers, scarves and wraps to fine baby blankets, which are designed by Mrs Holt and Ms Lahore.

Ms Lahore has been a wonderful driving force behind Ethical Outback Wool.

“She models the clothing and does the social media, she runs Coonong Station, she is the business manager, and is also the director of the wildlife sanctuary (located on Coonong Station),” she said.

“She is absolutely amazing. It’s been a lot of fun.

“Our first poncho was named Paisana, which is a Spanish term loosely translated to mean ‘fearless women supporting each other through good and bad’. That sums up Ethical Outback Wool. Thanks to Lachie Brown, Elders, Jimmy Jackson, IWC group, Trisha Esson, Cashmere Connections, Con and Ellen from Geccu Knitting and everyone along the way, we now have a greater understanding of the process. Everyone we have met has been amazing.”

Visit ethicaloutbackwool.com.au