AWEX recognises the select few that have been classing the nation's clip for 50 years with a commemorative stencil and certificate of recognition.

When Australian Community Media caught up with Mr Brooker he was hard at work in western Victoria classing for the Hawkins family at the historic Bringalbert woolshed north of Apsley, just kilometres from the SA border.

It's a long journey in the industry for the Fremantle teenager who was picked up from a carpark in a flat-bed Bedford truck to head off for seven months on the runs of the Murchison region in Western Australia back in the 1960s.

READ MORE:

However, Mr Brooker said while there have been huge changes, much remained the same.

"There has obviously been a lot of change since I started, but in many ways the woolshed is one part of agriculture where if you transplanted the farmers or shearers from 120 years ago they would still recognise many similarities."

In terms of the changes in the fleeces thrown across his classing table, Mr Brooker noted the wool was becoming much more even.

"You see so many less grades in the wool than you used to, things are much more even," Mr Brooker said.

"The sheep are being bred to be more uniform, if they're not performing then they're out the flock," he said.

He said the industry continued to look for heavy cutting, big framed Merinos.

"There is a lot of demand for these type of sheep, which is something we do well in Australia."

While Mr Brooker has notched up over half a century in the industry it will be a little while before he is handed a gold watch for retirement.

"Things have been a little disjointed with COVID-19 and I am looking forward to getting home (on Queensland's Sunshine Coast) but I'm still doing enough to keep busy."

"I don't do as many sheds as I once did but the ones I do take a while."

In particular he has two big stints pencilled in each year.

Mr Brooker said the run at the Hawkinses was a long one, taking up much of the spring, while he also has a lengthy stint at Paraway-owned Cooinbil, in the western Riverina near Conargo.

MORE NEWS:

He got into the industry after growing up in Perth's dockside surburb of Fremantle.

Surprisingly, he said although it was an urban area where you might expect little knowledge of agriculture he said Fremantle had strong links with the wool industry.

"There were a lot of men who went away to shear each year, it tied in with the work on the docks and then there were other seasonal jobs like fruit picking or cray fishing, so there were plenty of shearers in Fremantle as I was growing up."

He said his first jobs were centred on WA's remote Murchison region which was then a big wool producing area.

"You'd be away for months at a time, but it was a fantastic area to work in."

From there he travelled extensively, including a lot of work in western Queensland.

"Back in the day, before the issues with dogs, places like Blackall were huge sheep-producing regions, it has declined in terms of numbers because of the switch to cattle but now you're starting to see a few looking at sheep once again."

Mr Brooker said the wool industry had proved resilient over his time classing.

"We've had some boom and bust cycles, the same as most areas of agriculture, people have done really well out of wool and then we've had times where it's predicted everyone will get out of sheep and go into cropping or cattle, but the industry has endured."

He said a genuine fascination with wool was the reason for his longevity in the game.

OTHER NEWS:

"You look at the staple of a fleece, at the crimp and it is just a fascinating product, there's nothing else like it."

While for many who have spent a lifetime in the shed the mind remains willing but the body, burnt out by hours of hard labour, cannot do what it used to.

However a hefty exercise regime has meant Mr Brooker is still more than capable of pushing through the long days in the shed.

After the day is done, when most of the team are looking forward to some well-earned rest he is widely known to go out and knock off a set of hundreds of push-ups or some other equalling gruelling workout.

He said he had developed his interested in fitness while rehabilitating from a shoulder injury.

He took notes to help with his rehab and ended up taking it further and is now a qualified fitness instructor, making an unlikely set of qualifications to pair with his wool-classing ticket.

Looking into the crystal ball, Mr Brooker predicts a bright future for wool.

"We keep hearing how it's hard to get young people involved and there's no workers, but I look around me in the shed today, there's a 15 year old rouseabouting, a couple of teenagers shearing, we are seeing people get involved and see the opportunities that are there."

"Wool is a fantastic, natural product and there will always be a demand for it," he said.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: