TRADITION retains a strong place in Australia's wool industry and the local sector reinstated a lost tradition last week. About 75 people from all sections of the local wool industry gathered for a Friday afternoon get-together at the Tradewinds Hotel, Fremantle - one of the industry's traditional watering holes from a bygone era when woolstores, early-stage processors and broking houses were almost exclusively located around the port.
Wool industry social gatherings at the Tradewinds, or another Fremantle hotel, were once a regular event held several times a year, but none has been held for at least the past 10 years, according to Swan Wool Processors' managing director Paul Foley.
"There's a lot of wool history and tradition in Fremantle," Mr Foley said.
"Once every wool bale went over the bridges across the river to the wool scours (at North Fremantle). Every bale still goes over the river now, but in containers to the port."
Reinstating the tradition was Mr Foley's and Techwool Trading's WA wool buyer Russell Fraser's idea.
"The concept was just to get the industry together, so we've got brokers, buyers, logistics personnel and technical staff here," Mr Fraser told the gathering.
"We actually wanted more back office people to come, so next time we do this we expect an extra 50 people," he said.
