Golden Shears and Kupu Festival receive government funding

Whakaoriori - Four events across the motu are set to receive a funding boost from the government’s Creative and Cultural Events Incubator.

The Auckland Matariki Festival 2023, Doc Edge Life Unscripted Festival 2024, Golden Shears 2024 and the Kupu Festival 2023 are the recipients of the creative and cultural events incubator funding round.

The events will each receive the following funding amounts:                                                                                                                                       

Auckland Matariki 2023, $100,000

Doc Edge Life Unscripted Festival 2024, Auckland and Wellington, $100,000

Golden Shears 2024, Masterton, $50,000

Kupu Festival 2023, Rotorua, $100,000

The Golden Shears, the world's premier shearing and wool handling championship, takes place in Masterton, which has been home of Golden Shears since 1961.

Shearers came from all parts of the North and South Island to compete and show their talent and skills.

The competition was a huge success and organisers, Laurie Keats, Iain Douglas and Graham Buckley realised this new sporting spectacle was an untapped reservoir of unlimited bounds and talents.

Golden Shears was the agreed title and from this point in 1960, the world’s greatest shearing competition was conceived.

The inaugural Golden Shears of 1961 surpassed all expectations with crowds so great, the local Army was called upon to control crowds around the stadium.

Through the 1960s and 70s, before the impact of live sport on TV, the fascination and excitement of Golden Shears became a household name with seats booked 12 months in advance.

The competition between shearers was fierce and uncompromising. Many of our great champions 

Ivan Bowen, Snow Quinn, Roger Cox and Martin Ngataki to mention a few engraved their names in the record books. In the late 1970’s and early 80’s many minor shearing competitions sprang up throughout New Zealand.

Shearing had entered the world of professionalism. Major companies and businesses wanted to promote and sponsor this new physical and unorthodox sport.

Prize money for competitions became larger by the year, with many shearers adopting professional attitudes such as training programmes and fitness courses never heard of in the early days of the 1960’s.

For the voluntary organisers of Golden Shears, the rate of change was difficult to keep pace with. There were many rule changes, major sponsors were required, inter-challenge events between Australia and New Zealand were implemented and a World Shearing Championship held in 1980.

Golden Shears became more than just a simple shearing competition. It became a foundation, a centre point, and arena, where many constitutional meetings were held and our world champions were founded.

The 1996 world shearing and wool handling championships held in conjunction with the Golden Shears championships was described as one of the best shears in years.