Vale
James Shepherd AO
Merino visionary
sparked a revolution
James (Jim) Shepherd AO was a visionary
Merino breeder who, in the 1960s,
challenged long held traditions by integrating
measurement of fleeces and revolutionary
methods of breeding, and became the
founder of the Australian Merino Society
(AMS). He was one of the first farmers in
Australia to use these new scientific concepts
of breeding and the most successful at the
time in doing so on a large scale.
Jim was born in York in 1927 and moved
with his family to “Mulureen” near Kwolyin
in 1936. He spent most of his school days at
Guildford Grammar School and it was there,
when the School was evacuated to Pinjarra
in early 1942, that he contracted polio in his
left lower leg, leaving him with no movement
at all in that leg. It was only through his own
great determination and the dedicated help
for nearly a year, every day after school of
his then Headmaster Bishop Freeth, that he
regained the use of his leg and was able to
resume playing football. In 1946, Jim was
elected Captain of the School and was in the
rowing and shooting teams.
After leaving Guildford Grammar School,
he then spent two years at the University
of Western Australia, studyin