If you have spent time on this website you more than likely have some interest in rural fences and/or wire strainers. So, you may be interested to know about Dr John Pickard's book "Australian Wire Strainers".
This is the first (and only) Australian guide to an essential fencing tool: the wire strainer. The book is comprehensive, lavishly illustrated and provides basic information on wire strainers exhibited, advertised, sold or manufactured in Australia from the first eye bolts and straining machines in the 1850s to the 2020s.
More than 270 strainers are listed from Acme Wire Strainer to Zim's Duplex Wire Strainer via the celebrated Donald, Hayes and Walker's strainers, and many others that flourished briefly but fell by the wayside.
This encyclopaedic book is an essential reference for collectors of Australian rural tools, curators of local museums, farmers, local historians, historians of land settlement, agriculture and technological development, and heritage professionals.
You can buy a copy from the website Australian Fence Publishing
https://www.australianfencepublishing.com.au
Wireman would like to say a collective thank you to John and express our tremendous appreciation for his help and advice over the last couple of years. His knowledge of fencing and its associated tools and their manufacture, along with the insights he has provided on its impact on the Australian landscape and the culture of this country has been a revelation and resource we feel lucky to have had.
Thanks John,
Ian Lowrey