The wool classing table, hand-made from Australian hardwood, was felled and built by hand on a family farm in the Parkes region about 100 years ago.

It was used on an active sheep farm for over 70 years, before being converted into a large family dining table with a glass top in the early 1990s.

It was then languishing in the shed of a family descendant, Amber Barber for many years.

Library manager Erin Williams said the table now has a home in the library, courtesy of Ms Barber, who is a casual library assistant. It is now a reading and research table in the Local Studies area.

“The table weighs nearly 300kg and is over 3m long, so it was a huge effort from the team at Pollards Removals to get it in through the doors of the library,” Ms Williams said. 

“If you look closely you can still see the wonderful history of this table – the scratches, dents, and repairs from its time in the woolshed.

“There are also layers of lanolin from the million or so fleeces thrown on it over the last 100 years.

“Goulburn Mulwaree Library is thrilled to be able to provide a home to this special piece of Australian history.”

Owner of the table Amber Barber said it came from her family’s property called Emrose at Baldry, out near Parkes.

“This was my family’s property going back a couple of generations,” Ms Barber said. 

“My Grandfather Ray Barber remembered the table being made when he was young - and he was born in 1915. 

“It was used on the property until the late 1990’s and then they got a lighter one to use, so I took it in about 2012 because it was going to get sold off. I brought it to Goulburn when I came here. It is on a long-term loan to the library to make it easier.

“It was for skirting the fleece, so the table had to be a bit higher and the pine bars on the side were added to it by my father, Lawrence, as the sheep got bigger through breeding. We mainly ran merinos and cross-breeds on the property.”