Meet Kyarnie Gibbs, a remarkable 23-year-old Muruwari woman determined to make her mark in the wool industry

At 23, Kyarnie Gibbs is already making her mark at Macdonald & Co Woolbrokers in Dubbo.  On the cusp of attaining a woolclassing qualification at TAFE, this young Muruwari woman is seeking every opportunity to gain hands-on shed experience to round out her knowledge.

Luckily for Kyarnie, there’s help nearby — Don Macdonald, her employer and mentor, who strongly supports her goal to become a broker. “Don is waiting for me to get my stencil so I can get into the sheds,” Kyarnie says. “I’d like to travel as a broker and help people sell their wool. I’m looking at that rather than classing as I’m a people person. And long hours don’t bother me.”

Macdonald & Co Dubbo store manager Brett West says Kyarnie’s can-do attitude goes a long way. “And she’s good at everything. When we are flat out and we have a lot of shipping, Ky is a great help. And she is great on the core line. You don’t have to ask her to do anything: she does it. It’s done. She is proactive.”

That core line is the part of the warehouse where wool bales are mechanically sampled for lab testing. “My role is a bit of everything,” Kyarnie says, “but my main job is on the core line.”

Once the bales are weighed and grouped into sale lots, they’re tipped onto their sides and clamped into place while a metal tube is driven into each bale to collect wool from deep inside. These samples are sent to Sydney to be tested for fibre diameter (micron), yield (how much clean wool remains after grease and dirt are removed) and the amount of vegetable matter. “We take about three kilos across the lot, so buyers know exactly what they’re getting,” Kyarnie says.

Raised mostly on Wiradjuri land in Dubbo, she still lives with her mum, her grandmother and her eight-year-old sister, Myaree, in the western New South Wales town.

Currently recovering after snapping a collarbone playing rugby union for the Dubbo Roos, Kyarnie loves sport. “I caught the ball off a kickoff and ran straight. I was going down into the tackle and the other side’s prop came from behind, lifted my legs and dropped me.” Sport has always been a big part of her life: soccer since age seven, playing in defence for the local RSL 78’s team, as well as netball, touch footy and rep matches for Indigenous teams.

She started at Macdonald & Co in 2021 and left briefly, early in 2023, to study sports science at Macquarie University in Sydney. “I was so interested in how the human body works — injury and recovery — but it was such a change and half of it was online. I got overwhelmed and came home for Easter. I
decided to leave and managed to get my job back.”

Kyarnie’s family ties to wool go back to her Pop — her mum’s stepfather — who was a roving shearer at various points in his younger life. The trained accountant later returned to the family’s multigenerational sheep farm at Windermere, just north of Ballarat, Victoria.

She says her work ethic comes from watching her mum, Wanita Gibbs, rise to the challenge of single parenthood. “She worked hard,” Kyarnie says. Wanita has worked in domestic violence support, legal aid and now housing. “She helps Aboriginal people get housing, and she’s really good at it.” Kyarnie also
credits her Pop and her uncle Mitchell — her mum’s brother — for helping raise her. “He’s pretty much my second dad.”

She brushes off challenges, but notes the obvious. “It’s majority white men in the industry. Mostly I’m the youngest person and I’m like everyone’s daughter and get a lot of support.”

She’s seen women move up through the business and hopes to follow suit. “The women who became brokers were out on the store floor with me before,” she says. “Don trained them too.”

Kyarnie was caught by surprise when she was asked to be part of this photo shoot by Lee Davison, an Aboriginal photographer from Biripi Country on the mid-north coast of New South Wales near Port Macquarie. “I was the only pretty face,” she jokes. The photos mean more than she expected. “It is good to see myself recognised at work. Everyone’s calling me ‘supermodel’ now.”

Asked what she’d say to other young women thinking of entering the wool industry, she doesn’t hesitate. “Have a crack. Everyone wants to help you. They’re not going to laugh in your face. Work hard and you’ll get to where you want to be.”

And while she’s well on her way, don’t be thinking Kyarnie is a cardigan-carrying wool-wearing convert. “Not really,” she giggles. “I don’t think I own anything wool.”