science

Jackie Howe

Jackie Howe is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Jackie Howe rather than just read about it. In short: John Robert Howe (10 July 1861 – 21 July 1920) was a legendary Australian sheep shearer at the end of the 19th century. He shot to fame in pre-Federation Australia in 1892 when he broke the daily and weekly shearing records across the colonies.

Key takeaways

Jackie Howe belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Jackie Howe to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Jackie Howe from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

John Robert Howe (10 July 1861 – 21 July 1920) was a legendary Australian sheep shearer at the end of the 19th century. He shot to fame in pre-Federation Australia in 1892 when he broke the daily and weekly shearing records across the colonies. Howe was considered one of the three wonders of Queensland, along with Eulo publican and personality Isabel Gray (c. 1851–1929), and the cook and Barcaldine hotelier Jimmy Ah Foo.

Life

Howe was born at Killarney near Warwick, Queensland. Jackie Howe's father, Jack Howe, was also a shearer and a clown with La Rosier's circus, claiming to be the first clown to travel the Australian colonies, and was town-crier in Warwick. His mother, Miss Stokes, was a lady's companion in 1840 at Canning Downs station and one of the first European women in the area, before marrying a second time to Jack Howe senior. He grew up as a shearer around Warwick and the Darling Downs, before a short time at Tambo, trying gold prospecting. It was there that he commenced professional shearing. Howe was active during the shearer strikes of the 1891 and 1894, and was a committed trade unionist. Later on Howe owned a public hotel, The Barcoo Hotel, in Blackall, Queensland. There is now a statue there of him holding a sheep. He also at one time was a licensee of the Universal Hotel. However publican life was not for him, and he went onto purchase the property Shamrock Park, and then Summervale. After an extended illness, Howe died at Blackall in July 1920, leaving behind a widow, six sons, and two daughters. After Howe's death, friend Queensland Premier T. J. Ryan said, in a telegram to Howe's widow, "I have lost a true and trusted friend and Labor has lost a champion". One son was John Henry Howe, but also known as Jack Howe. He started as a chemist, but also went into shearing, and wrote a book on his father. He later became a publican. Another son, Leslie John Howe got married in March 1925. The second son, Darsey John Howe, wed in September 1927.

Shearing record Howe was described as being "one of the best physically built men in Australia". Weighing about 14 stone (200 lb; 89 kg), he measured 47.5 inches (1,210 mm) around the chest and 26 inches (660 mm) around the thigh. On 10 October 1892, Howe had shorn 321 sheep in seven hours and 40 minutes at Alice Downs station, near Blackall, Queensland. This was a faster tally than any other shearer had achieved before. In the week beforehand, Howe also set the weekly record, shearing 1,437 sheep in 44 hours and 30 minutes. Howe's daily record was beaten by Ted Reick in 1950, but Reick was using machine shears, while Howe's hand shears were little more than scissors.

Legacy Jackie Howe is depicted by a bronze statue in Blackall. After his death in 1920, a poem was penned in 1940 in his honour, as King of the shearers. In October 2015, Howe's record was reported as still unbeaten after 123 years. Howe became the name given to navy blue singlet tops. According to legend, this is what Howe was wearing on the day he broke the shearing record. It has also been indicated in a woolshed, a big shearer took his shirt and snipped off the sleeves with a pair of shears, saying "I'll make a Jackie Howe of it", with the name associated since.

References

Sources MacDougall, A. K., (2005), An Anthology of Classic Australian Folklore.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Jackie Howe

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Jackie Howe claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Jackie Howe before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Jackie Howe ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Jackie Howe

In research: Jackie Howe appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Jackie Howe in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Jackie Howe is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1861 births, 1920 deaths, Colony of Queensland people, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Jackie Howe outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Jackie Howe in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Jackie Howe means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Jackie Howe out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Jackie Howe in simple terms?

Why does Jackie Howe matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Jackie Howe?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Jackie Howe.