Dwayne Peter Maurice Black

 Younger brother of Perry John William Black and Dion Neville Tai Black.
Proud parents, Peter and Christine Black.

Dwayne started school in Waipiata, Central Otago and between, Eketahuna   and Australia on correspondence. 
His father followed the shearing in different areas of New Zealand and Australia for better, longer runs of work.  Being home each night with his family was a priority.

The Black family settled in Esperance, Western Australia in 1979/80, drawn to the area by the consistent shearing available and the obvious opportunity for a healthy, active outdoor lifestyle.
Dwayne was a student councillor at Castletown primary school and also  secondary school and was deputy head boy at Esperance High School. 
He was drummer in a band and enjoyed many sports -  yachting, basketball, football, swimming, triathlons, tennis, motocross, BMX, fishing, scuba diving, surfing, water skiing. He was barefoot skiing at 8 years old.

Dwayne completed high school in Esperance, scoring over 370 in TEE and sat out a year working at wool pressing, a bit of learning to shear and doing what most people that age do socially. The following year he took on business and law studies at the University of Western Australia.
He found it different living on limited money and the information from the lectures did not impress him a lot.

When he went to a shearing course with his father - who by then had moved from full-time shearing to running shearer training for the Australian Wool Corp - and earned very good money in the first week shearing and decided to quit university and go shearing. 

Through his fathers contacts, his first shearing job away from his home area of Esperance was in the King Country of New Zealand with Edsel Forde, a top competition shearer and former world record holder. Also working for Edsel were Dion Morrell and Wayne Ingram, current and future world record holders.  Dwayne rates this experience as one of the most rewarding of his career and credits the early exposure to shearers of this calibre for his work ethic and humble, positive attitude today.

He has shorn around Australia, United Kingdom, and helped at Dion Morrell's world ewe record in 1995.
For several years he took on crayfishing as his main job out of Dongara, WA. He still shore in the off season August to October until the crayfish price dropped and he returned to shearing full time.

Dwayne with second Edsel Forde on his way to 570 merino lambs in 8 hours

 Dwayne and Kyle with Jett, Hamish, and Evie.
After having some trouble with tonsillitis Dwayne had his tonsils removed in May 2004 to ensure there would be no trouble during his record setting period over the next 2 years.
He does not have lots of competition experience and yet he won the WA Championship and represented WA in the Sports Shear National championships in 2003. He won the NSW Championship in 2007
Keen on being fit and on good diet and training, he is 6 foot 1 inch tall and 96 kgs. He is based in Dongara with wife Kyle, and three children  Evie, Hamish and Jett.  He also has a thirteen year old brother Koen Black, who is one of his most ardent supporters

Dwayne is also a talented drummer and played in a band in his younger days

Shearing records have many people involved with over 20 people in the Team before during and after the event. The Panizza family, Dick, Aubrey, Lisa and all the children have been such a help in organising and helping at whatever needs to be done. Their support has been imperative to the success of the records on their farm, and the smooth running of them.  There are also the crutchers, sheep drafters, and those who help on the days up to and after the event. Henderson Shearing's Team of Troy Stansbury, Gavin Mutch, Craig and Paula Anderson, Deb Chandler, Ariki Hawkins, Dion Black, Richard, Lachlan, David Bishop (UWA), Steve Osborne, Mike and Rachel Henderson, Gareth Michelle, Mark Bowsher, John Shorten, Kursha Warren, Darryl and Kerry Cole, Allen White, Noel and Debbie Lawrence of Topgun Shearing, Kenstan Bishop of Supershear, Edsel and Margaret Forde and the many others             World Shearing Records