The Country 15/08/25: Philippa Wright talks to Jamie Mackay

A queen of the Hawke’s Bay wool industry has sold her wool business in Waipukurau and is retiring after almost 50 years in the industry. Today, she looks back on 48 years working with wool and forward to a positive future for strong wool. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I read a really interesting story on the Herald Online yesterday.
I think it may have originated from our paper in
the hawks Bay region, hawks Bay Today, and the title said,
or the story said, a queen of the hawks Bay
wool industry, Philippa Wright has sold her business in White
Pickero and is retiring after almost fifty years in the industry.

(00:24):
And I thought, Philippa, that's worth a bit of a
yarn in a past life. Apparently you weren't the queen
of wool. You were the dag Queen.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yes, I know. I'm quite pleased with the raising of
the bar there. We we started a dag crushing industry
in White Poke some years ago and I got that
title of the dare Queen, which went down rather well
with the locals.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
So how did you get into the wall industry there
on forty eight years ago? We don't want to age
you too much, Philippa.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
I star in the wallsheds in the Mackenzie Country. My
father was a wall buyer and a shed classer. So
after I came back from a NAHS scholarship in America,
I had a bit of time to fill in, so
he put me straight in the sheds and I started

(01:19):
year started there, I spent probably eighteen months working around
that area. In the meantime, I had gone up to
Massi and done a wall diploma because I figured out
that if I did this war course, I could actually
earn much more money classing and perhaps carry on traveling
for the rest of my life.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
So in nearly fifty years in the wall industry, Philip Arright,
you've ridden the highs and no doubt endured the lows
or the troughs. I mean we're in a trough now.
There's no sugar coating this. And I think back to
the nineteen eighties I was a young farmer. Wall made
up two thirds of my income. My health. How the
worm has.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
Turned, it has. It's been an up and down journey
and it's continuing to be so. And I can remember,
like even my dad going through some pretty bad years
in his time as well. There were ups and downs then,
and so I don't think it's ever really changed. I mean,
we're still a commodity. We're still selling a commodity, and

(02:21):
until we find ways to develop products with a higher
value so that we can better reward our growers, I
think we're going to struggle for a wee while, but
I do believe that that is going to happen. And
that's another reason. That's one of the reasons why I
have chosen to move aside now, because I think those
young people need to be let in, They need to

(02:43):
come in. They think differently, they behave differently, they understand
technology differently, and their minds will take it to a
different level, which I just don't think that we're we're
able to anymore.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
Well, I think you're underselling yourself there, Philip. Look what
we and this is my take on it is another
mainstream use for strong crossbread wall other than carpets. We
haven't found that.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
Yet, No, no, And we need carpets. We need carpets
because it uses such a bulk, you know, it uses
a lot of wool, and we do produce still, even
though we've only got twenty three million sheep or so,
we still produce a lot of good quality wool that
is excellent for carpets and rugs and blankets and those
stronger type products. But we somehow have to develop a

(03:34):
way to convince the consumer of the value of putting
a carpet in the home or using insulation in the
home and it's really tough. I mean, if there was
an answer, We've been working on this for years and
years and there really hasn't been anything that different. Even

(03:56):
in the last ten years. There's lots of people coming
up with new ideas, but it's basically the same kind
of end product.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
Just to finish on very quickly. You're stepping aside. You've
sold your wall business, but you are going to remain
a board member for the Campaign for Wool.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
Yes, yes, I believe strongly in what the Campaign for
War has done over the last fifteen years. And we
are advocating the wall attributes and we're trying to educate.
We're educating a generation that we've missed several generations in between,
and I think that happened with the demise of the

(04:34):
Wall board. But aside from that, we need to keep
the conversation going and I think in the last few
years a campaign has done a fantastic job of just
re igniting the interest in wall. We hear it in
the media, now we hear it from the towns. People
are starting to understand their value. So we have to

(04:55):
keep working on that. That is the slow road, but
I believe it's a really necessary Road.

Speaker 1 (05:02):
Philip Alright, the Queen of the Hawk's Bay wool industry,
the artist formerly known as the Dad Queen. Are great
to catch up on the country. Good luck in your
semi retirement.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
Okay, thank you. Jonie