The Jelbart name can be traced right back to the beginning of the association and features in the list of Past Presidents and Life Members. These flocks were all relatives of Ellis’ and demonstrates the presence of Jelbart’s in Polwarths in New South Wales at that time.
- Flock No. 6 belonging to Joseph F. Jelbart and Frank E. Jelbart from Stony Park East, Jindera, NSW established in 1917.
- Flock No. 15 registered to J. E. Jelbart from Stony Park West, Jindera, NSW in 1922.
- Flock No. 57, Rainbow at Pleasant Hills, NSW was established in 1926. This was Ellis’ family property purchased in early 1920’s by his grandfather, who was a doctor.
- Flock No. 88 was established in 1936 by William E. Jelbart of Truro, Henty, NSW.
- Flock No. 106 registered to Henry C. Jelbart of Elmslea, Burrumbuttock, NSW was established in 1937.
Ellis has lived all of his 76 years on Rainbow. When he was only five, Ellis’ father died from a brain tumour at the age of 36. Ellis’ mum carried on the farm with the help of a worker and share farmer who did the cropping.
After finishing school in Albury, Ellis attended the Yanco Research Station for 12 months where he completed Stage 1 in Wool Classing. He then completed Stage 2 in Wool Classing at Walbundrie Technical College which he attended one day a week. Incidentally, his mother had also completed her wool classing qualification at Walbundrie Technical College.
As a young fellow, Ellis was keener on the cropping side of the farm operation where they grew wheat, oats and much later Triticale and Canola. It took years, but eventually Ellis got sick of driving tractors and became more interested in the Polwarth sheep.
At the height of operations he ran 2000 ewes and also had a small herd of 80 Angus cows, although Ellis commented that it was not really cattle country.
Naturally, there were good and bad times. Ellis can remember selling lambs for only $7.35 each. On the other hand, he consistently sold a line of weaner ewes to repeat customers over the years.
In the years before wool was sold in Melbourne, it was sold in Albury where for 23 out of 26 years Rainbow’s Polwarth wool topped the market.
As well as cropping and sheep, Ellis also had an interest in tinkering with machinery. He invented the Jelbart Shifter Lifter Third Wheel System for grain augers to make them easier to manoeuvre around. Ellis won inventor of the year award at the Henty Machinery Field Days. He let the patent go in 1983 (after not making his fortune), however the invention is still acknowledged by Vennings of Kadina, SA who manufacture and distribute grain augers.
At the end of January this year, 100 plus years of Jelbart association with Polwarth sheep came to an end. Rainbow was sold and purchased by Ellis’ next door neighbour for cropping with the remaining sheep dispersed.
Although Ellis has a unit in Wagga which he purchased some 2-3 years ago, he has the option of staying on at Rainbow which he chooses to do at the moment.
When asked if he’d like to travel, Ellis replied that he’s keen to attend more field days and shows in his camper truck. He said with a chuckle, “going to field days will be much cheaper now because the machinery reps won’t be able to talk me into buying more machinery and equipment.” If you’d ever been to Ellis’ place you would understand what he means.
Thank you Ellis and the wider Jelbart family for your contribution to the Polwarth breed. We wish you good health and enjoyable activities in your retirement.
