Tucked deep in the Southern Alps high country, Mt White is part of the network of ZQ Certified Merino growers — a collective we’ve partnered with for years to source the finest New Zealand wool for our ZQRX collection. Earlier this year, we were introduced to the team at Mt White Station, marking the beginning of a multi-year partnership built on something we hold close: a commitment to the people, the place, and the process behind every fibre we use.
The Muster at Mt White: A Journal from the High Country
There are places in New Zealand where the land still sets the pace. Where the day begins long before the sun crests the ridgeline, and the only soundtrack is the soft thud of hooves, the whistle of a shepherd, and the wind moving through tussock. Mt White Station is one of them.
We travelled to Mt White Station recently to shoot our winter campaign, but what unfolded was something far greater than a backdrop. We gained a window into the life of the station — a rare glimpse of the annual muster, where the wethers are gathered across 40,000 hectares of high-country Southern Alps terrain and brought home to the iconic Mt White Station woolshed.
Navigated on horseback and on foot, the shepherds move through country shaped by ancient glaciers — across ridge lines, down gullies, through rivers, and along the open flats of the terraces. Nights are spent in basic back-country huts, think a tin roof, a wood stove, couple of
bunks and a view that needs no curtains.
The days begin at 4am and stretch well into the evening. Each shepherd rides out with a crew of seven working dogs and a horse beneath them — a partnership honed over years, where a glance, a whistle, or a low command is enough. Together they coax the mob forward, mile after mile, towards the holding pens that mark the end of each day’s ground. It is slow, deliberate work. The kind that can’t be rushed, automated, or shortcut. The kind that has been done much the same way for over a century.
The landscape at Mt White Station is rugged, raw, and quietly beautiful — a striking contrast to the refined finish of the garments that eventually carry its wool. And yet, that’s precisely the point. Every metre of cloth begins here: in the hands of the shepherds, shearers, and shed hands; in the instincts of the dogs, the patience of the horses, and the resilience of the wethers that call this country home.
When you wear a Barkers Merino piece this season, there’s a story stitched into it — one that begins at 4am on a frost-bitten ridge, and ends in the quiet craftsmanship of a garment built to last. This is the work behind ZQ-certified merino wool. And this is only the beginning of our story with Mt White Station.
Blog posts
The Muster at Mt White: A Journal from the High Country
We travelled to Mt White Station recently to shoot our winter campaign, but what unfolded was something far greater than a backdrop. We gained a window into the life of the station — a rare glimpse...
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