up – there were only six children and a single bus at what was New South Wales’ smallest school at that time. When Joe was about ten, he moved to Walcha after Maurice remarried, onto the property Shalimar, which was the home of Shalimar Park Merinos. Joe left school at 15 to work full-time on the family farm, where his passion for Merino sheep was cultivated. He was a bit of a character growing up and while the farm always came first, he did love going fishing with his mates, attending bachelor and spinster balls and was known to occasionally climb up onto the roof of the Newie. With Maurice and Joe both working on the farm and helped by the sale of “Wirchillaba”, the family expanded their Walcha and Uralla properties from the original “Shalimar” of approximately 1500 acres to about 18,000 acres before Maurice’s death in 2017. When Joe was a child and until his early 20s, the family mainly ran Merino sheep but over the years the sheep numbers dropped and cattle became the main enterprise. Even though the commercial sheep numbers dropped, Joe was still heavily involved in the stud and really enjoyed showing sheep. Some of the highlights included winning Supreme Exhibit of the Sydney Show in 2012 with his ram and judging at the Dubbo National Merino Show in 2016. From 2012 to 2014, Joe was the president of the New England Merino Field Days and also did a stint as president in 2018 of the Armidale Northern Merino Ram Breeders’ Association where, for a number of years, he also helped organise the junior judging competition. In 2000, Joe married Stephanie Howlett, a local journalist, and in 2003 Hain was born – Joe’s mini me – and in 2007 Abigail came along and was definitely dad’s little girl. Joe worked a lot and didn’t have a huge amount of time when the children were babies, but once the kids were big enough to go out on the farm, he loved taking them along and putting them to work. Hain and Abi will attest their dad was notorious for getting bogged, it didn’t matter what paddock, if there was a wet spot he managed to find it. This, on many occasions, resulted in a long walk back to a tractor or somewhere with phone service. Joe was also – at times – very brief with instructions, which used to lead to some interesting situations, particularly if you couldn’t keep up after being told to “follow me”. After Maurice’s death and then the horrendous drought in 2018 to 2019, Joe split out of the family enterprise – without a single Merino but with the Shalimar White Suffolk stud he started in 2016 – and kept doing what he knew and loved. In 2022, he bought some ewes from Miramoona, Walcha, and ewes and rams from Nerstane Merinos, Woolbrook, and Alfoxton Merino Stud, Armidale, and founded his own stud, Windee Poll Merinos. While he didn’t have the time to do much with the new stud, he had hoped Hain and Abi would be as keen as he used to be and get involved in breeding and showing. He was always a man of his word and cultivated great working relationships with everyone he came in contact with though his farming business. He was also ridiculously proud of his children. A particularly proud moment for Joe was in 2021 at the Armidale Ram Show and Sale when Hain and Abi were junior and senior champions of the Merino junior judging competition. He was thrilled to see their passion and knowledge for the breed. Joe also quietly and consistently performed small acts of kindness, from cutting firewood for elderly neighbours to providing firewood for community and school raffles, donating sand for the pony club to growing tonnes of pumpkins for the local food bank. Rest in peace Joe – a great father, husband and farmer – you will live on in our memories. Written by Stephanie van Eyk. Photo captions. 1– Joe with his family, (L–R) Abigail, Stephanie and Hain, checking out the wool at the 2025 Sydney Royal Easter Show. 2– Joe van Eyk (left) judging at the Dubbo National Merino Show 2016 which was won by Peter Lette, Conrayn Merinos. 1– 2– – 63 –
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