SA sheep shearer Dillon Schmaal remembered by loving family
A South Australian sheep shearer and father-of-five has been remembered by his loving wife as an amazing father after he lost a lifelong battle.
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Shearer Dillon Schmaal would always ask his wife why she took so many photos.
Now, Louisa Schmaal is grateful for each and every one.
“When that’s all you’ve got left, they’re very special,” the 26-year-old told The Advertiser.
On January 19, Ms Schmaal’s husband lost his battle with depression, after a long fight.
“I’m forever grateful that we did take so many photos of him and the kids and all of us, we have some incredible memories together,” she said.
Ms Schmaal called the loving father-of-five and dedicated shearer her “soulmate”
“We always used to drive along and we’d say the exact same thing at the exact same time,” the 26-year-old said.
“We’d just look at each other and laugh, we were so in sync like that, it was quite crazy.
“I don’t think you find that very often.”
The pair met while working on a station together eight years ago in Western Australia — he was on the crutching trailer and she was a station hand.
They moved to Arno Bay in South Australia together and share three children — Oakley, Hunter and Tully — Dillon has two children from a previous relationship Haley and Beau.
“He was a really good dad,” Ms Schmaal said.
“Every morning the first thing (the kids) would say is ‘what time is daddy going to finish work?’ … they would be in the doorway for him when they got home.”
The pair took their sheep shearing business, Arno Bay Shearing, on the road full time in May last year.
“We sold our house in Cleve and decided to move full time into our caravan and travel to shear,” Ms Schmaal said.
“We wanted to do more travelling while the kids were young.”
Dillon loved fishing and golf but nothing more than his family and friends.
He was extremely close with his brother Shaun Schmaal and his parents Alice and Brenton Schmaal.
Since Dillon lost his grandparents, who he was extremely close with, at a young age, he struggled with his mental health.
“He tried really hard to get help and move forward and release some of the stresses in his life, but unfortunately it was something that he battled his whole life,” she said.
“He just always put everyone else before himself.
“He took everyone else’s problems in and made them better … he wore the weight of the world on his own shoulders.”
Ms Schmaal said access to mental healthcare in rural communities is “almost impossible”.
Ms Schmaal said her husband “touched the hearts of hundreds people”.
“He just bought the best out of everyone, that was his goal in life,” she said.
She called him an amazing dad and a fun uncle.
“He never skimped on anything,” she said.
“If you wanted a block of chocolate, he’d buy six, you wanted a packet of lollies, he’d come back with 10 different packets, that’s just the kind of person he was.”
He was born on April 12, 1984 and he died on January 19, 2025. He was 40.
He is survived by his wife, Louisa Schmaal, his children, Haley, Beau, Oakley, Hunter and Tully, his brother Shaun Schmaal, his parents Alice and Brenton Schmaal, his three nieces and his nephew.
If you’d like to donate to his family, you can here.
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