As part of my job working with Elders I was called upon to keep in contact with graziers who farmed the far western section of New South Wales – Wool Statistical Districts N10 & N11. These two statistical areas cover a huge area, producing at least 14,000 bales of wool that would be sold through the Elders wool auction system in Melbourne.
My role was to visit these graziers to check that their wool account was well handled, that its proceeds were transferred on time and into the correct account. Other requirements of the woolgrowers were also catered for such as ram selection and additional sheep classing.
All of these tasks required time and organization.
My working at Elders coincided with one of the wool booms of the 1990’s in 1995. There was considerable competition between Wool Brokers so it would be a disaster for a wool company to lose contact with their regular clientele of woolgrowers, even though the Wool Broker may operate some hundreds of hours away.
In my role as the Melbourne Wool Manager it was worthwhile making a trip to visit wool growers which I did on a regular basis.
Most of the shearing was conducted during August, so it would be fortuitous to visit one month or six weeks before to keep the woolgrower in touch with market trends. If it was a busy season at the Wool store, such as during a dry winter, I would need to go as soon as possible.
The best way to travel to outback stations was by plane. This is where the ‘getting to work on time’ comes in!
Having arranged the plane ticket with the administrative department I would ask Carole if she would take me out to Tullamarine by 6 am so I could catch the 6.55 am to Mildura. It was a fantastic flight – although very noisy, it saved saved me time, taking only one hour, arriving in Mildura at 8 am. To travel the same distance by car would have taken me six hours!
The only negative aspect of the flight was that I needed one of the Elders Staff at either Mildura or Wentworth NSW to drive me from one property to assist woolgrowers to class their sheep and wool.
I would catch the 6.55 pm return flight on Friday afternoon, mission accomplished! Carole would be there to take me home.
Godfrey Marple
November 2016
My role was to visit these graziers to check that their wool account was well handled, that its proceeds were transferred on time and into the correct account. Other requirements of the woolgrowers were also catered for such as ram selection and additional sheep classing.
All of these tasks required time and organization.
My working at Elders coincided with one of the wool booms of the 1990’s in 1995. There was considerable competition between Wool Brokers so it would be a disaster for a wool company to lose contact with their regular clientele of woolgrowers, even though the Wool Broker may operate some hundreds of hours away.
In my role as the Melbourne Wool Manager it was worthwhile making a trip to visit wool growers which I did on a regular basis.
Most of the shearing was conducted during August, so it would be fortuitous to visit one month or six weeks before to keep the woolgrower in touch with market trends. If it was a busy season at the Wool store, such as during a dry winter, I would need to go as soon as possible.
The best way to travel to outback stations was by plane. This is where the ‘getting to work on time’ comes in!
Having arranged the plane ticket with the administrative department I would ask Carole if she would take me out to Tullamarine by 6 am so I could catch the 6.55 am to Mildura. It was a fantastic flight – although very noisy, it saved saved me time, taking only one hour, arriving in Mildura at 8 am. To travel the same distance by car would have taken me six hours!
The only negative aspect of the flight was that I needed one of the Elders Staff at either Mildura or Wentworth NSW to drive me from one property to assist woolgrowers to class their sheep and wool.
I would catch the 6.55 pm return flight on Friday afternoon, mission accomplished! Carole would be there to take me home.
Godfrey Marple
November 2016
RSS Feed
