Colin Say and Company celebrates 60 years in business.

In 1958, Colin and Nelmary Say purchased the one-man business in Glen Innes for a “few hundred pounds”, establishing the agency.

“My wife and I were only 24 and we were celebrating our second son and we thought we'd try the agency business,” Mr Say said.

“We were born in Emmaville and living at Inverell at the time, but we came to Glen Innes with no experience and very little money.

“But I'd had a fair bit of experience with stock all my life which gave me a bit of a background.”

It was a very small business focused on selling wool, with not many stock clients, but knowing the region paid off for the Says.

”Having been born not far from Glen Innes, I grew up knowing quite a lot of people in the district which helped,” Mr Say said.

Mrs Say’s support in raising their two young sons made the job easier, especially in the early years.

“I'd go out working all day, then come home and make the phone calls, and Nelmary was looking after our sons,” Mr Say said.

“I hadn't had any experience with auctioneering before buying the business, but I practised a lot while I was driving around.

“Once I got into the selling business I really enjoyed it.

“I had great relationships with clients and a lot of those clients are still clients of Colin Say and Company today.”

Mr Say retired from the agency game after 15 years, buying a property close to Glen Innes and focusing on his Yasloc Poll Dorset stud, which was established a few years earlier, while the family was living on a small block in town.

“When we sold the business we were still very young so I bought the farm here and went into breeding prime lambs,” he said.

“Our son Andrew now runs the stud and property, but we’re still living on the same place.”