Auctioneers in national lens | ALPA Young Auctioneers Competition

They are the 16 young auctioneers who graduated from state finals in NSW, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and West Australia during the past two years and now advance to a national showdown.

Australian Livestock and Property Agents chief executive Peter Baldwin admits the competition summit has been a long time coming. He said it was "always ALPA's intention" to stage the national finals but there were unavoidable interventions courtesy of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

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Like Mr Baldwin, the assorted competitors, each of whom are aged 25 years or under, are anxious for the action to get under way.

They are eager to test themselves in the boiler-room of a live auction when the industry's eyes will be wide and open.

They know it will be different to customary selling activities and there will be fun. But there will be business, too. Serious selling business where they hope to draw the ultimate accolade and be crowned the best young auctioneer in the nation.

Some are nervous, some are taking it all in their stride and others are simply counting down the days.

But each of the 16 are thrilled and excited by the opportunity ahead and ready to take every advantage the historic competition presents, not the least is exposure on the biggest of stages.

And that might make the trip back home, whether it's near or far, just a bit sweeter

AN INTRODUCTION via school has, in one way or another, led Cooper on a wonderful journey, as he puts it.

He's itching for the moment to test himself in the competition, which is a long way from his days at Red Bend Catholic College in Forbes, which gave him an early taste of the cattle industry.

"I always had an interest in agriculture and at school I joined the cattle team and went from there," he said. "As time went on I liked it more and more and in Year 10 I had the chance to do work experience at Langlands Hanlon. Then in Year 11 and 12, I was doing a day a week for them and when I finished school they offered me a job."

A stock and station agent since 2014 and on the auctioneer's podium for at least three years, he said watching and learning from other auctioneers was paramount and he still marvels at the opportunities ahead.

"I never thought I would be good enough to stand up at the state championships but I am over the moon."

Angus claimed the NSW Young Auctioneers title in his first attempt in 2019.

Despite his long wait for a crack at the national competition, the Davidson Cameron and Company agent has been honing his skills as much as possible.

"This will be a whole new level but I am going to give it a red hot go," he said.

"It's like a grand final in footy; once you kick-off you don't know what might happen.

"I have been picking the brains of some of the best in the business and these people have been a massive help."

Angus cut his agricultural teeth on the family property, though he had always appreciated the stock and agency side of the industry and remembers plotting his career path while at school.

BEN will look to take every possible advantage presented by his appearance in the final - win, lose or draw.

He knows he'll meet other young auctioneers but hopes it might also help raise his profile and confidence.

"The competition will be good and I am looking forward to it but I won't be doing anything special beforehand to get myself ready," he said. "I won't change a thing. I won't look too deeply into it but I will relax and I hope to get more contacts in the industry."

With six years selling behind him he is thrilled to be following a boyhood passion.

"I always wanted to have a go at becoming an agent. I had a yarn to Ben Lehman and got into it," he explained.

"My dad (Pat McMahon) is a cattle buyer in Queensland and I've always been around saleyards and been interested in the agency side of the business."

He holds qualifications with AuctionsPlus Assessors (sheep and cattle).

IT ALL started for Sam when he was 12, helping out in the yard with Kevin Miller as they drafted cattle.

Fast forward 11 years and the partnership is stronger than ever with Sam selling sheep and cattle for the company each Monday and Tuesday. More importantly, his joy for the job has never waned, nor his eagerness to improve and do the best for clients.

"Since I was a kid I have always wanted to be an agent and early on I was working every Sunday in the yards and then I got a traineeship through school and that meant working Tuesday and when I was 15 I left school and started working full-time," he said.

Sam's looking ahead to the finals with a sense of nervous excitement after finishing as runner-up in the NSW leg of the competition.

"Sydney could be good for my confidence. That's what I got out of the State one. They're always doing something different," he said.

JACK is your half glass full sort of guy, always positive despite setbacks.

He thinks more of the producers battling the drought then he does of auctioneering opportunities denied him because of the seemingly endless dry.

A runner-up to Liam Kirkwood in the Queensland final in 2019, Jack regards his Brisbane placing as an advantage.

"You always like to do better but coming runner-up was an absolute privilege and it's also an advantage in a way that you know you're not perfect and that you have to improve and therefore you have a lot to work on," he said.

"A lot of people have helped me on the way through but I guess it all started with my best mate Darcy Argue.

"His dad Ian runs Kempsey Stock and Land and they got me really interested. I wanted to be Ian Argue because he's a wonderful man and good at his job."

"OVER the moon" was Brodie's quick summation of his feelings when he learned he'd be part of the Australian Livestock and Property Agents Association competition.

Keen to test his mettle, Brodie was happy to enter the regional finals and planned to do his best. But he never really gave himself a serious chance of winning through to the Queensland final held at Silverdale

"I don't get ahead of myself and thought it would be tough - and it was and now onto the next stage," he said.

"I was completely stoked to win. I didn't think it would ever happen. This is my second turn and obviously I hoped to win, but I never expect it."

Raised on a property in the Toogoolawah district, Brodie started as an agent about five years ago and deals with clients in the Injune district.

Away from work he plays rugby with the Roma Echidnas, spends time with mates and camp drafting.

NINETEEN months ago Liam added his own chapter to the stories of success arising from the Queensland slice of the Young Auctioneers Competition.

He proved best in a field of 10 in a keenly contested competition final held at the Ekka and could not credit his good fortune, coming as it did soon after he took control of the Townsville operation previously run by his good friend and mentor Kevin Currie.

"I was just so glad to be selected as one of the top 10 and I was lucky enough to get the win," Liam said.

"I need to congratulate all the others - they did a magnificent job."

Liam's win continued an amazing sequence for North Queensland auctioneers, coming nine years after Brad Passfield, Queensland Rural Mareeba, won.

Liam holds a Chattel Auctioneers licence, Real Estate Property Agents licence and is also the licensee of Ray White Rural Townsville.

JUSTIN, a relative youngster in the field, is finding dreams come true.

As he poured over schoolbooks in the classroom as a slightly younger man, he thought long and hard about how good it might be if he were involved in the stock and station side of the agricultural sector.

Now he knows, and he's loving every minute of his role.

He holds a Chattels Auctioneers licence and sells each week at the Central Queensland Livestock Exchange in Gracemere and also at Miriam Vale once a month.

"All I ever wanted was to be get into the stock and station side of things and I was lucky enough to get a job chasing cattle on a station in central Queensland first off and then I got my dream job just six months out of school," he said.

He enjoys marketing livestock, fostering relationships with clients, fishing, crabbing and a round of golf.

TOM is one of the younger contestants hoping to lift the National Young Auctioneers Competition title.

But don't underestimate his chances considering the wise counsel afforded him during the past few years coupled with his willingness to learn, engage and improve.

Coming from a family of cattle producers, Tom has hands-on experience with livestock but admits the stock agency business is a different bag altogether and thanks his links with Peter Dargan for an informative grounding.

"When I was about 15 I did a couple of days each week with our stock agent Peter Dargan and he said when I finished school I should work with him," he said.

"So I do and he has been an enormous influence and guide. I look at the way a lot of auctioneers do what they do but especially Peter who got me into it all. Sydney will be another level."

He has a Stock and Station Agent's licence and also has Real Estate and Livestock accreditation.

JACK, an impressive winner on debut in the state competition, appears to have his future mapped. He is in raptures with the auctioneering and stock agency business, an association forged through family and affinity.

"You could say I followed in my dad's footsteps," he said matter-of-factly. "My father has worked in the same industry for about 40 years and every school holiday I went around with him and sort of grew up in this side of the ag business, knowing what the job was.

"I got out of school and straight into this and it's great."

Jack has sold cattle at Leongatha for less than six months but "enjoys getting up on the rail" and studies the selling techniques of other auctioneers and refines his own. I have been working for just over five years and never really thought about auctioneering but since the stick was put in my hand one day I've been hooked."

SELF-assessment is a critical element in Josh's development as an auctioneer.

He is excited to be on the cusp of his second consecutive appearance at the national titles and believes the 2019 experience will hold him in good stead.

He says he learned a considerable amount from his first outing and has worked tirelessly to sharpen his skill set.

"Having been to the nationals once, I know what to expect in terms of pressure and what is needed in performance. Every time I sell I try to do better and I look for those little things I could have done better," he said.

Josh enjoys the job even more than he did on day one and traces his love for the livestock and agency industry to his forebears.

"My grandfather founded a business in Warrnambool that was later acquired by Ruralco Rodwells and it's been a dream," he said.

TO SAY Will has "done a bit" ahead of the finals is playing with understatement.

Will has already spent seven years on the shearing circuit in Victoria and SA and nowadays has a regular Wednesday gig selling sheep at Horsham RLX and the lamb run when needed.

Will was born to a grain growing family and his grandfather was a sheep man through and through. He has a few hundred hectares and runs his own Border Leicester Stud and grows a bit of grain as well.

"I left school when I was 16 and went shearing. I learned to shear when I was 13 and I found I was learning more and earning more in the shearing shed than I was at school," he said.

"I got approached to take this job and I started thinking it might be better to work with my brain and not my back and jumped on board. I have been doing it for three years and absolutely love it."

INEXPERIENCE selling cattle has not stopped Wade in the past and it won't be an issue when he gets to Sydney.

More often than not sheep have been on the other side of his gavel but he was still good enough to take the runner-up spot in the SA championship which gave him his ticket east.

"To be honest I was pretty nervous at the state competition because I haven't had much experience selling cattle," he said.

"I usually sell sheep over at Horsham.

In the past few months he has been selling cattle every second Wednesday at Mount Compass as well as fulfilling sheep selling duties in regional Victoria.

"I have been practising and I have spoken to some people who have been over to the Sydney competition before and their advice has settled me a bit," he said.

Wade worked for Teys Brothers in Naracoorte before securing a traineeship with Elders.

BEN holds a Cert IV in Agriculture and AuctionsPlus accreditation for sheep and cattle but wants to add to his resume through his chance at the finals.

"I would like to pick up some new skills that I can bring back here to the south-east and hopefully I can meet new people as well," he said.

"I haven't been over that way so I am really looking forward to Sydney and I feel very privileged to be able to represent my company."

Ben wanted to be an agent after chatting with a family contact, who served the Gregory's small Angus enterprise in the Adelaide Hills.

"When I left high school I got a job in the industry almost straight away and 12 months later I was working for Elders and haven't left," he added.

He sells at the weekly prime sheep and cattle markets and monthly store sale in Mount Gambier and likes meeting people, visits various locations and strives for optimum results for clients.

JOSH can probably thank some most unlikely bedfellows for his rise as a young auctioneer of prominence.

Josh was in the early years of a boilermaker's apprenticeship when fire swept through a mate's cattle property and he went to help.

He stayed for 12 months and, bitten by the agriculture bug, he accepted a traineeship with Elders where he has put a keen edge to his auctioneering courtesy of guidance from Ronnie Dix and Tom Dennis.

He is a regular face at weekly prime sales and monthly store cattle sales in Naracoorte and has AuctionsPlus accreditation and a Cert IV in agriculture.

"There's no background for me in this business. My dad works in the mines in WA and mum is in aged care," he said.

He will be better prepared for the national finals after competing in 2019 when, in his words, he produced one of his stronger performances.

SWITCHING career paths is nothing new but the issue for James is different, to say the least.

James was facing his first university exams in health science when he asked a friend if her father, who worked in the livestock industry, was ever in need of a staffer to keep him in mind.

"I got a call that night," he said.

"I was over the studies. I didn't last a semester and I jumped at this chance that was being offered.

"My family are involved in cropping and livestock in WA and I really enjoy this business. It's a lifestyle and I don't see it as work when you enjoy it as much as I do.

"It's not a 9 to 5 job. You're not in an office looking at a screen. You are outside, travelling and engaging with people and working with livestock."

James said his selection for the nationals was as an "exciting moment" and is delighted to represent his employers.

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