Half-century milestone for McCarron Cullinane

In the fifty years since Brian Cullinane and his friend and mentor the late Ken McCarron founded the agency that still bears their names, much has changed in the industry, says Brian, but there is one main thing that remains just as important today as it was back then. Your good name must be reputable and totally reliable.

“We believe that you must make a good name for yourself and that was the basis on which our company was founded. I taught my children to always do what you say you will do and be punctual and reliable. Punctuality is very important to me.”

It was in 1961 that the then 23-year-old Brian arrived in Australia on a working holiday from New Zealand. Having had experience working in the property and stock trade in his homeland and armed with good references. he introduced himself to the big wool firms in Sydney. The manager of Dalgety’s obviously thought Brian may have a chance and he called Ken McCarron who was the Dalgety manager in Orange.

As there was no immediate position available in Orange for his first six months in Australia, Brian found himself managing a property out west at Collarenebri. A huge cultural shock, coming from ten sheep to the acre to one sheep to ten acres, and from lush green grass to having had no rain for two years!

“I was lucky to meet Ken,” said Brian. “Ken had commenced as an agent in 1948 and he took me under his wing. I moved through the ranks — becoming the auctioneer and then was appointed auctioneer/manager of Orange branch in 1968 when Ken was appointed regional manager.”

Four years later Brian was appointed regional manager for the Tamworth region.  As Brian was reluctant to leave Orange it was a ‘now or never’ decision for Ken and Brian to leave Dalgety to launch McCarron Cullinane.

“In our first cattle sale, we yarded in excess of 60 per cent of the cattle for the day. A tremendous start and our business, founded on honesty and reliability, went from strength to strength,” said Brian.

Brian mainly focussed on live-stock auctions while Ken pursued rural property sales. Ken loved selling property and was a master of this profession. So much so that in the early years McCarron Cullinane sold many renowned properties, setting new benchmark prices within the district. In later years records would prove Ken had sold some properties two or three times over the course of his career.

The move to decimal currency was a difficult time within the industry, particularly for older generation auctioneers. Then came the change to live-weight selling, to which the meat companies and buyers did not generally approve.

Brian remembers an instance while weighing cattle on a particularly wet day when a buyer objected, claiming the rain added weight to the cattle. However, live-weight selling was here to stay.

“Orange had established itself as a major cattle selling centre consequently we drew cattle from many parts of NSW and Queensland,” said Brian.

Ken loved horses; consequently, horse sales were some of his better days and he was always in his element.

 In one year, Brian remembers selling in the vicinity of 3,000 horses of all types — slow race horses, trotting horses, draught horses, ponies, donkeys, mules and even camels.

In 2002, Ken and Brian sold the business to Lindsay and Heather Fryer and Peter and Lucy Eggleston, Lindsay having already been with McCarron Cullinane for the past eleven years. In 2012 Peter and Lucy Eggleston sold their share to Darren and Vanessa Connick. In that same year, McCarron Cullinane opened a branch in Forbes, now trading as McCarron Cullinane Chudleigh, under the part ownership and guidance of Adam Chudleigh and Hugh Dobell.

At the present time, McCarron Cullinane is very involved in weekly sheep and cattle sales at both Carcoar and Forbes. Special store cattle sales at Carcoar have become a renowned source of quality store cattle – attracting buyers from a wide area, many from interstate.

Electronic selling is increasingly becoming a large part of livestock sales Australia-wide. Lindsay and particularly Darren are very much involved with electronic selling of both livestock and clearing sales.

Today the company is one of the few agencies able to claim to have a constant fifty years presence in Orange and McCarron Cullinane remains one of the most recognisable names in livestock and property sales in the Central West.

Brian said he is very proud to still be a part of the organisation, having started the company with his old mate Ken McCarron. Adding that it is fulfilling and gratifying to witness the progress and growth of this company.

“It would be wrong of me to start naming people but I would like to say that we had a lot of help and support along the way. We always did our best to present and sell our client’s stock. We thank our many loyal supporters, many of whom have been with us through the entire journey,” Brain said.

“A successful business requires good and reliable staff – which we achieved and express our sincere thanks to those many people.”

 Brian says he had the best partner possible in Ken McCarron, and he and Ken were always grateful and pay tribute to their very supportive wives, Robyn and Dorothy.

“An agent’s success in a busy business is very much dependent on a fully supportive family. We thank them all. Currently, my wife Pat is very much involved in assisting and supporting me in my continuing role within the company as a rural property sales consultant. Again I am grateful,” said Brian.

Brian is also appreciative that the McCarron Cullinane name is in such good hands as those of Lindsay and Heather Fryer and Darren and Vanessa Connick.

“ These four people have a wonderful partnership. They do it well and are recognised and highly respected both within the industry and by their large clientele,” he concluded.