After 50 years, it’s time to take stock

By Peter Sweeney
He wouldn’t know it but the often rebellious and always outspoken businessman John Elliott was behind the reason for one of the country’s busiest and most respected stock and station agencies being founded nearly three decades ago.
When Mr Elliott was the boss of Elders, his company took control of the then Dennys Strachan Mercantile (originally Dennys Lascelles) in 1983. But many farmers in Gippsland spoke out against it.
“We don’t want to deal with Elders,” was their loud and clear message.
Fish Creek’s Michael Stevens had open ears. So, too, did Bill Egan and Bill Sweeney at Leongatha and when Terry Johnston, who was managing Dalgety’s at Leongatha, got wind of a move, the group had merit, and muscle, in regards to founding a stock and station company.
But conceiving the idea was the easiest part of the equation. Coming up with the necessary collateral was the major hurdle.
After many hits and much heartache, the men were introduced to a suburban solicitor who was able to arrange a deal with the National Bank. Not long after Stevens, Egan and Johnston was formed.
Today, it has 27 full or part-time staff, 17 cars on the road and offices at Leongatha, Foster, Warragul and at the Pakenham livestock markets. So strong has it become, that the Tasmanian-based Roberts Real Estate bought into SEJ years ago.
“They (Roberts) are trading in their own entity – and that has been one of the strengths of our company in that whenever we have sold shares or a part of the business, the buyers have continued in their own entity,” Michael Stevens said.
Mr Stevens has just finished in a permanent role with SEJ after 50 years as a stock and station agent.
His career started in Melbourne in 1959 (see accompanying story), when he joined the then Gippsland & Northern.
After roles as an “office boy” in the heart of the city and at the legendary Newmarket in Ascot Vale, Mr Stevens took to the road.
“I went to many of the (G&N) outlying branches at places like Orbost, Kyabram and Albury as a kid, carrying an adding machine and doing audits,” Mr Stevens recalled.
However, it was in the early 1960s in Dandenong that his career got a kick along.
One day he was readying himself to work as a clerk at the weekly pig and calf sale when his auctioneer boss asked him to pass over “the book”.
“Why do you want it?” a young Stevens inquired of Jack McDonald.
“Because you are selling today,” was the answer.
At the end of the decade in which he was attracted to auctioneering, Mr Stevens’ attention was grabbed by an advertisement in a rural newspaper.
The agricultural chemical company, Bayer, was seeking a Hamilton-based sales representative. On offer was $6000 more than Mr Stevens was on at G&N – and a Ford Falcon station wagon, rather than the secondhand Holden he was driving.
“You don’t need that job. You’ve got a good one and you are auctioneering,” Ken Stevens tried to advise his son.
But Michael Stevens pushed on with his plan. He got the job, but left a year later.
“It was dealing with the squatters of the Western district and it wasn’t really me,” Michael Stevens said.
“However, it was good professionally, because there were a lot of meetings and conferences and it was a good experience.”
Michael Stevens returned to Gippsland, where he drove a pet food truck for a mate of his. Again, it was to be another 12-month job, before another advertisement caught his attention.
Well-respected auctioneer Brian Carroll needed a good hand to join his Dandenong team. Mr Stevens sent off a letter to a PO box.
Luck was on his side. Mr Carroll was friendly with Mr Stevens’ uncle and used to share a Friday evening whisky with him. When he wasn’t delivering pet food, Mr Stevens helped his relative on his property and met Mr Carroll one night.
“I liked your resume, you better be at my office at 7am on Monday,” Mr Stevens was told by Mr Carroll.
Michael Stevens stayed there for five years before he moved to Fish Creek to join Dennys Lascelles.
Then there were mergers and later the Elders takeover. And, eventually, the birth of a new company, which became so much a part of his life.