As agricultural and pastoral companies resisted corporate raiders, merged and reorganised their businesses in 1975, Alan Duncombe made a decision that was to change his family's life and the livestock sector across the Crookwell district.
Alan was Crookwell's branch manager for Pitt, Son & Badgery, which was about to be sold off to Elders Smiths, and he was having none of it.
He'd worked for the wool broking firm since he'd left school at age 15.
He began in the mailroom and was keen to get out into the bush to work.
Consequently, he was transferred to Bombala, then Goulburn, then Trangie for six years.
While there, he met his future wife, Kaye, who was living at Narromine and working for a local doctor.
The couple found one another in the same social circles at the races and B&S Balls.
Alan was transferred to Crookwell on the long weekend of 1967 and he and Kaye married the following year, setting the stage for a future partnership in business, following the industry upheaval in the mid-1970s.
"I had been manager at Crookwell for Pitt Son & Badgery for eight and a half years, so I had built up a fairly good client relationship and thought, well, I have a foundation, we will go on our own and see how we go," he said
Organising transfers of licences, Alan was ready to hang out his shingle as Duncombe & Co, an all services stock and station agency in August 1975. At the same time, he and Kaye were raising their three children; Angus, Emma and Jock.
"I began working while Angus and Emma were at school and Jock was in a cot at the office and was reared there, so no wonder he went into the business," Kaye said.
Alan said: "We started with paddock sales of cattle and sheep and then they started having weaner sales in Crookwell and fat prime cattle sales once a fortnight". He struck brick walls because they didn't want the competition. "As things grew, we also moved into the Goulburn selling centre where we struck brick walls because they didn't want the competition," he said. Then the price of sheep crashed. Then the price of cattle crashed. A lot of people in the industry buckled as $200 steers became $60 steers virtually overnight. Then, a drought that was to linger from 1980 to 1983 began and not long after that, crossbred ewes couldn't be sold, so they shot them," he said. Hard as it is today to imagine how people ran their businesses without mobile phones, emails and computers, Alan remembers carrying a pocket full of 20 cent pieces for pay phones to call the office. "There were no four wheel drives with a bulbar, everyone drove a Ford or a Holden," he said.
In 1978, he became the driving force introducing live weight selling of prime cattle at Crookwell. The only other places at the time for live weight selling were Homebush, Forbes and Dubbo. The weaner sales were started in 1968 by John Carter and Jeff Prell when all the cattle in the district were Herefords. As more Angus cattle came onto the scene, John and Jeff's interest subsided. Alan then began organising an all breeds sale, which saw good yardings and prices that often exceeded those at the Goulburn sales and a similar outcome for the crossbred ewes sales, which he fostered.
Looking back over those foundation years and beyond, Kaye says people's loyalty to Duncombe & Co became a highlight and she grew to love Crookwell. "It was the best move we ever made," she said. "Alan and Jock have both done very well and Jock's wife Robyn, she's a gem". In the wider region, Duncombe & Co has been well accepted too, as evidenced in 2016 when it was the first agency accepted to sell at the South Eastern Livestock Exchange at Yass. On 30th November this year, Alan will have been in the agency for 66 years, including 57 as the licensee.
Passionate about real estate, Robyn Duncombe found herself perfectly positioned as Crookwell evolved in recent years into a sought after lifestyle destination. A director of Duncombe & Co, Robyn can reflect on a remarkable journey as the successful family business celebrates its 50th anniversary. When she first joined the business, she was given an exceptional opportunity when the directors, Alan and Kaye Duncombe, asked her to computerise their office administrative records. At the time, these records were fastidiously kept in ledgers with little bolts in the margins, which were unscrewed each time a new page replaced an old one. "For Duncombe & Co to give me the responsibility of computerising everything was, number one, a massive task and number two, it showed a huge level of trust that I was capable of doing the job and I would do the right thing for them," she said.
In the following years, her passion for real estate reshaped Duncombe & Co as people from Canberra, Sydney and the Southern Highlands discovered Crookwell was an ideal alternative to where they were living. "We are getting a lot of people moving from the Southern Highlands direction," Robyn said. "They're chasing what they used to have in the highlands. We still have that lovely country community that they had been missing. So they're selling and moving to towns like Crookwell". "We have all the facilities people need and Canberra and Sydney are not far away". "Newcomers are changing the tapestry of the town; they are bringing with them new ideas, new businesses, more children for the schools; there is a lot to love about it".
Robyn, who has notched up 30 years in real estate, had been at Duncombe & Co for 12 years when Alan and Kaye decided to hand over the business to her and Jock. In 2012, Kaye and Alan handed the business over to their son Jock and his wife Robyn, who became directors and licensees in charge. Alan and Kaye were retained as staff and Alan still retains his licences. "I will be forever grateful to Alan and Kaye," she said. "What they started and created is phenomenal. They worked really hard when they had little children; it could not have been easy". "Neither of them had any family in Crookwell that they could call on to help; it would have been a challenging time". While Duncombe & Co founders Alan, through his livestock clients and Kaye, a frequent and welcome visitor to the office, retain their links to the business, five full time staff, including directors Robyn and Jock Duncombe, plus two livestock rebate agents, continue the operations which began in 1975. A licensed stock and station agent and auctioneer, Jock has 30 years of experience in the livestock game and rural real estate. Crookwell born Jock and Robyn, who met at the Royal Easter Show and became engaged while she was working at Duncombe & Co, ensure the business gives back to the people in their community who have supported them over many years. This can be seen in their annual sponsorship of Quick Shear, the Flock Ewe competition, sporting clubs, Crookwell Show and many more worthy causes. These days, of course, they have an extended family, a community and an outstanding 50 year legacy in Duncombe & Co.
