The Farmers Club Private Podcast
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The Farmers Club Private Podcast
Episode 46 - Barry Clark from Shearing contracting to Farm flipping and that big tackle
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We recorded this podcast with Barry Clark live at a conference, and I had the pleasure of co-hosting this interview with the affable and ultra-professional Kirstin Diprose.
This one is a real standout story on so many fronts, and it's chock-full of great business lessons and takeaways. In this podcast, you have to listen intently and perhaps replay some of the points to find the take-home bits.
Barry was a panelbeater but turned his hand to Shearing and was on the handpiece for 28 years. Somewhere in there, he became a Shearing Contractor, and at the peak, he had 14 teams running around and 220 people on the books.
Barry was big on relationships; he would go out of his way to serve the Farmer in a time when Farmer-Contractor relationships were pretty testy. How he built and maintained those relationships is outlined in the podcast, and it's a real lesson for anyone dealing with customers or staff.
Barry also has a passion for Farming and has been described by our mutual mate Jason "Chippa" Gordon as the most successful Farm flipper going around. In his and his wife Jodie's time, they have bought and sold 15 farms so far. Flipping Farms is a deliberate thing, and when buying a Farm, a few things they look for are: it has to have some kind of water asset, the location, and then there's also the renovation aspect, for both the Farm and Farm homestead. They have just exited the famous Perricoota Station just outside Echuca on the Murray River and have now taken over the blue-chip Larundel Estate between Ballarat and Meredith.
Barry was involved in an incident in 2025 where he wrestled and disarmed a young man who had terrorist-like intentions on a Jetstar flight he boarded at Avalon en route to Sydney. This is a gripping story that had everyone in the room captivated.
Some of the words I would use to describe Barry are curious, aware, engaging, entrepreneurial, and passionate. He is also a standard-setter. What a great interview. We hope you enjoy. End of message.
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Hi everyone, Dwayne Duxton here with the Farmers Club Private Podcast. We do these podcasts in conjunction with our sister business, FarmTender, which is an online buying and selling marketplace for farmers. Go to farmtender.com.au and sign up from there. We recorded this podcast with Barry Clark live at a conference. And I had the pleasure of co-hosting this interview with the affable and ultra-professional Kirsten Diprose. This one is a real standout story on so many fronts, and it's chock full of great business lessons and takeaways. In this podcast, you have to listen intently and perhaps replay some of the points to find the take-home bits. Barry was a panel beater that turned his hand to cheering and was on the handpiece for 28 years. Somewhere in there, he became a cheering contractor, and at his peak, he had 14 teams running around and 220 people on the books. Barry was big on relationships. He would go out of his way to serve the farmer in a time when farmer-contractor relationships were pretty testy. How he built and maintained those relationships is outlined in the podcast, and it's a real lesson for anyone dealing with customers and staff. Barry also has a passion for farming and has been described by other mutual by our mutual mate Jason Chipper Gordon as the most successful farm flipper going round. In his and his wife's Jody's time, they have bought and sold 15 farms so far. Flipping farms is a deliberate thing, and when buying a farm, a few things they look for are it has to have some kind of water asset, the location, and then there's also the renovation aspects for both the farm and the farm homestead. They have just exited the famous Terracuda station just outside of Chuka on the Murray River and have now taken up the blue chip taken over the Blue Chip Laurundel estate between Ballarat and Meredith. Barry was involved in an incident in 2025 where he wrestled and disarmed a young man who had terrorist-like intentions on a Jet Star flight he boarded at Avalon en route to Sydney. This is a gripping story that had everyone in the room captivated. Some of the words I'd use to describe Barry are curious, aware, engaging, entrepreneurial, and passionate. He is also a standard setup. What a great interview. We hope you enjoy. End a message.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so I've got uh a couple of people to introduce um to you. So I've brought uh to help me have this discussion. Uh I pulled in Dwayne Duxon from um the Farmers Club. Many of you will know him. Uh so Duane, I also like to refer to him as the man who stole my husband. Um because if you ever look at farm tender, my husband's on that, just 24-7 looking at farm tender. Uh so I blame Duane for that. But uh the Farmers Club is a great initiative and um something that I know a lot of farmers love to read for information, for a giggle. Uh, there's a free and a subscription offer, and they have got a really good podcast as well. Uh, and I believe we're going to record this session, aren't we, for your podcast, which is fantastic. And we've got our main guest here in the middle, uh, Barry Clark, uh, who has spent most of his life around sheep, shearing sheds and farms all around Australia. With a long career in the shearing industry, he's seen just about every side of it, from working to stand to running his own farming operations in Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, and Victoria. Along the way, Barry and his wife Jodie started statewide shearing services, which is now called South East Shearing, building it into a trusting shearing contracting business that supports farmers across Australia. He's been described as practical, down to earth, and full of real industry experience. So, Barry, it's so exciting to have you here. And um after meeting you, uh, Dwayne and I know that we won't have any troubles uh having a conversation with you. So, this is very exciting. Uh, a big warm welcome, please, for Barry Clark.
SPEAKER_05Thank you. Thank you.
SPEAKER_02Thanks, Barry. Thanks for turning up. You're welcome. We're gonna break this up into four parts. We're gonna talk about the shearing business and the buying and selling of farms. Yes. We're gonna talk about an incident you were involved in last year, yes, and we'll finish up with a few questions.
SPEAKER_01An incident he was involved with sounds like he he's done something bad.
SPEAKER_02No, no, no, no, no, no, no, it's all good.
SPEAKER_05That's what my green case.
SPEAKER_02My mother said no, he's a good bop box. So we'll start off with a shearing business. Now you're a minute boy, born and bred, yes. Um tell us about your early shearing days.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, well, um my father wouldn't let me uh shear when I was um young, when I say young, 17, 18, 19. He wanted me to do a trade. Um his father was a his uncle was a good shearer, and um I love stock, but um my other love is cars and bikes. So I thought, well, if I can't go shear until a certain age, I um I may as well um uh go and do something with vehicles. So I went to Horsham and started an apprenticeship as a um panel bidder, and then um after a while, then I had one of my best friends. Um he was had nowhere to stay, so he um came and lived with me, and eventually he got me um thrown out of the house, so I had nowhere to live, and I didn't want to tell mum, so um he said, Oh look, the old man will buy us a caravan. He said, We'll put it out on the farm, three K's out auction, that'll be perfect for us. So he bought a caravan for us. Leon Meagle was like my second father, and he was a sheep trader. He bought and sold a lot of weathers back then. So, of course, any wet, you know, any um sick days, um uh days off and weekends I could go and work in the shed. And he said, geez, you got a bit of grunt. I reckon you would probably make a good shear, and I said, I hope so. So he sent his son and I off to a shearing school worrying the bill, and um and at the end of it, the instructor said, Well, one of you gonna make a good shear. I don't know about the other one, you work it out.
SPEAKER_02So then that's how it all sort of started, yeah. And obviously um graduated into a shearing contractor, and that was your main line of business. Yes, well, I should what year was that?
SPEAKER_05Uh I started uh in about 19 just on 2000, 2001, yeah, yeah, just a bit earlier. But I shore um you know 28 years professionally and shore all over every state. Uh then went into uh Tasmania and Shaw through there, then I went to um Palms of the North, one of the best shearing schools in the world, and still is today, um, and shore in New Zealand, both islands. Um went up the North Island, shore 38 days straight, nine-hour days. I thought that was a feat, then I ran into a bloke that done 60, so I shut my mouth pretty quick. There's always someone better. And um but I learned the way over there and everything because I knew when I go contracting I'd need 20% of the um the good New Zealanders to fulfil the stands and the rouse about, so that was what I did.
SPEAKER_02You were thinking about the contracting side of things while you were sharing again.
SPEAKER_05I wanted to start up in Western Australia. Um, Dan Hansbury, who treated me like a son and helped me get into a lot of farms over there. Uh his wife didn't want Dan to go in business with me because he said I she said I he'll take all the work, and I would have never done that. And we talk about it a little after today, and he said we would have took all Western Australia, and I said we would have won Western Australia, mate. So we just started out and contracting in in a little town called Balmoral, and we started off we called it Balmoral Shearing, and um so a lot of the farmers thought that we would just shear around Balmoral and we wouldn't go, you know, wider vision. So then I come up with statewide shearing. So we in other words, we'll go anywhere, yeah, you know, and it's like today. Yes.
SPEAKER_01We've got we've got an image up uh on the screen, uh, and it's it's in black and white, which makes it look like you know you're really old.
SPEAKER_05Well I am.
SPEAKER_01No, no. Uh, but it's um it's the To Ring the Shed uh photographic study. So it's a picture from a book that's in black and white. That's right. Um I'm not sure if you can see it, but it's a picture of the book. Yeah, no, I know the picture of my little daughter. Yeah, can you explain what's in it?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, there was a gentleman going around in Western Australia um uh who was doing a book on shearing, and he'd come in and Jody, um Dan Hansbury, who was one of the best talkers I've ever um come across and talked to him. I gotta give him the nod, he's a fraction better. Uh but I'm getting there. Um he talked Jodie into cooking, so we've got her out of the city into a cooking, onto a stove, never cooked on a stove. Um there was about 80% um great Mary team there, and so she'd never been involved, and yeah, and she made it through, and uh this gentleman came through and wanted to do a story and did some photos of us, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so uh you wrote Jody in and uh well it's sort of that's how you met her, is it?
SPEAKER_05Well, no, no, no, no. We we we met um you wouldn't believe Sure and uh I met in a hotel, not a church, but it was out the back of a gentleman's bar.
SPEAKER_02So you started at Balmoral and obviously you're we brand, yeah, and I called it statewide shearing, yeah.
SPEAKER_05And you're looking to do locally, but it soon grew pretty quickly. How'd you build it? Well, at that stage there was a shearing company, and I'll use no names, um, that were having a very hard time. Um, they had a lot of um probably staff that wasn't adequate to what the farmers wanted. Um, and I saw an opportunity to bring in good people and and to and to be straight down the line and do the best we could and have staff that appreciated and to bring, as I went through the shearing strikes too when I was a kid, and I saw a lot of things, and a lot of the union type people um were very disgruntled and they broke the the bond of a farmer and the shearing apart, and I was always wanted to bring it back together. And when when I spoke to all the young ones and I speak to young rouse about, I said, if you see a farmer out there drafting his sheep, and it's only three minutes, two minutes of your time at Smoke, go out there, mate, and just give him a hand. Because two minutes of his life, when he's jumping up and down, red in the face, his dog's on the ground, half dead, he's gonna be so happy and he'll never forget you. And at the end of the day, he'll poppy, come and give me a beer and shake your hand. And I said, Doing something good like that makes you feel good, and it only helps the team and it brings. I was always, and I still am, to bring the farmer with the shearing team. We're there to do a job, he's there to do a job, and we all work together. We're a team, we're not a gang, a gang is a gang, a team is a team, the team works together, and that's what I've always said, and I've focused myself on that from day one, and I'll do that to the day I finish.
SPEAKER_01There's not many contracting businesses like that, I would say, that what you you do. Um, how has shearing changed? And um, I'm thinking of my my neighbours who are sitting here and and they've had a wonderful relationship with their shearers who have come year on year. It's fantastic. And there's some great people around. You know, as opposed to my own farming situation where it's uh been several yeah, has several contractors and and not uh overly successful over the years in in getting that great relationship.
SPEAKER_05Well, there's some the ingredients of the cake are is one, you've got to know your job. It doesn't matter what you do in life, you've got to know your job. And two, you've got to be responsible, and if you take on something, well you you've got to show your face and you've got to any. I'm not saying that we never have any issues. You'll when you're dealing with people, as we all know, there is days where people get a little bit upset, disgruntled, something's happening at home, but you've got to work through it and you've got to get it. You've got to knock it on the head and you've got to go forward. But the main thing is to try and honour what you said.
SPEAKER_01And I was talking to you before about some of the Kiwi shearers, and um you've really taken the time to understand how to best build relationships with them, yeah, particularly the Maoris.
SPEAKER_05Unbelievable, yes. Now look, um in the shearing strike days, and probably it went on for the next 20 years, they were talked um probably down a little bit. Um, and um, but at the end of the day, there's good and bad in everywhere, every race. And I can tell you now, the good, the good Mary Blue, I've got a bloke, Paul Guineese, has been with me 17 years, he's 63 years old, still shearing on 220 to 250 a day. A great man, um a leader, um, pulls young people into gear. Those those men are just precious, they're just yeah, worth gold.
SPEAKER_01Any advice to farmers then, perhaps, um, when working with different cultures or you know, shearers that are coming up to the farm and they they don't really know they're right.
SPEAKER_05Well, the best thing is is is some farmers, not all, um, you know, work by themselves a lot. They're not and that's a lot of them are not at outgoing, so they don't mix as much, so they get a little bit gun shy. So all of a sudden is you've got uh 20 people turn up, ladies and men, you know, in your shed, all of a sudden is you've been on the farm, you're used to your surrounds by yourself, and all of a sudden you've got that index of 20 strangers. The best thing is to do before they start is to go up and engage everyone. It's the same when I go to a shed, when I start and I leave, I always shake hands and I always say thank you and I help everyone. It is very, very important to make eye contact, go up, shake everyone's hand, introduce yourself. I'm Jackie Billy. Very nice to meet you. Thank you for you know coming and doing my job. And let's hope this is a really good shearing. And if there's any problems, the toilets, yes, you need more toilet paper, little things. I'm here to help you. And you engage that straight away, and that team, I can tell you now, they'll go away. The girls will say, geez, he's a nice man, or a nice lady, whoever's running the property, and the shearers will all be there shearing away, and when they you know put the cutter or something, I say, geez, he's not a bad copy, that bloke, you know, good fella, you know, we'll do the right thing here. So I'm not saying they don't do the wrong thing because but it is a way to embrace and to connect and bring that as what I always said, a team together. It's a very important.
SPEAKER_02Very important. Did you learn that and when you were shearing? And was that you wanted to set those sort of standards and goals?
SPEAKER_05Well, every every shed that I shore, uh, when I went there, uh by the time I left, I had that farmer's brain. I knew everything. I knew the rainfall, I knew what he grew, what he is, what he is, how long he's been there, uh I I you know, his sheep, everything. And I just learned everything. That's how I started learning about different areas and different farms. I I I just picked his brains. Every smoke, I'd race out there, you know, I'd help, you know, draft for two sections. How'd you get this? You know, and dad left. I said, Well, you were very lucky, good on it. You never, my father taught me never get jealous, get curious. A man pulls up and a rolls royce. How did you get it? Not that I'll buggy you and get your ring and go down the side. You know, completely wrong. Pick people's brains and learn. You know, education's a great thing, but it's not everything.
SPEAKER_02So, over the years, how'd you build the business to a size? And what size did it get to at its peak?
SPEAKER_05How many teams are we running? 14 teams. Um, um probably 220 people. Uh, and I was running that bomb, I know I lie, sorry, um, Jason Gordon, which you know. I sorry, Jason. Um Jason was doing the northern bit for me. I had a bloke by the name of Ron Hams was doing a bit of the southern, and I thought the the payment system compared to today is just so out of control. Like back then it was so hard. You know, checks, this, that, and every week they wanted drawers, and uh where today it's so it can be so smart.
SPEAKER_02And the communication side of things, too, that would have been difficult back then with no. Oh, well, exactly.
SPEAKER_05Well, Dan Hanfree said to me, He said, You don't know how lucky you got it, Barry. You got a mobile phone. He said, I used to go to Marida, which is a little town just out of Cogina. He'd drive 15 minutes from his farm, he'd have a little tin full of 20 cent pieces, and he'd sit there Sunday morning from about eight o'clock to about two. He says, Because the buggers, they'd go to the 11 o'clock session, they wouldn't get home, they'd be pissed, and he'd be there all morning ringing. And he said, To shut up a shearing team, then you had to go back to the farm because there was no phone, no service, and then just pray like God they all turn up. You know, it's tough, tough times. But those men got through, you know, then before his era, they called them, you know, and they wouldn't let them off because they'd get to town, and uh the next minute a bloke could yell out, hey boss, bag's falling off the back. And he'd say, Don't worry about it, we'll get some more gear on the way. Yeah, but it's your bag, boss, then all jumped straight into the pub, you know. So there's all those little tricks of the trade where as it's gone on, it's got easy, but nothing's easy. It doesn't matter what you do in life. When there's a dollar involved and people are successful to do something, they've always worked hard behind the scenes.
SPEAKER_02And are you still in the shearing game or are you?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, no, I I think I'll die. I'll be in it. I don't know. I help Richie. Um, we're just talking about that a bit today, whether um next next uh big main season I'm gonna come in there a bit and help behind the scene. I won't do the stuff that Richie's doing as he's on the phones, dealing with I'll get out the PR. You need someone out talking, you need to go out, come to the farms. So all of a sudden that Kirsten might say, Look, can you come have a look at my shearing shed and just make sure it's going to suit your standards? You know, or is there anything we can do to make this be better? And instead of bothering Richie, where he's too busy, this, this, this, I'll go and I'll be do those things and talk to more of the farmers in the area and build a relationship and just say, Look, as soon as there's anything wrong, bang contact. So there's probably something will go on like that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And we heard from Simon Quilty before, and he said um wall production was down 10% last year, it's gonna be down another 10%. Correct. Possibly. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05How does that affect affect a business like yours? Well, it doesn't because the crossbreds are coming up like this. And and then the shoe is going to come over like this. You talk to the boys and they say, Oh, this is a crossbred shed, they go, Oh, you line them up from here to Ballarat, you say it's a merino weather shed, you might see three.
SPEAKER_01Are you worried then about the you know, shedding sheep and the ones that don't?
SPEAKER_05Because you know, it's a bit like you don't worry about the things you can't control, you worry about the things you can. And it's a bit like petrol, and it was a bit like the toilet paper everyone out around. I bet there's still heaps of people, heaps of dunny roll in the in the pantry. Hey, we got through it, every bottom got wiped. You know, the end of the day is um the petrol is a crisis, we all know that. But at the end of the day, I suppose you look work it out with your price terms over a month, it's it's no life-threatening thing. Thing will go on. If you're gonna sit in the seat and say, Oh, we're not going to work because of fuel, we're gonna stop because of fuel, it's crazy. You go forward. We're not gonna stop it, and it's never gonna get back to where it was. It's gonna come back to probably a an uh you know, a happy medium. But what goes up never usually comes back to where it was. So we're probably, I think if we get a situation we sit in the centre, I think that's about where we're gonna be.
SPEAKER_01So your prices will probably go up then?
SPEAKER_05As in shearing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, shearing.
SPEAKER_05Oh, well, um not really, no, no. The prices will go up only with the CPI, which happens every 12 months, which is on the 1st of July.
SPEAKER_01But with the fuel pressures, you don't expect that.
SPEAKER_05Look, they're making still look. I was only talking to Richie this morning at breakfast. I said, How many um shearers and rouseabouts have you had come up to you and say, Oh, geez, these fuel prices were? No one said a word. They're making good money, good money. Look, to the average, I say to them, you know, I've said to a few people the young Rousey's jumping up and down are a shearer. I say, mate, no one's holding the gun to your head here, mate. Just go. You think you're a rocket science? Go and be a rocket science, just leave everyone alone. I said, Do you realize you go and work somewhere, go into a town? I'm working a little business or whatever, the money you're making is twice the amount. And sometimes it's like everything in life. You don't know what you got until it's gone. I said, see you later, mate. I said, as you're driving out, I'll have one driving in. Now we mentioned um Chipper Gordon. He did a bit of work for you, ran a couple of your teens, didn't he? Yeah, for about nine years. Yeah, turned me into a chronic alcoholic for a few years, but I got out of that and got away from him. Lucky you.
SPEAKER_02A good man, good man. He is a good man. He told me that the other day that you were the best flipper of farms in the whole business. So tell us a bit about some of the farms you bought.
SPEAKER_05I didn't know about the whole business. There's a lot of smarter people out there than me.
SPEAKER_02No, I don't know about that. Not what he told me, but how many farms have you bought and sold? And just go through some of the highlight of the.
SPEAKER_05Jody and I have turned over 12 properties. I've had about I had three or four before we were lucky enough to meet, and someone could um swallow and understand where I was heading. Um we lost the farm when I was four and a half years old. Um we're out a at a little place called Lane, which is about 10 miles out of Minium. And um when a black FC and we're driving out, and the old man said, I'm sorry, boys. I just said it's all good, Dad. I'll get a farm, don't worry about that. So I had it worked out when I was about four and a half and I never stopped. I started running uh bird shows, fates, motor um pushbite racing at seven. I still got all the original books from my mates, I sold everything too, especially one. I caught him a crazy pom. I sold him a pair of pigeons, and I didn't say anything about letting them out. And they they come back and I sold them back to him again. And he called me a rip-off, and I said, I never rip you off. I can't help you're a dumb pom. Sorry if there's any English. So just little things. I I had it in my head, and I just knew the only way that I could get a farm and get something that I wanted, because I always felt comfortable on land, um, was to strive. And I think it became like an addiction, to be honest, like an alcoholic. And I just I still today, every day, I you know, I see things and things, and my wife's told me now, no, no, no, this is but I think my direction will be is the farm we've just purchased, we'll we'll try and build it into something what we want to create, and then hopefully in two or three years it'll withstand, and I can go off and do a little development in Geelong with my daughter. This is the plan. So sorry, you go, Kirsten.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I was just gonna ask, how do you do it? Like, as in you know, flipping farms, you talk about it like, you know, well you never fall in love. No, that's never.
SPEAKER_05No, you don't get well when you start with nothing and you lose and you lose everything, you haven't lost nothing. So I've got nothing to lose.
SPEAKER_01What do you look for in a farm that you'll find?
SPEAKER_05Feel point, first thing water. 100%. I've taught my children without water, you can have a phase three GD Falcon in the middle of the desert, you can have a HR holding, even though that's worth 20 grand now, and then that HR's got a full tank of fuel to get to the next before you die of thirst. You're gonna take the HR every day of the week, leave a million-dollar car because money's no value, water's all the value of the world. I I see in years I always told the kids I'll be dead and gone, but I see in the years, you look at Western Australia, I looked at a farm once there, it was a thousand acres, there's 350 acres of sold on it, and it was growing. And you know, the agents will tell you, yeah, yeah, yeah, you can stop this and grow trees and all this. It's just that type of soil and it's that land, and it's the heat and the dry that creates it. And the worst thing in Western Australia is if you buy a farm with a creek or a river, because no one wants it. So over there you look for country with great dams with no creeks and river. Over here, you look at different. If you can buy a river or a creek, and you know it's beautiful and fresh, like the river that runs out of um Ballarat and things. So I look at water for a start, location, and definitely something that we can build onto. It's been ran well and ever, but it just needs that spruce, you know, and um, but I'm very fortunate I can see things, and when I see something, a farm or whatever, I can see it finished. It's like when I bought Parracuda, where we I had builders there solidly for five and a half years, and we renovated that for seven years. And when I drove in the gate, I saw everything, you know, what what I achieved in seven years. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And did you live at those places?
SPEAKER_05Yes, always living, yes.
SPEAKER_01And so how long were you living on a farm?
SPEAKER_05Three to five years.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Doesn't seem like a long time to live on a farm, you know, compared to most.
SPEAKER_05No, well, see, well, most um are probably well set up, whatever, but I had nothing. So I've got to, I had to um I try, we did the null ball twice with little kids. You know, I my son at five years old started pressing in a wool store. And and what I do is go over the pub, have one beer, wait for him, you know, I'd pick him up after on a Friday, and I'd listen to all the young blokes. One day I heard these young blokes talking, and they're going off. They're saying, We don't want to go over to Bloody Cut Victoria, it's cold, and Western Australia want to stay over here with the beaches and all the girls and everything. So I thought, oh, this is interesting. So I go over there and had a talk. I said, What's going on, boys? You've just run them. Do you want a beer? So I bought them a beer and you have a sit a bit of a seat. And I said, Where are you going? They said, Oh, we're going on to a place you probably wouldn't know it. And I said, Oh, we'll test me. Balmoral. I said, Oh, yeah, I might know it a bit. There's not much country down there, I don't know. And um, I said, What are you going over there for? Oh, we've got to go to damn planting trees for this company. They're coming in there in the next 18 months, two years buying trees. I was on a plane that weekend and I bought a farm out of Balmoral the next week.
SPEAKER_02So when you when you looked at a farm, were you thinking about selling when you were looking at it before you even bought it? Like, did you have the sell in mind, the exit in mind before and renovating farms? Did you have to renovate every farm that you went into? Or some were sort of ready.
SPEAKER_05Yes. Yeah, there's not one I've walked in and done nothing. No, no, no.
unknownNo.
SPEAKER_05Pericuda was the biggest, you know, like I said, we had builders there over five years. I had trades them in and out of there seven years. Yeah, well, I had them in there after I sold them, so I promised him I'd paint the uh laundry and everything out, and I hadn't even finished that. So I had a team of builders in there uh three weeks after I sold it. It's because I wanted to honour what I said. Yep. And yeah, Hazelbeans chickens bought it, so it was all good.
SPEAKER_02And you did a bit of um you did weddings there and accommodations. Yes, sir. So is a bit of a farm of the difference?
SPEAKER_05I kept one step away from that because I always say is what you're good at, do at, and what you're not, keep a distance. So I did all the picking up the rubbish, the cleaning, anything broke, you know, fix it. Jody handled all that side beautifully. We built it up from about 20 odd weddings to 50, hold four concerts a year. We hold it, a concert there every January, Tough Tilly, which helps raise uh money for this skin disorder, which is an awful thing. You know, last year I think we raised just under $100,000. So it's it's I believe when you're in an area, you know, if you take, you've got to give back. Yep. And you've got to um, yeah, I think just be responsible.
SPEAKER_01We've got an image up now of Ocar 2000. Yeah. Um, so this is you, Jodie, and your children, Jessica.
SPEAKER_05Yep, and there's a gentleman there called Len Yates.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so tell us about this.
SPEAKER_05He was one of the men that went up on the ring pounder. Um, when he was only about in that photo, he holds his age for L. He was about 82 or 3 there. Gentleman. Absolute gentleman, fourth generation on that farm. Uh, but he'd go away and shear four or five up in the Kimberley's when Kimberley's had sheep. And um, his son went off to America to become an actor. Um, his wife had passed many years before, and Dan Hansbury and him were best friends. Dan rang me up one day, and um we had a property down out of Harrow at that stage, and Dan said, Len's gonna sell a vodka. And I said, What? And I said, Whoa, okay. And I said, Am I gonna afford that? And he said, Leave it with me. And I said, Yeah, I don't care, mate. Just let's just try and work something. And he went and saw Len and said, Barry, I'd be interested in buying a vodka for Glenn. And he said, Oh, that'd be great. He said, Oh, I don't think you'd be able to afford it. And he said, he will if you give him vendors terms. So we did a deal and all that, and he lived with us for the first three months because he couldn't leave his daughter's wanted him in Perth, and that's you know his story. And um sadly, 12 months after that, he passed away. Um, and um, but it was a um a beautiful fun farm, and I enjoyed um renovating that, and and uh yeah, just put us on to the next adventure and a bigger and better property. Did you use some innovative ways to finance each farm? Or yeah, I did some, yeah. Uh I walked to I better not use his name. I went into a bank called the National Bank. And I said to the manager, I've got very well with him. He comes to my place fishing every year, and he's coming to La Rundles. I've every farm that I've had, he's always got an invite. I said, Can I get two million dollars? And he said, Everyone wants two million dollars, Barry. I said, Well, look, I'm I'm not knocking everyone, but that's not my business. I said, I want it. I walked out of here out of it with it, and I bought a property over at Lucendale, which um yeah worked out very well to put us into up at Pericuta.
SPEAKER_02Now you exited Pericuta recently and bought LaRundel estate here. So you're a local Ballarat area person now?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, Ballarat Geelong, whatever. I I I think wherever you pay your rates, you're a local. True. And we're paying enough rates, yeah. Is that your last flip for one of a bit of a little bit? The daggers, yeah. Look, to be honest, um, my daughter absolutely loves it, and we're hoping our grandson enjoys the farming life one day. And um, but like I said, I we wanted to buy that property 14 years ago. We got a fond of this with a property. I know some of the Austin people, um, it's got great history, um, yeah, it's and it's in a great location with very good neighbours where all our places have been. And um I I it it feels homely, and I think my addiction will probably go and build units in Geelong. I've just got to find the right spot. Can you tell us I can afford it?
SPEAKER_01Can you tell us a bit about the history of the Austin property? And uh unfortunately it has a not so great claim to fame.
SPEAKER_05Oh, rabbits, yeah, but they didn't bring them there. No, the the Austin, AA Austin, um Bowen Station, which brought the rabbits out to Australia, then released them there, and of course, they would have brought some of their mates over to Laurundel, and then it just was a very successful business. Um it um yeah, it's an amazing property, and I we've got a um a relation that actually his mother was in Austin, so there was a connection always there. Uh, and I was always fond of it. I said to Jody 14 years ago when we wanted to buy, but we didn't have the money, and um you sort of you know went on the market, then went off, then went on. And Shane Warden tried to buy it about 12 months before he passed, and a couple other people. And Jonathan sitting down there ran the property for six to seven years, and um doing um what he could, you know, as when you're a manager, um the people that own it will they tell you what you can't do, so you suck to a lot of things where Jonathan couldn't improve and do things, and I'm not knocking um the people that owned it, but it gives me an opportunity to go in and go bang and get it to where I want. But um, no, it's a good property, it's um, and there's plenty of other good ones around too, but we're very happy.
SPEAKER_02Now we'll talk about this incident that happened last year, and I'll let you explain it because it's it's tied up with a few legalities.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah, well, I I can't talk anything about Court or where he is or what's going on there because it's a very serious uh one of the first terrorists, gunpoint situations in a plane in Australia, so they're bringing different things out and whatever. But um, Jake Lloyd, which is a young sportsman number 44 for Sydney Swans, I've known him from a wee little boy, and um everyone in the area said, Oh, he's too small, he'll never make this. Jake's about 74 kilos, but he's got a heart this big, and I watched his heart, you know. When my son went over, and Tony Lloyd is probably one of the best fitness coaches that I've seen, as in getting kids to a point where they go to the next stage. And I watched, and um, you know, Jake would go and knock on his door at five o'clock, take me out to the mountain down, I want to run it. And he was doing all these things, amazing engine. And he had a good football ability, but he didn't have the skills of a judge or whatever. But his courage, his determination, and his ability to get what he wanted was amazing. So he rang me up and he said, Barry, I want you up here on my 250 game. And I said, I'll be there unless my health fails me. So, of course, and um I said to Tony, um, there's a you know, about six horseman people um come along, and I said, Look, I'll meet you out at the airport. All their wives were with them. I was by myself, so I only just took a little carry bag, so I didn't have to rush out there. They're all there with all their luggage as they take. And um I got there, then um I thought, ah, damn, because Jody does all the tickets and everything. I'm the other one, wasn't it? Yeah, I'm useless to all that. And I said, Oh, you've got to put your name and get all this. And I saw this young boy go over there, and he looks a good fellow. I said, Hey mate, come here. I said, Can you get me a seat on this plane? I said, I can't handle this stuff. He said, mate, I'll put you in the best seat of the house, C1. I said, I don't care if I sit in the engine, mate, as long as I get up to watch this kid play for you. So bang, he puts me on that seat. So we're going through. And it's quite funny, actually. This stage was. Tony Lloyd's a bit of a humorous type of person, word for everything. And he's halfway out with his wife and everything. I'm just going through security thing. He yells out, don't let him through, he's no good. And I went, Oh, yeah, thanks, Lloyd. And the boat looks at me real seriously. And then, so then I get on, everyone gets on. I give him a seat, C1, which is on the right-hand side, that's right on the aisle, and you've got the little cafeteria there with the ladies and the gentlemen go in and get their chips and everything. Straight direct, you can see straight into the cockpit where the two pilots are. And the young lady's about 28, she's in charge of the plane. And um, she got up there at the front, you know, and just, you know, this is the last thing. There's um doors are going to close in about one minute, 30 seconds. So I said, Oh, yeah, this is good. Then next minute, I'm sitting there, just looking around. There's a young boat, his mother was one side, the young boat was the other side. There's a big, tall, dark-haired man there, big statured man. I said, Oh, yeah, right, looking around. So I always taught to be observant. Always, you know, you come here, say five. Well, you know, you should know your exits, you know, we can go bang, just be observant. And I always been taught that. I'd have a look around, see who I am, just in case. And then I heard this bang, bang, bang, bang. And aluminium, as we all know, is very noisy. Great article, but very noisy. And I thought, geez, this is um strange. What's going on here? You know, so then that got my attention and I realized and I had glasses and I sort of because I was embarrassed sitting there, and um, so I um put my glasses down a bit, and then um, can you all hear me? Oh, that's good. Sounds like it's definitely up here. Um, and then and I said, Jeez, what's going on here? So then, of course, I'm only from here to there. He's got his back to me, and the young lady is facing, but not taking any notice of me, full on to him. She'd done a brilliant job. She said, Excuse me, young man, and he's in full vis. But I did notice outside everyone had short sleeve, he had long sleeve. I thought, oh yeah, but a different trade. So then that goes away from my brain. And then and then I um were listening to the change of voice, you know, thing, bang, bang. And then he said to her, I've come here and I'm just gonna fix the electrical fault in the um in the cockpit. It'll only take me a minute. Well, that's true. And um she said, Well, I need to see the credentials. And he said, Well, I haven't got them, but it's all it's all been passed. And there's a phone just as you go into the cockpit, she said, Well, what I'll do, give me your full name and number and whatever, and who you work for, I'll ring, and if they say and they give a pass, I'll get the pilot out, then he can verify it, then I'll let you in. I'm not losing my job over you. So she stood her ground, and then as you know yourself, um, whether it's on a netball field or a football field, you get two people get a bit agitated, they get a little bit proppy like a horse, and one wants to, you know, so you know there's gonna be some action. So I thought myself, this is very unusual. And then then I had a brief moment as I was watching his arms and they're going, and I thought he's gonna hit him. And I thought, geez, what's going on here? Then all of a sudden this arm goes out, and there was about that much gap. And I looked and I saw a shotgun barrel, double barrel, and I went, nah, I'm over 60, my eyes could be wrecked. I said, if I attack him, mum would kill me, even though she's not here, you know, on the earth. And I'm thinking, no, no, no, this is all happening in 30 seconds. Then I go, nah. So I thought, nah, look up the barrel, and I saw the two courages and I went, nah. I doubted myself again, and then I looked down and then I seen him connecting the shotgun where you know you've got your two latches. He had had on the first, had the second, had the gun, whoops, sorry, um, pointing um about right there. So then I go, right, I verified it's the shotgun. What am I going to do now? And I'm going, if I come from the side, Dr. Chong, which is my um nephew's best mate, and Chong, he is one of the best neurosurgeons in the country. And I said, Well, he's in Melbourne at the moment, so I get shot, he'll be able to fix me. No drama. So I got that out of my head. So the fear left me. I had a good surgeon ready for me in Melbourne. Um, so then I thought, right, I I've got to be careful because if he gets a second one and me wrestling him, she's gonna get both barrels. There's no question. So I thought, no, no. So I calculated, don't go that way, go this way. So I went that way. I grabbed her by the shoulder up the top, and I thought I'll just throw her as hard as I can from about here to that cupboard. And if she breaks a column or break, whatever, who cares? She's not gonna be shot in the stomach. So I threw her, and at the same time, I pushed the gut up, grabbed the gun, broke the gun, threw the stick, because you just don't know, you can't underestimate anybody. If they're three foot six and seven star, and they could be Bruce Lee, you just don't know. And once they got a weapon, if they know how to handle weapons, it's a different level again. So by that time I got the gun broken, thrown down, got hurt away. I was happy she didn't get shot, the gun hadn't gone off, it can't go off. He might be able to smash me over the head with the butt, but that'll be fine. This big bloke over here might snap out of his freezing situation and wipe his bum and do something. And then, so I um I the the pilot come racing out. I said, What's going on? I said, mate. I said, I'm telling you now, it's a situation. Grab that butt, get that butt out of that out of the plane. I said, then we got no weapons, and I said, then it's even we're back just uh what we can handle with him if he's any good at fighting. And then I said, I smell petrol, and I see two knives. There's a knife there, and there's a knife there, and there's two petrol bombs. And he said, How do you know there's petrol? I said, have a smell, mate. I said, I'm off the farm, I know petrol. So so then I um laid him down, put him to sleep. There's different things how you can put people to sleep with no with no um violence at all. At all. Uh so did that situation. We got rid of all, I said, get those um those um petrol bombs out of the plane.
SPEAKER_02Were they in the backpack still?
SPEAKER_05No, th yes, they were at the bottom of the the bag where the um where the um the the knives were hidden and all that. Yeah, yeah. So his intentions weren't real flash, um, and then um I had him down sitting, and he was a ballarat lad actually, and um a panel beater, and I got spoken to him, and I said I was a panel beater, so we had a connection. And um, yeah, we talked away and different things, and the security bloke sort of mucked it up a little bit with some stupid things, and so I told him he was gonna go and check the car, and I said, I wouldn't be doing that. Have you ever thought there could be a bomb in the car? I said, I don't think your training's that good. And then I said, What about the five rubbish bins at the front of the um at the airport? He said, What about the five rubbish bins? Have you ever thought when he walked past you, he's he's got a Kentucky fried bag with a bomb in it, and he's put one in a in the um in the uh rubbish bin, and after the plane goes, this goes. I said, Everything goes. I said, Go and go and check the pins, mate, and leave me alone. I'm all fine. You know, then the detectives turned up, you know, probably 14, 15 minutes later. No, it was all good, and no one decided me up and said, No, I'm usually running from you people. They're all good. But no, look, it was an awful situation, and I'm hoping that um, you know, I don't know what'll happen. I can't talk about the young man, but I I think you're a very mixed-up young man. And then it's sad. And you got to the game? I got to the game next. Well, they cancelled the airport of court, so then when they got in the next day and um yeah, got an auto uh uh grate there and sat in there with the club and everything. And but probably one of my fondest moments is people have asked me, you know, um, has it ever upset you or whatever? I'm no, never really has, no. And um, but the one of the most beautiful things, and it is when you do something good or help someone, this lady came up to me and she was a very tall lady, um, you know, uh and but she was um probably three or four weeks, she wouldn't be able to fly, she was, you know, very um heavily pregnant. And she came up, she gave me a cuddle crying. She said, My unborn child, whether it's a boy or a girl, will be will say Barry Clark, and he'll know your name for life. And and I just thought, well, that's worth getting shot over, isn't it? You know, as I had another beer. So that's about the story of that. So we'll see where it rolls, I suppose, at the end of this year or whatever it happens.
SPEAKER_01That's an extraordinary story, Barry. I just yeah, do you ever reflect and and think about how you were able to do that? You know, your ability to read. The play, see what was happening, and you know, I assume she probably acted on some sort of instinct and really rashly, but that's not true at all, from what you just said. So your mind can work really quickly. Where does that come from?
SPEAKER_05Our family's a pretty sporting family. My uh father's uncle was a uh a very champion boxer, our son was a champion boxer. Uh, we got massive hand-eye coordination reflexes, and you can never judge anyone with a hand reflex or an eye. And uh, we've always been very gifted to be able to quick think and bang. You know. Did you did you find yourself calm in that crisis? Because a lot of people have to. No, no, you can't panic. You panic, you're dead. Yep. Well, if I panicked, that lady would have been shot. Yeah, if you freeze, if I froze for 10 seconds, it would have been finished, finished, finished. There's no question about that. Yeah. So it look, it's you'd people say, Would you do it again? Well, you'd be a liar if you said yes, and you'd be a liar if you said no. Who knows? And it doesn't, there's no toughness or there's no nothing. People do some amazing things when put in amazing situations. And and just because this man or this young lady froze, that doesn't mean they're weak or strong. It just means people can handle situations. Everyone handles the situation differently. It doesn't matter what it is in life. You know, we all go through situations, and I think we've just got to learn how to handle that situation when it arises.
SPEAKER_02And just the last one on that, you had a couple of famous visitors come and visit you. And also, is it free Jet Star Travel for Life?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, out of Jet Star, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, look, Lindsay Fox and um Eddie McGuire and his son's a lovely young man. And David Fox, those were really good, and and naturally, you know, like as we all know, Lindsay owns the airport and he owns Esther. And he's um an amazing man to talk to. Um and he for 82 or 3, uh, I think he just had a birthday a few months ago. Um, he he his mind is uh marvelous, you know, and um yeah, no, it's you meet some amazing people, and that that that day was really good. Yeah, when my daughter did a bit of homework on Lindsay, um I said to Jess Chess work with one of his private secretaries in Cottonon, and um I said do some homework on him and find out what he likes to eat and whatever. He loves triangle sandwiches. Uh funny, isn't it? With um um tomato and onion, and he loves um homemade sausage rolls, which Jody made and and and sauce. So when he when he we all sat down, I went up and plonked the wall in front of me. He goes, You've done your homework, haven't you? And I said, So are you.
SPEAKER_01Lindsay Fox is still a truck driver, you know.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, well, that's the first thing when we met, he got out of his 10-seater helicopter, and um he goes straight up to me and goes, Trucky meets shear. And I said, We'll be that for the rest of our lives, mate. Yeah. And another great man I met um at Pericuda, which I was really fascinated with, first man to fly around the world in a helicopter was Dick Smith. And his wife, lovely people. And what they a lot of people don't realize till you sit with them, they're only they're only humans, they're just fortunate and doesn't matter, they've got a lot of money, who cares? We're all gonna go the same. And but his wife and that, and I she told me a lot of things when he gets involved, what he does for street kids and what he does for homeless people, it's it's it's an amazing these people do a lot. And I said to him, We need someone like you to be a politician, one of you group of those six or seven in this country, and he said, Maybe we're too smart for that.
SPEAKER_01Now, I want to throw it open for questions because uh I know there might be some out there. So whether it's on the sharing side, the uh farm renovation and flipping side, the business side.
SPEAKER_05Oh, excuse me, don't let that girl down there pull. She's gonna she could ask me anything. She's been laughing a lot.
SPEAKER_01Who is she?
SPEAKER_05My my wife, Rickel, one of my wife's best friends. Lovely lady, I'm only tricking, and she's very good at a job.
SPEAKER_01Uh has anyone got a question?
SPEAKER_05What is your job?
SPEAKER_01Anyone with a question for Barry?
SPEAKER_05This is Andy.
SPEAKER_01Oh, here we go. Oh just get a mic to you. Oh no, we'll get the mic to you so that we can hear it and for the recording.
SPEAKER_00Okay, I just wanted to know what you mean. When when you're flipping the farms, or when you go into the farm and you see something and you go, gee, I can see this as a finished thing. Are you just talking about the house or the business or the way the yards are arranged? What what do you mean?
SPEAKER_05Well, as you know, everyone likes clean and tidiness. Um, everything likes things painted up, everything in portion. So you go in and and from the front of the driveway to the back of the farm, you know, your fence is right, you know, you lay, you're very, it's like with Pericuda. A lot of people have said to us with all the palm trees, and I bitch the mise 2.5 K's at bitchman down the road, then talk the council into doing another two, which they said they'd never do, but they did. And it's presentations, as soon as you go through that front gate to give them that woe factor, it just gives people that feeling. They go, this place has been looked after. You know, and I'm not not everyone's like that, and I'm not saying people have to be, you know what I mean, but you know, all your gates open and shut, and everything's just nice, and your gardens. And years ago on a farm, a house didn't mean much. You know, a farmer would say, Mum, you're not putting five grand into the house, bugger that, I'll buy another bull, you know what I mean? Where today the house does matter. Because when you're selling a farm, I can tell you now, the young lady or older lady or mature, whatever, has a big input. And that input will be that home. And the home is the heart, that's where you can. And there's nothing better than coming home to your house and you've got nice lawns and gardens, and and you've had a hard day, and you sit back and have a nice cold beer, and you go, this looks good. It's a great feeling, you know. And I've been to a lot of farms over hundreds and thousands of them, and I think having everything presented properly is a very adequate way to sell something. Leave nothing done for the next person so they can go away, they say, There's nothing to be done. And sometimes the husband would say, Well, that's fantastic because I can't be bothered doing anything. So, you know what I mean? So, yeah, presentation is everything.
SPEAKER_01Questions? Anyone? Uh, over there we've got one. One here, maybe. Okay, we've got one there, and then we'll get what get one to you.
SPEAKER_03I was just wondering if we're going to have robots in the shearing shed.
SPEAKER_05That got tried many years ago, and one of my mates uh uh worked on it in Bendigo and all that, and he said it was the best three years of free ride money I've ever had. Absolute waste of money. But I'll never say it's not gonna happen. But if the genetics and every sheep was exactly the same, but the problem with it is is as we know, you know, you might have 500 sheep, this place got 5,010, and the cost of everything at the moment would just blow it, it blows it out of proportion, it's just unmanageable. But look, who knows in 20, 30 years, look what's happened in the last 20 years. You know, look at our roads, for instance, you know, like the potholes and everything. Are they really thinking about fixing the roads? In 30 or 40 years' time, we could be like The Simpsons. The cars don't even go on the bitchment, they hover that far above it, and then when we stop, the tyres go down and we go off. So they might be caring about the roads. Who knows? I I don't foresee it in my era, but things can change.
SPEAKER_01Another question from the floor here.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, um, thanks very much for sharing your life with us this afternoon and tremendous courage, remarkable. But you've obviously seen a lot of farms during your time as uh sharing contractor. What are some of the common traits uh of the better farms that you've worked at?
SPEAKER_05Knowing what numbers of sheep they got for a start, instead of going there with a five stand, I should have been there with a three, or um booking them out for the whole week, and we finish on Wednesday afternoon. And I said, Oh, that's right, I sold them in the back paddock. You know, like um, yeah, know your numbers, have good facilities, and have everything, you know. It's like it's like a car, isn't it? Maintenance. Every time you finish shearing, no matter how good your setup is, you're gonna get a hinge that'll break. You're gonna get a you know, a bit of timber that breaks, you know, flooring or whatever. It's just a matter of going through your sheet, rectifying those little items. They're not big items, but little things, uh, and it makes it so much easier. Like there's nothing worse going into a shearing pen and you're coming in now that door and you've got to grab that door and put it back all the going in and out, in and out. It doesn't sound much, but when you're a professional shearer and you say you're shearing 200 sheep, you're going in and out, in and out, you'd ought to be thinking about that door. I'm thinking about the 14 sheep in that pen, which one I'm gonna shear next, because you just don't go in and grab every sheep. You calculate when I go and look at a pen, I know which sheep I'm shearing next, and I know that the snag will come on the hour, so I can then put a new car and cut it on and hit him with a fresh, and I know one with a bit of dag on it that shouldn't have it anyway, but I'll do him at the end of the run. So at the end of the day, that spring is such a big concern to a shearer, which means nothing hobby to the average farmer, but it is because it's a deterrent, because all of a sudden, if you don't put that door back and you're coming out the pen and you smash your back in that door, you can be out for six weeks. You know, and then not only that, we stay in that injury for the rest of your life. So that's why I say farming and the shearing and the shear is when they come, you should all work together, you know. And and the first thing the farmer says, look, if there's something wrong, there's a hinge or whatever, just let me know. Don't whinge about it. Just let me know. I've got to spare and you always have spare guts, spare hinges, and things that you know that are going to break. You know, just little things. And those little things can keep production going, and the shearer goes, God, he's on to it, isn't he? And they get a whole different ball game. I'm not saying all shears, you you get the odd one that's a little bit of a smarty, that's fine, you know. But at the end of the day, they're easy allocated. They're fine. You work them out, and usually they're soft anyway, they're just they've got a big front, you know. But but having those little things there to fix that problem immediately is called efficiency.
SPEAKER_01I want to uh just quickly ask, we've got a bit of time here, is a photo of you uh in in a TAFE scenario. Um so I wanted to ask about on-farm training because you know that's been quite um revolutionary in making sure that we do have skilled shearers.
SPEAKER_05Yes, yeah. Well, back when I started Belmore Sharing, the late Darren Templeton, which passed away at a very young age and a great man. Templetons are a big name in the Dunkel area. And um I said to Darren, every September, October, pinching 20 or 30 people off of me to these shearing schools. And I said, Darren, I've had enough of you. I really like you, but man, I've had enough of you. I need these shed hands, I need these shearers, you know. And he said, Yeah, but they want to go to a shearing school, so you can't stop them, because if you stop them, they'll just finish up that week and go shear someone else and go to the shearing school. So I said, why don't we set up an on-farm training where actually those ladies and men can come and learn on the job? And you can't be anyone on the job. And no farmer will get angry because he says, Oh, there's an instructor there. Oh, you know, they're helping the shearers improve their shearing, the rouse about to learn the skirt better and the stand still full because they're on their shearing, the rouse about still there, but the young lady or young man has got a trainer that follows them around, and he said, How are we gonna get this going? I said, Well, I don't know, you're you're the bloody hierarchy, you get it going. I said, get onto this damn thing down at Warnerville, what you're involved in. I said, get onto these tapes, and I said, get onto them. I said, I haven't got time to be worrying about that. You get it sorted and we'll we'll get it all fixed. So we got onto tape, and taped down at Warble were fantastic, and um um an Italian fellow, I can't think of his name at the moment, and um, so we got in down, he said, I want to come and see a shed. I've got to experience it. I said, Good, because you can't beat on farm experience. So we got in there and I said, Look, mate, he said, now what's the hassle with us pinching all your workers? I said, Well, when you pinch all my workers, you come and do the work. I said, Who's doing the damn work? I've got Jackie Billy booked here, he's got all his sheep, and you're pinching all my staff. I said, We need on-farm training. Because then the people don't have to leave their work, they're getting paid still, and they're getting trained and they're getting better at what they do. And he said, That makes sense. But he said, How do we get it through to the to the people which fund it? And I said, Well, that's your job. So off he went, he rang me and he said, We may be on a winner. So we spent six months going to meetings, putting up the, you know, as we do with the bureaucracy to get through all the hoops and hoodles. And I said, Why don't you just all come out of the damn shed and have a look how it works? Oh, well, you know, they've never been in a shed after. It was funny. So we got them out there and they all went high, they enjoyed it, we put a good show on. And we got a pass, and that how that's how on-farm training started. And um, it's been a revolution in the industry.
SPEAKER_01Now, to uh end it all, I've got a photo of you there at uh Laurundel, is that how I say it?
SPEAKER_05Or whatever you want to say. The posh ones say that, the bushies like me say Laurundel. It's all good.
SPEAKER_01I say posh, I'm very I'm from Western Sydney, so uh who knows what will come out of my mouth. Um, so I wanted to ask, what's the best piece of business or life advice that you've ever been given, or perhaps you've formed over your time? What would you impart to someone?
SPEAKER_05Be honest and try and deliver what you say and be very responsible for when you make a mistake. Don't pass it on. And um, it's like I've always you know said to young blokes, and like my children, if you're working on a farm, you're down the back gate, you run into the gate, you smash it. Well, the farmer's gonna find it. No question. You're best off getting in the youth, going up, saying, Billy, I just smashed the back gate. What are we gonna do? He says, What are we gonna do? Is you and I gonna go down there and fix it, and let's just hope it doesn't happen again. Honesty's the best policy, you know, and it's and there's nothing worse in a shearing team when you've got five, six shearers, and you've got one that's just letting the sheep go a little bit, might be cutting them, and he won't put his hand up, and everyone else gets the blame. It's an awful thing. That's where I love where you've got separate pens where you can simigrate and pick out the person at fault. You know, but I always say be honest and be accountable for your um mistakes, and we all make them every day. There's no question.
SPEAKER_01Great. Well, I think that's it. Uh thank you so much, Barry Clark. A big round of applause for Barry Clark. Thank you. Uh yeah.