AN auctioneer representing Queensland but who lives and works in Tamworth has taken out the the national Young Auctioneers Competition title at the Sydney Royal Easter Show.
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It is the second year in a row that a Tamworth auctioneer has won the national honour.
Tamworth Landmark’s Joel Fleming took out the prize on Thursday in a one round auction where he had to sell a pen of three show steers.
Mr Fleming, 23, has been practicing the auctioneering art for nearly three-and-half years and said his second national competition was his biggest test to date.
“It was pretty daunting getting back up there knowing you only have five minutes,” he said.
Mr Fleming’s road to the national competition hasn’t been easy, after coming runner-up in 2010.
In 2009, he won the NSW competition that allowed him to compete at the national level for the first time.
Working in Queensland last year, he went to the 2011 competition representing the Sunshine State and won the state title again.
That made him eligible to compete at the national level this year, where his perseverance paid off.
But Mr Flemming has spent a lot of time working in NSW with stock and station agencies. He has previously been posted to Goulburn and Dubbo.
“I really had to make sure I had a decent shot,” Mr Fleming said.
Mr Fleming has refined his auction style at weekly fat cattle sales at the Tamworth Regional Saleyards, but his passion for the job came from his father.
“He’s a stock and station agent up at Elders in Goondiwindi,” he said.
Mr Fleming said there had been strong competition from each
of the competing state’s
representatives.
The 2012 runner-up title also went to a Tamworth agent – Sam Plevey from Manilla’s Purtle Plevey Agencies.
Mr Plevey had marked Mr Fleming as this year’s “red hot” favourite.
It had been his first year in the national competition final, but based on Mr Fleming’s past perfomances, he could certainly take another crack at the title.
Ian Morgan livestock agent Ben Goodman from Quirindi was also awarded the Max Bailey Encouragement Award for his performance in the state final this year.
Tamworth’s Andrew Warden won the national final last year.
He was on hand again this year setting the mood of the final round by selling off a pen of two steers to get the competition under way.
The night before at a dinner he gave an address on his trip to Calgary, Canada, where he represented Australia in the world young auctioneers competition.
He was kept busy as well, having to auction off six football jerseys to an appreciative crowd.
