July 1, 2014
Back in 1989, Graham and Melody Black bought a little farm machinery business in Kingaroy … it was “very, very small”.
Over the years, 1st Avenue Machinery Sales expanded, with a lot of hard work from Graham and his family.
It became a “farmer’s supermarket”: a Kubota dealership, a Mahindra dealership, and stocked a wide range of farming equipment, tractors, slashers, belts, bolts and spare parts of all descriptions. It serviced big farms, hobby farms and everything in between.
More than 20 years ago, Graham became the Australian distributor for KMC peanut equipment and a very familiar face at peanut field days all over Queensland.
But on Friday, 1st Avenue Machinery Sales officially closed its doors.
Graham turns 65 next month, and he says it’s time to retire.
He had hoped he would be able to sell the business – which includes an adjacent house and a large block of land – as a going concern. But he’s been trying for a couple of years, with no luck.
The drought, floods, and then drought again have taken their toll on local farms, and on the businesses that service them.
“It’s been bloody hard going for the last few years,” Graham told southburnett.com.au
“It’s been the worst time to try to sell it, but when is it going to be better?”
A clearing sale will be held on August 23 to auction off all the remaining stock, as well as workshop tools and furniture. The house, office premises and land will also go under the hammer.
The future of the KMC dealership is still up in the air.
“I am talking with a couple of guys to take it on but until that’s done and dusted I will carry on with it from my farm,” he said.
Graham said he had seen a lot of changes in the peanut industry over the years, and believed he had been instrumental in some of that change.
“I brought the first American technology to the peanut industry here in Australia. I brought the first lot of KMC equipment in 1992.”
He also introduced the Harrell square plough which buries peanut trash to combat plant diseases.
“That was pretty successful,” he said.
“We covered all facets of farming but specialised in peanuts because no one else was doing it.”
Graham grew up on a farm at Memerambi and did a diesel mechanics apprenticeship with Dalgety’s, the Massey-Ferguson dealers at the time.
He started his own business in Kingaroy in 1974, “Midland Machinery”, which ran for a few years before he decided to go farming at Memerambi, and then Maidenwell and Jandowae.
He returned to Kingaroy in 1989 and bought 1st Avenue Machinery.
In 2003, he opened another shop at Gayndah but closed that three years ago. This building is also on the market now.
Graham and Melody have a farm at Crawford where they will live after retirement. They will continue farming “in a small way” and do some travelling … “get around the country and have a look before we can’t”.
“It’s been a pretty gut-wrenching decision to make to close it down. I really hoped someone would buy it off us and keep it going,” Graham said.
“But I’m tired. We want a holiday and we haven’t had a decent holiday for years.
“We have lasted over 25 years so we must have been doing something right to be still here. We have seen a lot of businesses come and go, and seen a lot of farmers come and go.
“We have seen farming at its worst, and at its best.”
- External link: Peanut Harvest Drags On
