By Abbey Cannan
The ‘best little town on the Downs’ recently came alive with bargain hunters travelling from all around to attend the 44th Allora Community Auction on Sunday 9 June, although many say it wasn’t quite as big as previous years.
About 200 volunteers from 30 local charities worked together booking goods in, assisting the auctioneers and feeding the crowds. The hours worked by the various charity members are added up and the profits are divided accordingly with about 40 per cent of total sales going to the local charities.
Someone who hasn’t missed a beat at the Auction is local real estate agent and auctioneer, Stuart Bond, who has spent the past 44 years auctioning off anything and everything in the name of charity.
Born and bred in the district, Stuart first joined the real estate agent field as his dad was an agent and “talked him into it”.
“I think the fact that I have grown up and worked in the district my whole life has given me an edge in the real estate industry,” Stuart said.
Having sold well over 25,000 items, Stuart has many funny memories of the Allora Community Auction, but there is one story in particular that still always makes him laugh.
“I was selling a S/C windmill and it was supposed to be about 25 years old but had never been erected. The guy that owned it then said it was new and someone else said it can’t be new it’s 25 years old. So, a guy decided to step inside the 12-foot fan on the ground and undo the big brass wing nut from on top of the mill currently lying horizontal on the ground. He removed the cover only to be welcomed by a six-foot brown snake. The movement from the crowd was fast and furious as the snake moved on,” Stuart recalled.
Stuart said when the Allora Community Auction first started it was known as the White Elephant Sale.
“It first started with three local Auctioneers, Jim Leeson, Keith Marsterns (known as KO) and Barry Geitz, and then it became the Apex Club Charity,” Stuart said.
“I teamed up in 1976 as Jim Leeson said it was ‘your time boy to do something for the community’.
“A few years ago, it became the Allora Community Auction and was always run on Queens Birthday weekend but now that we don’t have a long weekend anymore, we don’t seem to get the crowds like we use to.”
Stuart said that they used to get a lot more people travelling from Brisbane and the Coast but they don’t seem to get them anymore.
“Also with this drought that has been going on, with no sign of braking, it is a big deterrent for the local people to spend monies,” he said.
“This year we only sold approximately 1700 lots where as in years gone by we could do up to 3000.”
Stuart said the most important part of auctioneering is keeping the crowd happy.
“You have to know the value of the items you are selling and keep the show rolling as fast as possible,” he said.
After 43 years of doing the Allora Community Auction, Stuart has decided it is now time to retire.
“I am not retiring from the industry just from doing the Community Auction,” he said.
“I think after doing them for 43 years it’s time to let the young Auctioneers get on with it and I hope that it continues to grow as it has been a wonderful way to raise much needed monies for the Allora Community for 44 years.”
And although he is retiring from the Community Auction, Stuart said he will still be keeping himself busy as there isn’t a lot of spare time working in the real estate industry.
“When I do get spare time, I like watching the football and the local horse races as I have done a lot of the Calcutta’s over the years,” he said.
