AUSTRALIA’S wool brokers will celebrate their national body’s centenary in Melbourne this week.

More than 200 hundred people will come together on Thursday to celebrate the centenary of the National Council of Wool Selling Brokers of Australia.

The centenary will be marked by the NCWSBA Centenary Auction, followed by a cocktail reception and a charity auction in support of the Michael Manion Wool Industry Foundation.

NCWSBA president John Colley said the council represents the majority of Australian wool brokers, with members accounting for more than 80 percent of wool sold at auction in Australia.

It is the only national organisation representing Australian wool brokers in Australia and internationally.

Brokers’ council formed

Mr Colley said the Australian wool industry is an iconic part of Australia’s history and its economy, and wool broking companies have played a vital role in that history and the industry’s contribution to the Australian economy.

“NCWSBA has since its inception in December 1919 represented the Australian wool broking industry on the many issues that have affected the Australian wool industry.

“The national council was established by the state wool broker organisations to give a national voice to wool brokers on the issue of the sale of the wool stockpile that had built up during the First World War under the government’s compulsory acquisition scheme,” Mr Colley said.

“The intention was that the national council would be disbanded after just two years once the single issue was addressed, but it proved to be such as success that we now celebrate its centenary.”

The centenary auction will be at the Peter Calvo Auditorium, the Australian Institute of Music, 120 King St, Melbourne. The purpose-built four-storey building housed the Melbourne Wool Exchange between 1914 and 1972 and it was the location of the first NCWSBA Board meeting in January 1920.

There will be 1358 bales offered in 201 lots for sale in a fully commercial auction with wool offered by 12 of the member companies of NCWSBA. The samples of the wool being offered can be seen at the AWH Wool Auction Centre in Tottenham. The sale will be attended by the Melbourne-based wool buyers and observed by leaders from all sectors of the Australian wool industry, past presidents and executive directors of NCWSBA, wool broking company staff and wool growers. The first lot will be offered no earlier than 4:30pm.

The centenary cocktail reception will be held at the Intercontinental Melbourne The Rialto from 6pm. The two buildings which make up the Intercontinental Melbourne The Rialto have had a long association with the wool industry in Melbourne, including being the location for Melbourne wool sales in the late 1890s and early 1900s. They also housed the offices of a number of wool broking companies.

Mr Colley said items to be sold at the charity auction donated by sponsors include lengths of wool fabric from Ermenegildo Zegna and Reda, a wool throw and gift vouchers from Merino & Co, as well as gift vouchers from ioMerino, Elders and United by Wool.

“On behalf of the NCWBA board and members, I would like thank the companies who have donated these products.

“I would also like to acknowledge the generous support of our sponsors, particularly our gold sponsors, AWH, AWTA Ltd and Bayer Australia,” Mr Colley said.

Money raised through activities related to the NCWSBA Centenary events, including the charity auction, will be donated to the Michael Manion Wool Industry Foundation. The chairman of the foundation, Ken Stock, will make a speech at the cocktail reception.

NCWSBA member companies include Arcadian Wool, Australian Wool Network, BN Proud & Co, Dalgety Wool, Dyson Jones, Elders, Goddard Wool Marketing, HC Wool, Jackson of Geelong, Jemalong Wool, Landini Wool, Landmark, Macdonald & Co Woolbrokers, Michell Direct Wool, Monaro Wool, Primaries of WA, Rhodes Wool, Roberts Wool, Rodwells, Schute Bell Badgery Lumby, TWG Wool, WISS Wool, Wool Auctions Australia, Wool Solutions.

The sponsors of the NCWSBA centenary events include AWH, AWTA Ltd, Bayer Australia, Talman, Techwool Trading, AWEX, Heiniger, Lempriere, NAB, New England Wool, Pack-Tainers, PJ Morris Exports, Swan Wool Processors, United Wool Company, Endeavour Wool Exports, Ermenegildo Zegna, Grampians Wool, G Schneider Australia, Merino & Co, Michell, Modiano Australia, Reda, Southern Aurora, Winnipeg Wool Handling and United by Wool.