This year, Terry Monaghan celebrates 50 years as the second-generation owner of Monaghans Real Estate in Stawell.
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His father, Richard Peter Monaghan, or RP as he was known, opened the business in 1962.
Terry has never been one to sit on the sidelines and watch; he'd rather be participating.
"I don't go on holidays to look; I go on holidays to do," he said.
Doing, could include cycling precarious tracks or diving with sharks.
He applies the same enthusiasm to his professional life.
He began working part-time with his father in December 1968 on the same site this business is on now.
His first full week's pay was $22.65 at 56 cents an hour.
"It doesn't sound like much now, and I'm unsure if I thought it was a lot then."
Even on that wage, he could purchase his first car, a two-tone aqua and white 1956 Holden, for $300.
Work in the building trade supported his next purchase, a white 1967 Ford Falcon Sedan, before he graduated to his first new car, a 1975 Toyota Corona, lime green in colour and ivory vinyl seats.
"I began full-time work in the business on October 8, 1974, so I'd worked with my father since 1968 and had a good grasp of the company by then.
"However, I had valuable mentors in Joan Marquard, who worked for my father. She was a brilliant mentor, and so was Solicitor Reg SenHpa."
He'd gained valuable life experience, working in the building and mining industry in Alice Springs, skin diving in Western Australia, and marketing for the Melbourne Times Newspaper. He had hitched around Australia for 18 months doing whatever jobs were available, including digging a well in the Northern Territory.
These pursuits led him to meet his wife, Annette, in Alice Springs. They married in Broken Hill in 1971 before moving to Stawell in 1974.
Mr. Monaghan said that Real Estate has changed over the 50 years, but customer service is still the mainstay.
"Our clients have been loyal too," he said.
One client, impressed with the service he received, relayed the following story to the Stawell Times.
" I wanted to inspect a house on a Saturday afternoon," he said. "Terry was playing tennis, but that didn't stop him. He left the match during a break, showed me the house, and then returned to continue the match.
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It was a very hands-on business model for the new owner when starting.
"There was no internet, so I'd place an ad in the paper for blocks of land, sit in my car at the site, and wait for people to come and have a look and hopefully buy," Mr Monaghan said.
"That was in 1975, and blocks of land were sold for a deposit of $4000, which was interest-only at 9 percent over three years, with payment due at the end of that time."
The rental market has also changed with technology.
"People renting homes from us would come in each week and pay their rent in cash.
"Now it is mostly done automatically by direct transfer."
Mr Monaghan believes that while every generation has seen change, the current generation has seen more change than any other generation due to technology.
Although he agrees the internet has increased their reach, Monaghan's Real Estate has continued advertising in the local newspaper since 1962.
"Our community still likes to have a newspaper, so it's important for us to continue to communicate that way."
Other changes to the industry over his five decades in the business include money management.
"We used to put on a suit, walk into the bank manager's office, and walk out with the money because they knew you.
"But now it's all numbers, and how they add up, so we've lost some personal interaction."
Until the pandemic in 2020, he said he would have described his business as steady and secure with solid growth. However, Covid-19 created frantic buying, and prices rose 50 to 100 percent.
"Covid's effect on real estate was the most significant change I had seen in the industry in the decades I'd been involved.
"It has steadied now, and we have almost returned to pre-covid conditions," he said.
Monaghans Real Estate supports the community by sponsoring football and sporting clubs and charitable organizations.
Our rental file also supports many trades, so the steady and continuous circulation of money through the community keeps it stable.
"My staff have been fabulous and are what makes growing a successful business possible.
"One of those is Emily Dalkin, who has been with the company for 35 years," he said.
Son Matthew joined the company 20 years ago.
"To have a third generation in the business is just great," he said.
The adventurous spirit, which keeps him water skiing and riding dangerous trails, could be inherited.
"My great grandfather Patrick Monaghan boarded the SS Great Britain in Ireland to sail unaccompanied to the land of milk and honey, arriving in Melbourne in 1863.
"He was just 16 years old," he said.
According to family archives, he believes there was a relative in Ararat, and the young pioneer, Patrick, worked there as a labourer. He then went droving in Queensland and NSW before settling in Stawell in 1876.
He worked for the Shire as the Valuer of Rates, an Inspector of Thistles, and the Dog Pound Keeper.
"He had a son, Peter, who was my grandfather."
"My father opened the business after serving in Borneo in World War II and a short stint working for Elders.
Terry Monaghan was born in Stawell, educated at Xavier College, married Annette, and has three children: Ben, Matthew, and Emily. They also have two grandchildren.
"I'm a proactive person, I'm not reactive, and I think we're known for that," he said.
