Second win in a row for Gippsland's Phillips Livestock & Auctions

Paul and Noelene Phillips have retained the Top Throughput Machinery Agency title for the second consecutive year, with their business, Phillips Livestock & Auctions, moving 2,965 lots across 15 sales in FY26.

The husband-and-wife team operates out of Warragul in West Gippsland.

AuctionsPlus CEO Wyn Snyman said the Phillips' consistency reflected the standard they had set for themselves.

“Paul and Noelene do an incredible job for vendors and buyers on AuctionsPlus. You can really tell they take pride in what they do, and they play an important role in moving machinery and miscellaneous items around Australia. Congratulations,” Mr Snyman said.

Phillips Livestock & Auctions has run 100% online since its first sale in November 2022. Mr Phillips' background is with SEJ, where he managed the Warragul branch until it closed at the end of 2019, before moving into on-farm clearing sales as a contractor.

The business works because Mr Phillips and his wife split the job along their strengths.

“It is a team effort, my wife and I, and we've both got strengths and weaknesses," Mr Phillips said. “Noelene is very good on furniture, household, antique-y sort of stuff. I'm more the farm machinery,” Mr Phillips said. “So between the two of us, we can handle an estate."

The bulk of the Phillips' work is estate sales, referred through real estate agents and solicitors handling a property or a will.

“You're dealing with someone's lifetime of collecting or memorabilia,” Mr Phillips said. “Usually there's a little bit of stress involved in those situations, and if we can come in and do it somewhat nearly right, that keeps everyone happy.”

Their 50th sale under the Phillips Livestock & Auctions banner was a case in point. The vendor was the daughter of the deceased, based outside the area and with little idea what her father's sheds actually contained. What was thought of just junk turned out to include a restored car and rare engine, along with a run of other early machinery and collectibles.

It is that kind of outcome that keeps the Phillips committed to the online model.

“It's gratifying for us, and this is why we will continue to use AuctionsPlus. The audience is huge, and we never know who is watching,” Mr Phillips said.

On that particular sale, bidding or inquiries came from every state and territory bar the Northern Territory and Western Australia. “I know full well those people would not turn up to an on-site clearing sale. That's why we keep on going, because we know we've got such a huge audience.”

The Phillips travel widely to take on jobs, including some that other agents might leave in the too-hard basket. This year alone they have run sales from Orbost in the east to Mildura in the northwest, along with Geelong, with most work concentrated around Gippsland. Sales in Horsham and Hamilton are booked in soon as well.

The catalogue can run just as wide as the map. Alongside the usual run of farm machinery, the Phillips have handled a full haberdashery and sewing machine collection, a set of collectable gourds, and, at the other end of the scale, a 600-horsepower Case Quadtrac tractor that sold for around $650,000, among the biggest single-lot results they have handled.

For Mr Phillips, it is proof of just how varied the job can be.

“We've sold all sorts of things, from genuine antiques, collectibles and knick-knacks right through to full-blown farm machinery, and everything in between,” he said.

AuctionsPlus Awards FY26 Winners:

Top Throughput Cattle Assessor: Darryl Napper

Top Throughput Sheep Assessor: Kelvin Donnan

Top Throughput Cattle Agency and Top Throughput Combined Livestock Agency: Davidson Cameron & Co

Top Throughput Sheep Agency: Spence Dix & Co Keith

Top Throughput Machinery Agency: Phillips Livestock & Auctions

Howard Gardner Award: Trevor Basset

Gary Dick Award: James Tierney

Young Gun Award: Charlie Bible

Industry Woman of the Year: Sam Platts

Machinery Excellence Award: Angus Newcombe