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Simon Southwell celebrates a 30 year career with Ray White Rural this month; a journey that started in south west Queensland and continues on in the capital region near Canberra.This week, the family opens the doors on their newest shopfront in the town they proudly call home again, after four generations.
Back when it was a relatively unknown brand in Australia’s agricultural towns, Simon Southwell opened the third Ray White Rural office in Australia nearly 30 years ago.
That was in his hometown at the time: St George, Queensland.
This week, he and his son George (27) opened a huge new office in the main street of Yass, near Canberra, where the family’s roots date back five generations.
Such longevity shared between the Southwell name and the fourth generation Ray White brand is underpinned by shared family values, deep integrity and leadership during testing times.
The speculative move to partner with Ray White three decades ago - at a time when brands like Dalgety dominated the rural property sales market - came after Simon’s successes in machinery sales attracted the attention of chairman of Ray White Rural and Livestock, Paul White.
Paul asked Simon to “have a crack” at selling three nearby Telecom houses, and with his name soon on the auction signs and the advertisements already in the local newspaper, Simon rose to the challenge. The hammer came down on the three properties for around $30,000 each. Simon was hooked.
“I thought this might be a pretty good lark, but it’s just ridiculous to think I didn’t even have a real estate licence back then,” Simon chuckles.
That soon changed when Simon was entrusted with representing the newly fledged Ray White Rural franchise, still in its infancy in Queensland. Having secured what was the town’s former post office for $36,000 with wife Janie and making it into their own home, the couple then set about transforming the front room into an office and welcomed the first clients through the door.
“We had a humble home – the oldest home on the best street – and that’s where we started our first Ray White Rural office,” Simon reflects.
“We built on that for 16 years and over time we began selling significant properties for many, many millions.”
It was in 1999 when Simon made headlines for the sale of two properties near Surat, Wylarah (1,600ha) and the adjoining Talavera (2,995ha), for in the order of $3million, reported in The Australian. It was one of many sales that had the agricultural sector talking.
A newer, larger office in town followed and several more staff members joined the team. The vast irrigation development of the Condamine and Balonne Rivers saw grazing, dryland farming and irrigation properties sold in spades.
As the business grew, so too did their young family. With a brood of four, access to high quality education and other services gradually became more difficult and Simon began considering returning to his origins.
Simon hails from a fourth-generation farming family in the Southern Tablelands region of New South Wales. His father owned farming country between Canberra and Yass, before tragically passing away in 1975 when Simon was just 15-years-old. His family farming history dates back even further, with property ownership in Canberra since 1863 – before Canberra was Canberra.
With his heart set on returning to his mountain home and familial roots, Simon pitched the move to Janie.
“She’s a country girl who grew up on a property out of Toowoomba, so to take a Queenslander out of Queensland was a big thing but I have the most understanding, supportive wife,” Simon says.
“She said ‘let’s do it’ and we’ve got a beautiful place here and we’re still in the industry today.”
They packed up the four kids - the youngest just a toddler at the time - and relocated their life almost 1000 kilometres away.
His skill transcended the relocation, with noteworthy sales including Darbalara Homestead at Gundagai, Clare at Cootamundra, Snowball Gundagai, Bogolara at Yass, Riverfront Park at Tumut and even - randomly - 4.5km of untouched private coastline, Stanage Bay, north of Rockhampton this month.
The whole family flourished in their new environment, with eldest son George immediately exhibiting his adaptability and leadership potential upon enrolling at the same Canberra secondary college as his father and uncles before him, Daramalan.
“Here’s this kid from the bush from a town of 3000 people who came in and ended up running the show,” Simon proudly says.
“George enrolled in year 7 and became school captain in year 10 and the college captain in year 12, the first time a relatively new student had been afforded that role in over 50-years.”
George is now the CEO, and the lead agent in the Ray White Rural Canberra|Yass|Murumbateman team. He has risen to the highest Ray White ranks including Auction agent of the year for 4 years running, Elite Performer for 2 years and was awarded the highest accolade for an agent this year, Chairman’s Elite, putting him in the top 3pc of all agents in Australia.
Simon’s daughter Clare is also in the business and is an exceptional customer service and marketing manager. His son Thomas is studying Ag Business Management at Marcus Oldham and son Jeremy is completing a gap year as a Station Hand at Boorowa.
The broader Southwell team includes operations, rural, residential and livestock sales experts. While they may not bear the Southwell name, Simon says every staff member is family.
“The most important thing to us in this industry and our business is people,” Simon says.
“Our tremendous staff are like our family and we’ve always said they don’t work for us, they work with us and when you’ve got a business that runs like that, it’s a wonderful thing.”
With over 30 years specialising in marketing and 25 years with the Ray White Group, Simon has seen a lot of changes but still has the firm belief that selling property is a people business.
“It’s important we keep in mind that we, as marketing specialists, are entrusted to often handle the single biggest asset that people own.”
Simon and George have been awarded, on a number of occasions, for their marketing success for residential, commercial and rural sales, including achieving elite performer status within the Ray White Group.
“Awards and accolades are one thing, but they only follow on from satisfactory results,” he says.
“We are proudly and inherently local. We live where we sell, we are a family owned operation, so when you work with us you are dealing with the owners of the business. We’re also local farmers, so we’re part of the industry our clients are in too.”
Founder of Ray White Rural, Paul White, says Simon’s impact on the now industry leading brand is considerable.
"For thirty years, Simon Southwell has demonstrated Ray White Rural's family values, which is why his reputation has been so strong for so long. His influence on this network, both while he was in Queensland and now in New South Wales, has been significant," Paul said.
“To see his children, George and Clare, building such strong careers with our brand is an honour to witness and a testament to their father's leadership.”
