Three hundred guests, employees of Auscott operations in Australia, were joined by the chairman of the J.G. Boswell company, Mr Jim Boswell and other senior US executives last night to celebrate Auscott’s 50th anniversary in Australia.
Auscott employees from the Namoi, Macquarie and Gwydir valleys heard chairman Mr Dave Anthony recall the history of Auscott from its founding by Jim Blasdell and Richard Rhodes, in conjunction with the J.G. Boswell Company in 1963.
Auscott became a wholly owned subsidiary of J.G. Boswell in 1964.
Blasdell and Rhodes overcame early controversy in acquiring and consolidating three soldier settler blocks, and the company met serious seasonal challenges, notably a massive infestation of weeds in the crop following two inches of January rain in 1964.
“Weeds nearly brought the whole operation undone and 77 percent of the 4,200 acre crop was ploughed in that season” said Mr Anthony.
However, the company persevered and grew.
Auscott was the first major corporate farm of its style and proved a significant success, expanding from Narrabri into the Macquarie and Gwydir valleys, building gins in each valley.
The success of the company has been underwritten by its people, chairman Mr Anthony said in his address.
In the audience were long serving employees including Mr Curly Murphy, Operations Manager at Warren, who has been part of the Auscott team for 46 years.