Acting Victorian Premier Pat McNamara may have overplayed the significance of the occasion when officially opening the Victorian Livestock Exchange in Pakenham.
He told the crowd of around 500 gathered for the opening ceremony on 2 February 1999 that the occasion could be considered alongside one of history’s most famous moments.
“We all remember where we were when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, now we can remember the significance of February 1999 as a milestone for the stock industry not only in Victoria, but for the whole of Australia,” he declared.
His parliamentary colleague Rob Maclellan, the local Pakenham MP, described the new complex as the best indoor selling shed in Australia.
Plans for a major livestock exchange at Pakenham were hatched in the early 1990s when the closure of the Dandenong saleyards was announced.
In the mid-1990s, Bruce Barron and Chris Sleigh approached Graham Osborne. They had construction knowledge but needed someone with livestock market knowledge to get the idea off the ground.
“Collectively, we thought we could do it,” Osborne said in a 1999 Gazette interview.
By that stage, he was chairman of the newly-opened Victorian Livestock Exchange in Pakenham.
It took more than a year to draw up plans and project designs. Building activity began on the site, off Healesville-Kooweerup Road, in late 1997.
By the spring of 1998, there were up to 50 people working on site and a trial cattle run was held on 23 December that year.
The first edition of the Gazette for 1999 carried a front page story on the historic first sale.
A black baldy calf was knocked down to G and K O’Connor Abattoirs before a crowd of around 800 people just after 8am on Monday 4 January for 194.2 cents per kilogram, the highest price for the day.
The proceeds of that historic sale went to Windermere Child and Family Services.
There was also a charitable element to the official opening on 2 February. Three lots of cattle were auctioned in aid of special education day care centre Biala, which raised $10,350, much to the delight of Biala physiotherapist and committee member Sue Blenkhorn, who was on site to witness the event.
“It was fantastic,” she said. “I would like to thank the anonymous donors who provided the cattle for the auctions and also Mr Osborne, who chose Biala as the recipients for the sale.”
The VLE held its last sale at Pakenham on Thursday 27 June, forced to shut down due to the rising costs of land tax. The site has been sold for $25 million.
