Wool brokers are back together again

After a brief work hiatus, Tim Chapman, known to almost everyone as 'Chappy', on Monday joined former Primaries of WA colleague Carl Poingdestre at Dyson Jones Wool Marketing Services.

Between them, Mr Chapman and Mr Poingdestre have 89 years combined in the wool industry.

The men worked together at Primaries for 31 years before Mr Poingdestre left last year to join Dyson Jones.

Mr Chapman has also judged wool at the Perth Royal Show for about 30 years and has been the show's chief wool judge for the past five years, as well as a frequent judge at Wagin Woolorama over the years.

Mr Chapman said it was only the second time in a 50-year career in wool that he had changed companies without the company he worked for being taken over.

As a 17-year-old he joined Westwools, the Fremantle-based wool scourer and exporter created and built up into one of the largest wool companies in Australia by WA businessman Bill Hughes, a brother-in-law of entrepreneur Alan Bond.

"I started in bulk class, learning wool classing and went to Fremantle tech to do my classer's certificate," Mr Chapman said.

"Then the company sent me to Albany to run the woolstore there and as a wool technician I also started canvassing - visiting wool growers in the Jerramungup to Ravensthorpe area.

"Then I moved to Katanning for three years and when Elders took over Westwools I stayed with them looking after clients in the Katanning district.

"They said I was the first country-based wool rep in WA."

Mr Chapman also started auctioning wool at Albany and Fremantle and at the Western Wool Centre (WWC) after it opened in Bibra Lake.

He left Elders in 1989 to join Primaries and for a time was wool manager there before stepping back as part of a corporate succession plan.

Mr Chapman left Primaries earlier this year as the merger of its parent company Ruralco with Landmark to form Nutrien Ag Solutions began to come into effect.

"I'm looking forward to new challenges with Dyson Jones Wool Marketing Services and helping with the expansion of Dyson Jones' business," Mr Chapman said.

"I've got a good client base to service in the Upper Great Southern and I'm glad to be back doing what I know best.

"In my type of work I've always tried to provide a personalised service to clients and the Dyson Jones ethos is all about personal service, so I feel very comfortable here.

Dyson Jones State manager Peter Howie said he was very pleased to have 'Chappy' on board and teamed back up with his long-term work colleague Mr Poingdestre.

"For us, having Chappy join us was an easy fit," Mr Howie said.

Dyson Jones has recently expanded the size of its show floor by about one third and reconditioned two bale coring machines at its Howson Way, Bibra Lake, woolstore and offices in preparation for an expected busy spring shearing season.

It has also created a new office off the expanded show floor for its team of wool representatives.

"Apart from wool, we are also looking to expand our livestock services and concentrate on clearing sales," Mr Howie said.

As recently reported in Farm Weekly, Dyson Jones Wool Marketing Services' parent company Australian Wool Network (AWN), Australia's largest independent wool broker, is expanding into WA under its own name.

AWN has said it would offer wool services - including direct-to-mill export and specialist local wool apparel manufacture - to WA woolgrowers alongside Dyson Jones' continuing business.

It also plans to replicate its Eastern States' livestock services here.

A separate AWN office and woolstore - which already has wool bales showing a number of stencils stacked in it - has been established in Cocos Drive, Bibra Lake, less than half a kilometre from the Dyson Jones woolstore.

AWN is expected to offer its first wool catalogue at the WWC within weeks of live auctions resuming after the annual three-week winter recess.