3. A Brief History of Buckmaster Hawkey

The History:

Established Reputation From Pioneer Beginnings.

In 1981 Pam Newton pioneered the specialist property recruitment agency as a Division of Newton Business Pty Ltd. The company was established in 1970 by her husband, Peter to provide unprecedented specialist consultancy advice to Real Estate Agents. The consultancy specialised in the development of real estate agencies focusing on the valuation and sale of businesses and rent rolls in Victoria, as well as providing management consulting on listing and selling techniques and financial management advice to companies in every state in Australia and New Zealand.

1981 - FIRST OF ITS KIND

The recruitment division was the first of its kind within the Recruitment Agency and Consultancy industry. Specialists were not the trend at the time, particularly those run by proprietors experienced within the industry for which the business catered.

In her previous 20 years Pam had operated within two major Melbourne Metropolitan real estate agencies and gained experience in every position, which incorporated recruitment and human resource management. She identified a real need - to help proprietors with the acquisition and retention of a most important asset - staff.

It was evident that general recruitment agencies had little or no understanding of the operations and culture of a real estate agency. As with most small to medium sized businesses, proprietors did not have the time or training in this critical business function - staff selection. The size of these offices did not warrant the employment of a HR professional which still applies today in many cases.

With Pam's management experience in estate agency practice including staff selection, supervision and retention plus her commitment to personalised service the recruitment arm of the business was born! It was a natural extension to the already established management consultancy activities which Peter had provided to real estate agencies for the previous eleven years.

1992 - A NEW NAME

In 1992 Newton Business Pty Ltd bought out the Victorian business of Buckmaster Hawkey Limited, a New South Wales company. This purchase complimented Peter's consultancy services to real estate agencies by incorporating the valuation and sale of accounting practices to the existing broking services.

From 1992 the trading name of the company's activities was changed to Buckmaster Hawkey (Victoria). The recruitment activities have continually expanded from this time when the first recruitment consultant was employed and is still best known today as Melbourne's longest standing team of recruitment professionals - an established reputation focussed on service, knowledge and results with the client's best interests in mind. We enjoy many longstanding relationships as a result.

Today Buckmaster Hawkey focuses all it's activities on Recruitment and Consulting to real estate and property professionals and organisations.

2007 - Our Exciting News in October 2007

After celebrating the 25th year since the inception of the recruitment arm of the business in 2006 and as a result of long term succession planning an exciting announcement was made by Peter and Pam Newton.

Mark Appleby and Jeanette Hockney, two of the longstanding and most successful Senior Consultants became the new owners of Buckmaster Hawkey (Victoria) from 1/10/2007.

Mark and Jeanette's theme is "business as usual" and this being so the transition was a quiet, inhouse affair. They will continue in their existing day to day roles supported by the experienced recruitment and support team. The business structure remains and Pam will continue to support the new owners for the foreseeable future, with Peter retiring in early 2008.

Appointments will be made over the first year to recruit more staff to the consulting and support team in order to provide support to Mark and Jeanette whilst they become involved in the management and planning for the business' future development.

The Buckmaster Hawkey Team were delighted with the announcement of a Management Buyout as this ensures the continuity of the focus and future development of the business.