Weren't you meant to be retired, like, 10 years ago? jokes Keith Patrick's niece, Esther. "Didn't we have a big party and an article [in the Tribune in 2012]?"
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Those seven years were but a moment ago for the elder Patrick, who has been in the butchery business for 62 years, 36 of them in partnership with younger brother Terry.
For more than 75 years, the family business - which began with their father Bill in the mid 1940s - has traded in the main street of Yass.
But the time for passing trade to a younger generation has come for the pair, who wink that they'll be moving into "professional punting" soon.
Being in business itself has been a bit of a gamble, given ever-increasing overheads and regulation, and lately the drought drying up some sources of quality meats.
They did have the guarantee, however, of learning from a master.
"Back in those days, you didn't have to go to TAFE, so to speak, because the master butcher - our father - he was the teacher, and we did our so-called apprenticeship under him," said Terry.
"So we're lucky our clientele have been coming in for years and years because our product is of a high standard; but owning a business for 36 years doesn't mean that you're just a butcher: you have to be a businessman and up on the ball all the time.
"For Patricks to be around in another 10 or 15 years, it needs a young kid with energy."
That "young kid" is going to be manager Aaron Nettheim, joined by Tom Girdler, who came to the business in Year 10 from Yass High through a school-based apprenticeship.
"I'm excited to take over," Aaron said. "We've already got a few Christmas orders and Terry will keep doing a couple of days to help [until the end of the financial year]."
"Aaron is going on Facebook and Instagram, talking about it, having photos of what he's doing," Keith said. "You've got to keep up with the times. So he'll be right, doing that."
The brothers were born in Sydney and came to Yass via Blayney as youngsters. Keith was "only a billy lid" when their father's shop was at Dan's Corner in Campsie, Sydney.
"He had about 10 [shops], because in those days ... he would see a butcher's shop, walk in and have a chat with the feller, and say, Do you want to sell?" Keith said.
"'Yeah.' Well, how much do you want for it? and he would almost pay for it there and then. And then, later, somebody else would do the same thing. So he shifted around.
"He always wanted to get out of the city so he could go find somewhere to process his own beef."
Terry took up the story: "Dad would go to the sales and buy.
"We had a property out the other side of town, a couple of hundred acres, where they would fatten up stock and then transport it to the other side of town to the slaughteryard.
"That all changed because of regulations coming into the game, and we decided to start sourcing our supply out of abattoirs, wholesale.
"Now today, all of our beef comes out of Victoria. Why? people ask. Consistency, and the stock is a lot better."
Terry said the main street once had "four, five butcher's shops; three, four greengrocers; three, four little supermarkets; and people were walking around ... passing trade.
"A little ol' country town like Yass needs people to support it, that passing trade."
"The people who come in here love to have a chat and what-have-you," Keith agreed.
But harking back, "where Eagle's Nest [Church] is now [on the corner of Comur and Rossi streets], that was Woodhill's grocer's shop," Keith said.
"We'd have people coming in, looking for bacon, and Dad would say, no, we're not selling bacon, you can get that down the grocer's shop.
"We wouldn't compete against them, whereas now, even the chemist sells bacon!" he joked. "Can you imagine if Dad came back now," Keith said, turning to Terry, gesturing at their range of produce, such as honey, on the shelves: "Look at all this rubbish!"
"This game has changed so much," Keith concluded, "where a lot of businesses [have ready meals]: you come in, pick it up, pay for it, off you go. There's your baked dinner."
Free barbecue
This Saturday, December 21, at 49 Comur Street, from 9.30am to noon, join the Patricks for a free barbecue as they say thanks to Yass.
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