“I’ve been feeling for a couple of years now that I should slow down,” 71-year-old Mr Millner said. 

“But I am worried that going from flat out 60 to 70 hours a week, to no work might kill me.”

Mr Milliner and his wife Lexie built their family business up from nothing and at its peak the Milliners employed about 28 people to 15 to 18 employees now.

“I was worried about the men finding jobs in a small down, but so far about 90 percent of them have found jobs and the couple that haven’t I have been trying to help find one.

“There were three things I wanted to do as a kid and that was to own bulldozers and trucks and play Slim Dusty music, and now I have it all.”

Ron met Lexie in 1963 and they have been married for 53 years.

“We stuck it out through thick and thin,” Ron said.

They have three children, two daughters Gaylene and Leanda and a son Justine.

Their daughter Leanda has been running the office and handling the business finance for more than 20 years.

“We wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for Leanda.

“Building a business this size hasn’t been easy,” he said.

As for his love of Slim Dusty music, Ron still gets to play it.  He plays guitar and the rest of the family play as well.

“We’ve been playing with the Milliner Family Band for year’s and years.

Ron says that part of the success of his business has been the fact that his wife Lexie was always so supportive of the things that Ron wanted to do.

So this week Ron has 175 lots up for online auction. The auction started last Saturday and since then Ron has been busy with inquiries. 

“Some lots are only small, other much bigger, but we’ll have a better idea on Thursday after it closes how we went,” he said. 

“Once the online auction is over, we can see what equipment we have left with and make our final decisions about what to do then.”