The Hooke Street business has won numerous awards including being named Massey Ferguson’s top dealer in Australia and seven times for NSW.

Robert Irwin started the business in 1947 as a standard motor company selling cars before moving on to sell new and used tractors and implements.

Robert’s son Barry Irwin began as an apprentice motor mechanic 10 years later.

“Dad sold the 12^th  Massey Ferguson ever sold in Australia in 1948 and it was traded back in a few times before it was finally sold back to us and Dad made a sign for it,” said Barry.

The tractor now has pride of place in the workshop and is quite a talking point.

The company has customers from across the state and Barry remembers the day there was “a dairy farm at every gate and each farm had two or three Fergusons”.

Now the number of farmers has decreased and the size of the tractors has increased.

Barry and his wife Beverley handed over the reins to their son Tim and his wife Kylie on December 31 last year, ushering in a new era for the business.

Tim and Kylie’s son Thomas is now also involved in the business making it a true family affair.

The Pasha Bulker storm in 2007 took its toll on the business but not as much as the devastation wreaked by the 2015 super storm.

They lost manuals which belonged to Mr Irwin’s father, spare parts and vehicles – and were closed for close to five months.

Now Tim and Kylie have plans to move the business to higher ground in coming years, having secured a property in Dungog which is out of flood reach.