Neil Penny

Neil Penny fell in love with chickens when he was just a young boy. At 12 years old Neil saved up money earned from his paper round and went to the Royal Melbourne Show with the intention of buying some chickens.

I came and looked at the chooks with the intent of buying a trio, or a pair, or a pet. I talked to one of the attendants there and fell in love with the Brown Leghorn Bantams … I paid a deposit on these chooks and paid seven and sixpence a week for about 14 weeks. That's where I started my love of [the breed] and I've still got that bloodline today, the same bloodline.

As a young boy Neil came to the Show every day and spent all his time with the chickens, talking to as many breeders as he could and learning every possible thing. Neil remembers, ‘And poor old Les [Price], he'd see me coming and he'd hide because I used to be an annoying little fellow at 13’. By the time he was 18, Neil was working as a steward during the Show.

Neil started showing his chickens early too. He remembers boxing them up and putting them on the train at Woodend. Upon arrival at Spencer Street they would be collected by the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria (RASV) attendants and organised into the right cages at the Show. Soon Neil was assisting with this process. He recalls:

We used to get probably a third of our entries used to come by rail. And people would deliver them in their utes and their trailers, whatever. A couple of people would fly them in and we would get a taxi over to the airport and pick them up from the airport. 

It wasn’t long before Neil joined RASV as a member of the poultry committee, taking on the role of deputy chairman and chairman over the years. In 1997, Neil was amused and proud when his chicken Charlie received the President’s Medal for being a Show icon since 1993.

What a fantastic kick for the poultry that was, to do that, and what a kick it was for me to own the thing.