Robert ‘Mark’ Ward was born in Ballarat Base Hospital in 1958 to Bob and Claire Ward joining an older brother with a younger brother to follow, Bernie and Brenton, and two sisters, one an adopted aboriginal child, Jodie and the other Roslyn who unfortunately endured ongoing health issues throughout her life, passing away from cancer at 56 years of age.
Mark’s memories of his childhood in the ‘Ward’ farmhouse in Ballarat, every Saturday morning was the newspaper wide open and spread out across the dining table, with his Mum and Dad scouring the pages for second hand furniture. Both of a competitive spirit, the race was on to find the best pieces, their hobby however soon changing with the opening of Bob Wards Second Hand Furniture store. Unbeknown, their middle son Mark was enthusiastically watching with interest and little did they know the impact this would have on his future career.
Mark was an enterprising and curious young boy. At 8 years of age, Mark would take a day off school each fortnight and would go to the local cattle yards to bid on young calves. He would then buy day old calves for $5 each and then hand rear them over six to eight months. Once they were grown, he would sell them for up to $80 per calf. For many months Mark would diligently awake at 5am and start feeding and tending to these young animals, all before attending a full day of school. At any one time, there were up to 30 young calves all vying for Marks attention and of course, their breakfast, in the early hours of the morning.
When Mark was 12 years of age, his family moved to Geelong where he completed one term of Year 7 and then at the age of thirteen, he and his family decided it was time for Mark to head into the workforce. Back in those days kids were allowed to leave school at this age, as long as they had a job to go to. So, Mark’s childhood moved aside for the young working man that he was about to become as a cleaner for Belmont Floor Coverings, cleaning and preparing all the floors in preparation for being carpeted. His natural curiosity led him to quickly learn how to also lay carpet and with his inbuilt confidence, drive, and determination, he left home and at 16 years of age headed to South Australia to attain a full driver’s license. He then started up his own carpet laying business and ran that until he was 18 and could return back to Victoria to be with his family where he could continue in a similar role. By that time, Mark’s father had opened the local and iconic, ‘Thriftway Furniture’ in Shannon Ave in Geelong West which was a mixed business offering both used and new furniture.
A few years later and Mark and his father, opened up the largest furniture and carpet store trading at that time in Geelong. Situated on the corner of Thomsons Rd and Separation St in North Geelong and proudly named: Mark Ward Furniture. However, for the moment this was to be a temporary venture. Mark had always adored Fish and Chips, and wanted to do it a little differently to his competitors and decided to open Popeye’s Fish and Chips. He’d designed the menu and the brand and all of his fish and chips would be cooked and placed in a box with some salad options on offer to enjoy. It was then that he heard about a franchise based in South Australia known as ‘Barnacle Bill’. Mark was keen to know more about this business, so off he went to meet with the franchisor and was offered the opportunity to roll out the first Barnacle Bill stores in Victoria. He then opened in High St, Belmont, then followed with another store in Shannon Ave, Geelong West and a third store in Chapel St in Prahran, Melbourne. Customers loved this new style of their favorite take away and often queues lined well past the front door.
Barwon Seafoods were the seafood wholesalers for each of the stores, recognizing first-hand the immense success that was being enjoyed by Mark. Very surprisingly they came to him with an offer too good to refuse, and that was to purchase all three businesses. Cashed up and raring to go, he sold his portion of Mark Ward Furniture and at 25 years of age, he cleverly recognized the financial gain available in property developing, so this was his official start to something he is still heavily involved in to this day.
His key plan was to purchase land and build luxury homes and maisonettes in the Adelaide Hills, where excess land was available and the area was scattered with historical, upmarket homes. His punt handsomely paid off and one of his homes was even purchased by the renowned cricketer: David Hookes and his wife. He also created developments in Somerton Park near Glenelg. This proved to be a huge change in his career landscape, but at the time was an extremely lucrative decision.
This was also not Marks first role of the dice with real estate investment. Rewind back to his days of hand rearing calves and as clearly a strict saver, at only 15 years of age, he purchased a block of land in Yarramundi Drive, Clifton Springs. He paid $1500 for it and then, four years later he sold it for $4500, not a bad return on investment at all…
Mark then returned to Victoria from South Australia and continued to invest in real estate, this time purchasing land in Ocean Grove. It was the early nineties, and many would remember the hard-hitting recession that literally bought with it a dramatic interest rates rise of up to in some instances, 22%. Mark at the time was working on a townhouse development and due to this, unfortunately had to liquidate. He didn’t lose everything, but had to turn his back on his beloved property developing and do some soul searching on what he could do again in the interim.
His love and knowledge of all things second-hand as well as general retail and at a time where many were struggling, enticed him to purchase a Ute and a trailer, grab his Australian Cattle Dog: Clancy and he decided to start cold calling country farms and buying and selling their wares. Week One and to his absolute delight, he made $3000 and incredibly his business was well and truly back again. For 25 years his days were made up of travelling far and wide, and wheeling and dealing quality second hand furniture and collectables. These were amongst the happiest days in Mark’s life, being a born and bred country boy, he really enjoyed the interactions he had with the farmers and no doubt relished discovering many a treasure along the way.
The next step was where to warehouse his goods. So, he set up next door to well-known Pegasus Antiques. It was not long after that time, that he came up with the concept of sharing his warehouse with small marketeers who could then keep the business open Monday – Friday while he was out and about sourcing. With around 14 tenants sharing the warehouse space with him, he then moved to a larger premises on Melbourne Rd in North Geelong and continued to hone his wares, along with the other marketeers, to the general public.
At the time the Mill Markets business was owned by another local and unfortunately fell into liquidation. Mark was quite interested in the concept as it was very similar to his own business and he saw himself as a good fit to take the business to the next level. So, in 2012 he purchased the business and land holdings, and five months later on 16 March, 2012, his only and much-loved son, Archer came into the world. It was a very joyous time with his new business and his wonderful baby boy.
Shockingly however, three weeks later, Mark was diagnosed with Large B Cell Lymphoma cancer and due to the severity of it, went straight onto Chemotherapy. The Mill Markets was being held by a thread by his managers as he battled for eight months in hospital, and 32 days in an induced coma in intensive care. But Mark was incredibly determined to beat this and be back home with his beloved son. Miraculously, he managed to make it through and after months of learning to walk and remobilize, he was raring to get back to his family and his business.
Now it was time to put his skills, experience and knowledge to the test and rebuild and rebrand his Mill Markets business in both Geelong and Daylesford. Fast forward and these two stores have and continue, to achieve incredible success for Mark and his wonderful team. They have become the largest venues of their type in Australia, housing over 350 stallholders.
He maintains his favorite part of the job is the many people from all walks of life that he meets and which gives him so much enjoyment. He is also one to help those that need it the most and has given generously over the years to various causes, in particular those that assist underprivileged kids.
Off a whim and when he was tuned in one day to 3AW, he gave away $10,000 to a Children’s charity whose office had been robbed the night prior, losing all of their office equipment and supplies. He provided the cash needed to replace everything quickly, so they could get back to supporting the kid’s that needed their help. That’s just who Mark Ward is, quietly determined, incredibly private and with a huge compassion for those that need it the most.
Mill Markets hasn’t required his hands on assistance for many years now, though he consistently nurtures the business quietly in the background. He returned many years ago to building up his property portfolio and has a very large stable of residential and commercial properties to date. You would potentially think he might be ready to put his feet up and reap all his rewards, but no. His drive, determination, and raw instinct, keep him looking to be challenged and always working on something new and interesting.
It’s people like Mark Ward that sprinkle our lives with the unique, the intriguing and the bold and certainly make the world a far more interesting place.
