Auctioneer Simon Gowling was in the worst Australian movie ever made

Simon Gowling is the director and auctioneer of Greg Hocking Holdsworth Real Estate at Albert Park. Before entering real estate 15 years ago,  Gowling worked as an actor, appearing in The Secret Life of Us, Blue Heelers, Neighbours, and what he calls the worst film ever made in Australia: You and Your Stupid Mate.

He also worked at a terrible theatre restaurant, and part-time as a personal fitness trainer, before deciding to find a real career that could support a family. Simon is married with two kids, and two cats – Alfie and Tiger.

Tell us something about yourself people might not know?

I’m passionate about drumming. Last Christmas I bought a nice electric drum kit, pretending to my wife it was for our son…although he’s only three years old. So, I get to sit there and bash away at it without anyone hearing me. When I was a kid I had an acoustic set that would upset the neighbours.

Which living person do you most admire?

Danny Carey; he’s a drummer from an LA band called Tool, who were big in the ’90s and still have a following. He’s just a freak, his drumming and focus. I study his work. He does a lot of polyrhythms, which are different time signatures over the same beat. It’s pretty amazing.

Who are your heroes in real life?

The obstetrician who saved our son Jack’s life. My son had a prolapsed umbilical cord, it was over top of his head and pressing down on the uterus. It was only the third prolapsed cord the obstetrician had seen in 30 years. He had to perform an emergency caesar and had my son out within 11 minutes.

Have you ever been a hero yourself?

I’ve been a superhero. I once worked as an actor at a theatre restaurant called Hunchbacks. My colleague and I were sitting upstairs dressed as Batman and Robin, waiting to go on for the second act, and I was looking out the window and saw a car come around the corner and flip over on the tram rails. We bolted downstairs to help, and here’s this car upside down, spinning on its roof. Onlookers didn’t know if we were shooting a movie. The poor lady behind the wheel, I think she was half drunk, and here’s me as Batman trying to get the seatbelt undone. She must have thought she was off her head.

Tell me about the film you appeared in?

You and Your Stupid Mate. It was a shocker. Apart from my family and my agent, there were five other people in the cinema, and three walked out after 10 minutes.

Are you part CFO, psychologist, broker, best mate and counsellor to your vendors and buyers?

Yeah, all of them. Selling a house is a big, big decision for many people. Often, people apologise if they aren’t quite ready to sell, thinking they are mucking me around. I tell them, your decision to sell your house is so much greater than me getting a sale. Just come back when you feel the time is right. You need to be empathetic with people.

Recall the time a property listing surprised you…

There was a house I was selling in South Melbourne where we discovered an underground room we didn’t know existed. It was a massive bluestone cellar, and the stairs leading down had been hidden behind a fake fireplace.

Your most memorable sale?

It was a house in Albert Park I sold a few years ago, for over $11 million. It was a five-bedroom, free-standing Victorian double-front, on one of the biggest blocks in the district. It was a landmark sale.