Wangaratta’s Jack McNeilly was a young man in Scotland in 1973 when the decision to join what was called the European Economic Community was the talk of the school yard.

He remembers he had been able to eat fruit from Australia and other items from countries like New Zealand and Canada.

Then it all changed with new trade laws.

“We couldn’t buy (New Zealand sheep) wool anymore, they were really dark because it was a huge market,” Mr McNeilly said.

He will be hoping the “out” vote comes out in front after the Brexit poll.

“I never really agreed with it in the first place,” he said.

“It seemed to be a bit of a money pit.”

In an opinion piece for The Border Mail, former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer has warned the Brexit poll comes at a time when the touchstones of European co-operation, 100 years after Britain and France were allies in war, were at risk.

“The huge decision by Great Britain on Brexit and the future has arrived, a monumental decision with ramifications that will reverberate around the world, even regional Australia,” he said.

“Decades of close economic and political co-operation through a single market apparatus is at stake.”

Polls ahead of the vote had the “in” and “out” camps very close, with a swing back towards the status quo.

Fears of economic instability in the Eurozone had sent shockwaves through the Australian stock market, as the world sweated on Brexit.

Investors were trying to position themselves ahead of the referendum, after the Australian dollar had touched a six-week high.

But Indi’s election candidates had distanced themselves from picking a side.

Cathy McGowan said the vote was a decision for the British people.

“To my understanding, modelling on trade implications for Australia, including Indi, if the UK were to leave the EU, has yet to be done by treasury,” she said.

Nationals’ Marty Corboy also said the vote was in capable hands.

“I don’t like getting into other countries’ affairs,” he said.