The Australian franchise of 7-Eleven, started by the Withers and Barlow families, has been sold to 7-Eleven’s Japanese parent company for $1.7 billion. The petrol and convenience business is one of Australia’s largest private companies, with more than 700 stores. It has 450 franchise stores and around 8,800 people working in the total network. In the 1970s, the Withers family joined with the Barlows to tap into the growing need for convenience retailing. The company suffered a setback around four years ago when it was discovered some franchisees falsified records to underpay, in particular, migrant student workers. The Withers and Barlow…