The Ian O'Rourke Story

Ian O’Rourke

Former National Service Manager
Ford Australia Limited Tractor & Equipment Operations

 

I first met Ian when I worked as a tractor demonstrator with the Ford Motor Company during 1969.

At that time he was working as a Sales Manager and had Tasmania as part of his territory. I was stationed there for a six week period and domiciled in a hotel in Hobart, Ian found where I was staying and sought me out. He introduced himself and insisted on taking me to a good restaurant for dinner and he further impressed me by settling the account.

Over the next twenty odd years our paths crossed with the changing of our careers, Ian is a great communicator and has passed on many of the trends and ideas of the day. Much of the stuff I learnt from Ian still stays with me today.

As Ian is one of the best story tellers the Farm Machinery Industry has produced, he can take it from here:

 

IN THE BEGINNING 



   School Days...  

My early life was spent growing up on a large farm at Wakool in New South Wales. At the time this was mainly a grazing property and Echuca to the South was the biggest town in our area. Later the family moved to Blighty near Deniliquin, this property had irrigation which allowed us to run dairy cattle, sheep and grow a rotation of cereal crops. Because of this diversity I learnt many skills that prepared me for my life in the farm machinery industry.

Unfortunately by 1959 many different situations had developed on the farm and it caused me to leave. I headed to Melbourne to look for work that would be associated with the land. My quest took me to Massey Ferguson in Sunshine where I had an interview with the Company’s Chief Field Test Engineer, Jock Berry. He said this was a whole new division for MF and I had a job as soon as he had his budget approved.

To fill in time, I spent two weeks on the assembly line. What an eye opener that turned out to be. The union rep became quite agitated with me, as in his opinion I was working too fast.



   Ian and the MF585 on the test track...

I joined the Field Test Team, at that time it consisted of five personnel. This job turned out to be more than I could have hoped for. I was helping to assemble newly invented machines, I also assisted them to develop a test plan and put it to work. My initial job was conducting the final tests for over a year on the prototype MF585 Self Propelled header. It was a crowning moment to see it released into production. The biggest programme that I was involved in was the testing and development of the MF585 PTO header. We conducted testing and efficiency trials around Melton and Ballarat in Victoria. We even took the machines as far afield as Griffith in New South Wales to test the machine’s suitability for harvesting rice.

I worked on another project trialing a new hay machinery line of mowers and the MF503 baler in conjunction with Walsh Bros who were contract haymakers working in and around the Warrigul area of Gippsland in Victoria.

By this time the Test Team had grown to eighteen members and Jock Berry was promoted upstairs into administration and he asked me to join him, I did.  My new position was to work out test schedules and programmes for upcoming new inventions, it was a great job, but the downside was it had no outside work. I transferred from Engineering to Massey Ferguson’s Melbourne Branch, at the time this was the Victorian Division of MF. I started as Service Rep. I was issued with a bright new panel van and charged with a task of looking after the Western half of Victoria I had so many miles to travel ahead of me.

 

   MF585 Training in Hamilton Victoria...

Luckily most of the machines that I had been involved in testing had just hit the market. However the first twenty five MF585 PTO headers were delivered into my area without instruction books. Most of the problems I encountered were due to a lack of information. The manuals had been written to coincide with the header’s release but printing missed the deadline and the machines were shipped without them. From where I stood it was an easy task to assist dealers and owners to get the headers working; and all due to my previous years testing.

On one occasion I had to visit an owner in North West Victoria to check his 585 header. When we arrived on the farm to meet Keith Geneil he and another man were shearing. They were chipping away at some sheep and I thought when watching them that it was not a good sight. I mentioned to Keith that they seemed to be making a very hard job of it and he said, “I’ll bet you couldn’t do any better.”  I won that ₤2 bet.

My territory was by far the biggest in area, and although I had eighteen dealers to service. It was unfair when compared to the other two reps. They looked after nine dealers each, but they were all close to their home town and these guys were receiving ₤28.10.0 per week, about 12.5% more than me.

There was some relief in sight as a new sales/service rep joined MF and took about seven dealers out of my hands. His name, Noel Howard, and Noel would later join Ford and go onto many great things. We frequently met while out on territory and assisted one another wherever possible.

####

Early in 1964 a large advertisement appeared in a Friday’s edition of The Melbourne Herald. Ford Australia was looking for people to join a new division to cover the impending release of a new tractor range. Seeing this as a good opportunity, I applied for a position and found there were at least seventy applicants for a total of six positions.

My interview was with the then Tractor Service Manager, Jack Walker. The question I remember most about that day was “What salary would you require?”  I drew myself to my full height I said, “Nothing less than ₤30 per. week.” Three days later Jack rang me and asked if I could start the following Monday for ₤35.10.00 per week!!!

I drove the MF panel van out to Sunshine to hand in my resignation and got a very cold reception. Especially when I was marched into see the Branch Manager George Johnson. He told me in no uncertain terms that, you are probably leaving for another one pound per week. He threatened, “I’m going to see to it that you will never get another job in the agricultural industry.”

I joined Ford Tractors & Equipment at their first small plant in the north Melbourne suburb of Coburg on February 10^th 1964. During that day met many people and made new friends, Col Knox was from New Holland, John Vaughan, Ron Sommerville were also from Massey Ferguson, and Peter Newman. Two months later the team was joined by Les Ward and Roy Pinney.

Initially I teamed with Col Knox and we spent sixty plus days driving down to our Training School at Mornington. We were learning and covering the whole list of the Fordson Super Major, and Super Dexter products out of Britain. We also had little time to learn everything we could about the new Ford 6000 that had arrived from the USA.

Working with Col Knox was almost unbelievable. He was knowledgeable, witty, tough and funny but so sincere in everything he did.

 

Training at Mornington was quite a task as it also included a range of implements from Napier Implements in Dalby. Our team had to manage a hay machinery line as well. Ford added a range of 520 and 530 baler models and also the 531 and 532 mower range which we presented to about twenty five dealer personnel per week. About midyear I went to the South Island of New Zealand for three weeks to introduce the Ford haymaking products to the South Island dealers. Les Ward covered the North Island.

Back in Australia, and about August 1964, Jack Walker informed John Vaughan and I that we were going to Texas, U.S.A. We would be receiving product training on the new Ford 6X range of tractors on one of the Ford’s training farms. So after about eight months of being told that I would never get another job in the agricultural industry, I was in a Boeing 707 heading to U.S.A. and was travelling First Class.

John Vaughan and I met our international colleagues at the training farm in the deep South town of Vienna, Georgia. We were all eager to learn about the new range of tractors.  To look, listen, learn and drive for two weeks what a huge experience for a farm-boy from Wakool.

    Souvenirs from many of my trips with FORD....

The Farm Manager, Wally Burgess, was a larger than life Texan who delighted in telling us he was born halfway between Oobligoochi, Tulifni and Weedowi, we became great friends. I met him many more times when he came to Australia to run training sessions on the Ford Tractor Loader Backhoes. These were machines he handled with expert fineness and skill.

In addition to the 6X range, we had to understand enough to train our Australian and NZ service technicians to expertly maintain the Ford industrial range, these were 3400/ 3500/4400/4500 models and could be specified with various combinations of loaders and backhoes.

 

On our return to Australia the training team was split into pairs. Peter Newman and Roy Pinney were one team, Ron Sommerville teamed with Les Ward, while Col Knox and I made up the other pair. For many weeks we zigzagged across Australia, Completing a one week’s course to about twenty dealer personnel, and then moving on to another new group the following week.

By the end of the 6X tractor training and travelling around Australia during 1964/65, my diary recorded that in those 12 months I had travelled approx 60,000 air miles and 30,000 road miles.

As mentioned earlier, at times I was teamed with Col Knox and we enjoyed working together. However, Col had one big failing, food. There never seemed to be enough for him. His wife, Tina, in encouraging him to lose weight tried everything but her words always fell on deaf ears. One day he arrived at the Brisbane Office with two empty packets of Limmits Slimming Biscuits. These were supposed to be eaten as his midday meal while he was on territory for five days. They tasted good and Col ate the lot on the half hour trip into the office. It was not unusual for Col, when in the Brisbane Office, to pinch and eat the lunch of Tom Brown, the Tractor Plant Supervisor. Tom would then have to buy his lunch at the canteen.

 

Late in the 1960’s I became a “Zoney” or Zone Manager. I covered a group of dealers between Melbourne and Albury, Melbourne and Bairnsdale, plus four dealers Tasmania. It was a big territory.

 

This brought me into the 1970’s.and it appeared at that time that my opportunities in Ford had become limited so I resigned. I went to New Zealand for a couple of years working all sorts of sales jobs. It was a great experience that I enjoyed a lot.
 

 

About Christmas 1973, I was still living in Wellington, New Zealand and received a call from an old friend from my Ford Days, John Oulton. We agreed to meet and had a long chat over a few beers.  John had just been appointed Ford’s General Manager of their N.Z. operations and was very excited about his new position. We talked for a while and he asked me when I would be going back to Australia.  I told him I was taking the family home in about 3 weeks. He said I should rejoin Ford, but I told him that at his stage I’d not made any plans. However on Boxing Day, I received a phone call from Noel Howard who was back in Australia after his stint with Ford South Africa.  After quite a long call Noel suggested that I come to see him when I arrived back in Australia, which I did.

 

Clarence Reagan (ex U.S.A.) was the General Manager for the Tractor & Equipment Division in Australia and after we had some discussion I rejoined Ford T & E as an Industrial Zone Manager. A role in which continued until 1975.

On a Sunday afternoon, early in 1975, Noel Howard, who had taken over as General Manager for Australia phoned me at home and asked me to come over for a couple of beers. So I went over to his home about five kilometres from where I lived. Joan and Noel were weeding the garden when I arrived but we were soon sipping some coldies. 

After a while Noel stood up and shook my hand and said, “Congratulations, you are now our new Service Manager.”  That day could never have been better, and to this day I have never regretted rejoining Ford. Up until then, I thought I had a fairly good understanding of what would be required in the service arena. However times were changing and our consumers were becoming more aware of their equipment needs and their performance.

In 1964 the company had only two tractor models available but by the mid sixties there were four main models and each model had up to twenty options available. In the seventies Ford was venturing into new areas and introduced a range of Industrial Ford wheel loaders – A62, A64, A66 for action in Australia. These were very good machines and in the first year took they upwards of 16% of the Australian market for their specific category.

   Excavator and Wheel Loader Training:     FORD... 

Ford had purchased a European company called Richier which was based in France and this was where the wheel loaders were manufactured. Richier also manufactured excavators and tower cranes which were destined to be marketed in Australia. Vin Smith and I travelled to France to gain an understanding of this new product line and work up plans for introduction into Australia.  Although the tower cranes did not gain local government approval for release, a number of excavators were brought into Australia and sold easily.

Incidentally, seven Richier tower cranes were used to build the Sydney Opera House – then they were moved to West Australia for further construction work.

 

   Some of the Service Managers from across the World....

As many people would be aware, the Company kept bringing out new models or updating current units.  To keep abreast of these developments, I was required to attend the worldwide service managers’ meetings that were usually held annually in either Detroit or Boreham House in U.K. There were twenty seven of us in the group plus the World Service Manager, Bill Hepburn, and some of his assistants.

Bill was a strong character and he achieved many changes that became necessary engineering items as a result of our meetings. One of his greatest achievements was to bring in engineers for each section of the tractor design department whereby a great exchange of ideas occurred. I really enjoyed these meetings; not only for the information on the new products but the opportunity to exchange ideas between my counterparts from other parts of the world.

One meeting was held at one of the Ford training farms in Paris, Texas, home of Campbell’s soups, and boy was it cold. When I flew out of Melbourne it was 39 degrees C and on arrival in Dallas it was minus 13 degrees C.  The whole group from all over the world took over a whole motel. It may have changed by now, but in the seventies Texas was a “dry” State. You could only buy alcohol with a meal in a restaurant no hotels or bottle shops. We had to overcome this serious problem. Two of our personnel were sent off in a company van to Oklahoma, twenty six miles away. They were directed to purchase “supplies” from houses on the border. Booze could be seen stacked on the verandas. At one of these places, we found an oldish and happy African American sitting on a rocking chair. He was drawing on a corn cob pipe he had in his mouth, he would welcome us and for a large purchase like ours, his face would light up. The merchandise was taken back to the motel where we would place the alcohol in plastic bins and fill each bin with snow.

In 1981 I had the pleasure, in company with Keith Pincott, of escorting thirty dealers, or their staff to the United Kingdom for approximately three weeks. As well as taking in some sightseeing the group attended a five day school at the Company’s training centre, Boreham House located in Essex.

Judging by the response on our return to Australia, the trip was well received. Soon we had received a number of requests to set up a tour of dealerships in U.S.A. for dealers and their wives and/or staff. Some preliminary work was done on the U.S.A. plan, but due to a downturn in the Australian financial situation, the tour had to be cancelled.

As many dealers and personnel will recall the Ford Australia Tractor and Equipment Company did not have a tractor to compete in the 6 cylinder100 HP market. In fact there was nothing in the range from the main plant in Basildon UK either.

Noel Howard devised a plan to produce a new model in the Broadmeadows assembly plant. Two tractors an 8600 and a 7700 were split at the front gearbox housing. The 8600 engine was then mated to the 7700 rear end and the engine detuned to produce less horsepower and thus fit into the 100 HP market segment.

And the   FORD 8401.. was born.

 This proved to be a great product move that certainly assisted dealers to gain a much better market share and also improved profitability.



 Noel  Howard with the FORD 8401s.

* 8401 photos courtesy Les Gason's family collection.* 




Looking back this was a great achievement and I feel privileged to have been involved in the early development stages.

  And later she gets a new party dress..

 

My first wife and I divorced early in the eighties and to help me deal with my personal problems the company allowed me some breathing space. I worked in the North Queensland Zone for quite a few months.

   Ian and Gwennie 1984...

Later I relocated to a zone radiating west and south of Brisbane. During this time I remarried and settled on the Gold Coast after resisting a number of calls to return to Melbourne.

Gwen and I have now been together for almost thirty years and it has been a great marriage.

One of the many tasks facing a tractor and machinery rep is the Field Day Circuit. I attended all kinds of events throughout Australia, from the small dealer days to the more elaborate National Field Days. These occasions could be a little painful at times. For State and National days it would sometimes take a month of setting up, testing, and cleaning, to be practiced and ready. This often meant that up to six personnel would be virtually living in one another’s pockets.

One of our displays many visitors would remember seeing was Polly. We had built a full sized FORD 5000 tractor totally constructed from polystyrene foam. From the ground, Polly looked to be the real thing. We used to lift it up about ten metres from ground level, it sat on top of a steel pole and it could be seen all over the field day site. To hold Polly steady, it would be attached to a second steel pole. The second short pole was welded to a one metre square flat plate which was placed into a large hole in the ground and then covered with soil. At the end of the field days, Polly would be gently taken down and the short pole uncovered although some of the dirt would stay on the plate.

An individual, who shall remain nameless, jumped into the hole with visions of impressing us, placing both arms around the pole saying. “I’ll get this out for you blokes.”  With eyes bulging, sweat appearing on his forehead he finally gave up.  Imagine his surprise when we pointed out that he was standing on the main steel plate.

On another occasion we were at a big field day and part of our plan was to really push the haymaking products. We had the new 532 Pitmanless mower hooked behind a FORD 3000 tractor, and standing ready to cut some heavy grass. Col Knox did a great spiel on this mower then called on our tractor driver, Ron Sommerville, to start the tractor and take it away. A crowd of about a hundred farmers were watching when Ron started the tractor and took off. The crowd were clapping but then all of them walked away. Ron had forgotten to put the PTO into gear and the cutter bar broke away, but Ron had driven on about fifteen metres before he looked back. It was a DISASTER!

Owner Evenings were always a point of conjecture among company personnel but we did them anyway. We conducted a number of owner evenings at various locations around Australia. Some people suggested that by conducting owner nights we would be inviting at least one major customer complaint to be raised by an unhappy owner in an open forum.  I believed this thought to be false. My firm belief was that together with the dealer and owner, the questions could usually be resolved very quickly leaving everyone happy by the end of the evening.

Dealers, without a doubt I believe that the Ford T & E dealers were a good bunch. Like most cross sections of any group, there were many good businessmen among them, and only occasionally would a major concern arise.  Generally it could be settled with face to face discussion.

Probably the hardest group of owners I had to deal with, are to be found in North Qld. If the owners could have kept their emotions out of the equation, then the difficulty could usually be settled very quickly and quite easily.

 

A bizarre story I can tell is from the early 1980’s when one of our North Queensland dealers sold a TW tractor to a new customer. This was not unusual and the finance went through a prominent Australian finance provider. From day one the customer complained bitterly about the tractor; he criticised almost all of the major components. However after checking the tractor over, the dealer maintained that all of the owner’s concerns were baseless. Not content with the dealer’s assessment. the owner sent countless faxes to Ford Australia and many more to Ford U.S.A.

In an effort to finalise this unique situation, we agreed to replace the tractor. This was extraordinary for us, as the tractor had done less than 150 hours of work. Our only condition was that the owner agreed to pay freight on the replacement, and swap the tyre equipment between the two units.

The new unit was freighted out to the owner’s property on an agreed afternoon and the two tractors were placed side by side in a paddock to make the tyre change as easy as possible. After everyone involved checked the two units over, all agreed that a local tyre company would change the tyres early next day.

Next morning the tyre changers arrived on site to find both tractors were missing. The owner stated he knew nothing about the missing TW’s. Police were called and were left with an unsolved crime for 12 months. The finance company even engaged a private investigator but they could not resolve the matter.

About 15 months after the ”disappearance,” two bushwalkers going through rainforest in North Queensland came across a big cover made of green mesh hiding some large objects. They lifted up the mesh and lo and behold they discovered the two TW’s. Their condition was very poor due as a result of being exposed to the tropics. After reporting their find to the police, Ford was notified.

I went to the site to inspect the tractors confirming it was the same ones that disappeared. Both TW’s were in very poor condition. All of the tyres were totally flat, and the covering on all of the electrical cabling had perished. When I touched the radiator grille it disintegrated immediately.

The twist to this situation was that the owner involved in the matter had died as the result of a bad accident two or three months prior to the discovery of the tractors, and despite many theories, there has never been a plausible explanation for this costly exercise

 

In my time as Australian Service Manager the company only faced court action on two occasions. In one case the company’s liability insurers settled out of court for an undisclosed amount, but in the opinion of Noel Woodford, Ford’s in house legal counsel, and me, we believed we should have pursued the case as we believed it was winnable for Ford. In case 2, the company was totally absolved from legal action

Anyone in today’s farming industry would be aware of the dramatic changes that have occurred in Australia, and have some impressions on the challenges we face as a farming nation. In my time with the company I have witnessed the following changes.

• The number of farms between the 60’s and 90’s dropped from approx. 225,000 to 170,000.
• Case took over International Harvester and became Case IH.
• Ford purchased Versatile and New Holland and was renamed Ford New Holland.
• Fiat purchased Case IH and also Ford New Holland
• In this time Australian machinery manufacturers’ declined, losing ground to imports and we saw a depletion of our engineering skill across the country.

Ian celebrating his 80th birthday with
    his son Anthony earlier this year....

I took early retirement from Ford New Holland early in 1992.

Since leaving the tractor industry I have been working with my son Anthony in the swimming pool business, and I spend most of my time in the retail shop. We have a good group of customers for whom we test the pool water quality, and supply chemicals. We also offer a repair / replacement service for pool equipment.

The work is both interesting and enjoyable.

Looking back, my time with Ford Tractor Operations was very fulfilling and if I had my time over I would do it all again. For me Ford was an excellent company to work with. I also found it was a place to learn many new ideas from the talented staff located in the various divisions of such a large company. I still enjoy contact with some of the dealers or their staff and keep in touch with my Ford counterparts who I’d met and worked from across the Globe.

I hope I’ve made a contribution somewhere during my travels that has made a difference somewhere in this troubled world we share today.

 

Ian

Graham Clark's Incredible Journey

A couple of weeks back I received news from Graham Clark in Europe about his battle with cancer and subsequent treatment to regain his health. Some of you will remember him from his days as a trainer with Ford Tractors and later New Holland. He visited us Down Under on a number of occasions and made many friends both here in Australia and New Zealand.

Graham let me know early this year that he wasn’t well and had a battle on his hands. He has approached this as he has with any task in his life . Below is the story of his journey so far.

He has produced a poster to use showing his treatment and if you would like a copy please let me know.

For anyone wanting to contact Graham just e-mail me and I will send your message on.

Terry

#####

For the last eight months, Cancer, specifically Head and Neck Cancer has ruled my life however thanks to a huge team of experts, their professionalism and knowledge it did not take my life.

I am one of the lucky ones!

After being released from Hospital despite being warned nothing will happen for weeks, you actually get worse for a period before you very very slowly improve. Improvement accelerates once you start to eat real food again. The liquids they pump into you during the darkest period, basically keep you alive!

Today, I am in remission, still not out of the woods yet but certainly going the right way. The tumour is reported as dormant, now down to a circumference of 1cm, down from 3,5 x 2cms, and we are waiting on a future MRI in November to determine if they will operate to take out the residual mass.

I am in for a lot of Hospital visits over the coming years, but all worthwhile.  The Cancer, Radiation Treatment and Chemotherapy are a walk in the park, however, it’s the associated side effects that are frankly horrendous. After the treatments, I'm currently left with a reduction in hearing, ear ache, tinnitus, 22% body weight reduction and Hand and Foot Syndrome and numerous other treatment associated issues.

Small prices to pay for life!

My Cancer was caused by the HPV Virus, which is the common cause of Cervical Cancer in women.

Today in many countries girls are vaccinated against this through a National Vaccination Programme. Boys are not included in any country that I know of, however they too can be vaccinated. William our son will be vaccinated as soon as he is 11 years old. With Head and Neck Cancers increasing in males, the pain and tremendous stress this creates can be avoided seeing vaccination well worth it.

This illness is now behind us and I look forward to many more years of life with renewed vigour, strength and enthusiasm.

Keep Healthy,

Graham

Statistics for Tractor and Machinery stories

Everyday I check the AgList website to see which story is gathering the most attention. There are a number of factors that drive visitors to each story and I guess the most important one is telling friends and family that you have a story posted on the AgList website. I e-mail all of my contacts and link these stories on facebook and twitter too, and this directs visitors to the website. Things really take off  when the subject of the story lets their contacts know too.

Below in order of visitor ranking are the stories:

• David Beak's Story
• Tanunda Tractor Man        (Geoff Smith's Story)
• Norm Fiegert
• John  Blyth
• Jonh Henchy
• Rob Bridger
• Geoff Moore
• Ian Denton
• Pat Baird
• Keith Waterhouse
• Phil Ronalds
• Rod Justice

Each week the stats change and the deck gets shuffled again. To me it is heartening the number of responses I get from people both in Australia and overseas who read the blog and comment on the people of our industry. I am aways looking for another yarn about your life in tractors so let me know about your story.

Cheers for now,

Terry

The Norm Fiegert Story

Norm Fiegert, a tractor man, looms large in my memory, it was 1969 and as a Ford Company demonstrator I had been sent to his Cleve dealership. I had a flat top Ford truck with a 6Y Ford 5000 demo unit and a mission to help him sell the new 6Y range of tractors. As I backed the tractor from the truck Norm noticed a slight miss in the engine. In no time the tappets had been adjusted and the timing checked.

‘We have to get that injection pump off and down to Lincoln to get it sorted,’ he ordered. Mr. Fiegert would be leaving nothing to chance.

My week of working with Norm taught me the art of properly preparing for a demonstration.

Years later I was now a tractor dealer too, and part of  a rowdy bunch of sales staff who were standing around in a sandy paddock east of Loxton. We were there for a new Blue-line machinery release. To entertain us while the company staff prepared the machinery, Norm was asked to do a sales pitch on the Napier sourced Blue-line folding wide cultivator. His direct and simple approach again taught me new selling skills and using a six point presentation technique, he ‘sold’ the machine. Folding and unfolding the wings to illustrate its benefits.

Always jovial, Norm finished with his own warranty statement. 'Ladies and gentlemen another benefit of the Blue-line cultivator is that we offer a one two warranty with this machine. Once you pay for it, too bloody bad.’ Our assembly of seasoned sales people cracked with laughter.

Yes, I’m proud to say that I’m a Norm Fiegert fan and I’m very glad to be able to share his story.

Here is Norm telling his own Story

The earliest memories of my childhood dream job was to become a mechanic and I remember applying for a correspondence course, which I started but didn’t complete. After leaving school at fourteen I started working with relatives. They were dairy farming at Mypolonga, near Murray Bridge on a farm of about sixty acres and they paid me ten bob ($1.00) per week. With this, I could buy a return bus fare into Murray Bridge, with enough change for a ticket to the pictures and a block of chocolate. At times the chocolate would give way to Orange Cream biscuits, or a milkshake, and then I’d be broke for the rest of the week. My wage included full keep for the twelve hours per day and the seven days a week I was working. They had promised me land and use of equipment to start my own place, but this never eventuated.

After a day’s work I tried to get into my mechanical studies, but soon found I was too tired to complete the course, but a flicker of interest in the mechanical side of the farm started a fire that was to burn brightly for years to come.

At the time we were using various makes of cars, tractors, of 1925, to 1934 vintage and other old machinery of doubtful parentage. The machine that comes to the front of my mind with persistence is the Binder. I firmly believe that anyone who worked a binder is in doubt of entering heaven. This one caused me no end of skinned knuckles, hot temper and a wariness of anything used to make hay. A bolt would break and allow the frame to sag. I would then have to find a heap of various sized mallee stumps to wedge it and somehow wriggle the bolt back in place with a crow bar. I despised that machine.

Realising that the promise of land may not come to fruition I decided to find another job. I started working on a mixed farm. We grew a nine hundred acre rotation of wheat and barley. We also had a good flock of sheep all running on a farm of three thousand acres. The pay was better and I was still doing all of the machinery maintenance. I learnt to arc weld using electricity supplied by a bank of batteries and a 32 volt generating system. For me to become a competent welder using this device offered plenty of challenges.

On the place at that time our main tractor was a 1939 Model L Case. Our nine hundred acre tillage programme included four hundred acres of new ground. I laugh with pride when I think back to that old Case and giving it a valve grind overnight. At four and a half acres per hour and with nine hundred acres to work four times per season it’s a good job we had no hour clock on the old girl. The only time we switched the tractor off was to drain its engine oil, or go to church, and sometimes I think she broke down just to take a rest.

The first three months of 1954 was spent at the pleasure of the Australian Army doing National Service. By now I’d had enough time of working for wages, and with the skills I’d gained, I was confident I could survive working for myself. So in April 1954 I took a deep breath and started a new business venture. I worked as a share farmer on a place seven miles west of Cummins on Eyre Peninsular and stayed with that until February 1955. For the following two years, I share-farmed near Ungarra, sowing wheat, barley and oats. I also worked with the manager of the merino sheep stud and found the work very interesting.

I’d always believed financial success for farmers would be in some way dependent on the machinery being reliable and I gave a high priority to regular maintenance. Some might say I was an original rev head and servicing my own vehicles kept me busy on weekends. I remember owning a 1953 FJ Holden that was stuffed. I back traded it on a ’36 Ford V8 without brakes with an idea to make it into a stock car. Bad Move!!!

Changes came in 1956 as I bought thirty acres of scrubby, limestone land at Port Lincoln. The new FE Holden ute I had on order was cancelled to help finance the land and the old Ford was traded on a Farmall A tractor. It was my only transport for the next six months. Being a particularly wet year and on one of the many slippery roads, I rolled the Farmall. In the interest of safety I lashed out and bought a 46 Chev Ute. By now I’d moved into a tin shed on my Port Lincoln property, better known to most as my thirty acre stone heap.

At the end of the 1957 season, I was in between jobs and bought an old Holden Ute from George Mayne’s, in Pt. Lincoln, it was still having its motor overhauled at the time. As I wanted to take delivery of it quickly, I suggested that I could help them to get the engine together and back into the vehicle. They agreed to my offer and I soon set about assisting them with the task.

Never one to let an opportunity pass, I thought that while I had their attention I’d also ask if there was any chance of getting a job as a tractor mechanic. My question met with success and I was given a fortnight to prove myself. At the time the business was changing over from George Mayne’s to Blacker Motors. The fortnight’s trial that I started on the seventh of February in 1958 lasted for four years, and I finished there in early March 1962.

While still working at Blacker Motors I married Gloria in August 1958 and we moved into my tin mansion as husband and wife.

During this period I learned how little I knew about the later model tractor offerings. Tractors like the new Fordson Farmrite etc. Even though I’d used a Farmrite for a year of share farming I needed to know more and was determined to improve my knowledge. By attending tractor schools, and studying the many different workshop manuals available, I soon became more skilled. With help from my foreman, Harry Box, it didn’t take me long to earn my place as a fully fledged Tractor Man. Not only as a mechanic, but with the training I’d had I now possessed the many skills required of a Tractor Man. I was at ease working as a demonstrator showing a prospective customer how to get the best from their machine. I believe these skills made me an all round salesperson, competent not only in tractors and machinery, but in cars and trucks too.

Power was always a challenge in the sandy soils of the West Coast and I would put two Fordson Farmrites in tandem and demonstrate them on farms about fifty miles apart. We worked an area from Pt Lincoln to Poochera travelling by road. The Horward Bagshaw 29 tyne scarifier was the hardest machine we had to pull and naturally we’d show off. One day we had a group of farmers assembled and at the top of a sand drift hill and while doing a turn the nut on the scarifier’s screwlift stripped. Sending the machine deeper, it went into frame level. Embarrassing, I’d buried the lot.

Now married, Gloria and I started a family and we went back to where my career began. We shifted to Cleve. It was late 62 when I returned to work for Blacker Motors at their Cleve branch, I was charged with looking after all Tractor and Machinery sales and service. All went well and it was a great time. Blacker Motors loaned me the deposit for house and land package, it was our first decent living home since getting married. In 1964, the business took on the Class Header franchise, which involved an extensive week’s service school in Albury. This was a difficult decision to make at the time, and I knew I was not going to be popular at home because while I was away our third child was born.
 
Bad days at work were few and far between but one I recall was having a new car catch on fire while demonstrating it to a prospective customer. I arrived at the customers house with smoke filling the cabin, the wiring loom had shorted and completely burnt out.

Ford would test their Falcons on our country roads. They tested the XM Falcons at Tulka near Pt Lincoln. The company would use experienced rally drivers for the trials, jumping these new models over the crests and sliding them around gravel corners. The XM Falcon was designed for tough Aussie conditions and to prove the new car to the sales teams, Ford organised a drive day. Dealer staff from near and far gathered to test this exciting new car. The rally drivers had used these very same roads hadn’t they? Well we had a go too. We bounced an XM through a dip and wiped the sump out of this new demonstrator. This was the first time in my life that I thought I might get fired.

Early in 1966 Blacker Motors offered the Cleve business and Ford franchise to my boss and manager of the branch, Gunther Boeke. He in turn, offered to take me into a partnership. I went round to some of my customers and found I could raise approx. $3000.00. In the meantime another employee of the Pt Lincoln branch waved his wallet and bought the Cleve set up from under us.

I cancelled the $3,000, and Gunther took up a partnership in the Pt. Lincoln set up. I was supposed to go back to Lincoln too, but there was no way in hell I was going to give up my new house. I began working the Lock region, and I travelled even further west as the area sales rep for the Blacker Motors Pt. Lincoln branch.

Blackers then got out of Ford, and took on Chrysler / Valiant cars, along with Oliver and Twin City tractors. Meanwhile the guy that bought the Cleve Ford business got cold feet and very bad nerves. He offered the whole show to me on unbelievable terms. Time for me to do another money round up. I went to get everything signed up but he’d had a heart attack and was found dead. Again I cancelled the money. By now, all of my customers wanted me to just stay and start up my own mechanical repair business,. They supported me and I rented a portion of a shed to get started. A fortnight’s pay, a worn out 1952 Ford Consul car and my toolboxes, and we’re in business. All the profit had to go into workshop equipment, but it all went well.

There were Ford Tractors in the district which were still in warranty, and Ford had arranged for any repairs to be billed through Curtis’s, at Tumby bay. They would come up about every six weeks and fill out all the warranty forms. The old Ford business in Cleve was now closed and empty. Ford kept on trying to sell me the Franchise and were asking $12,000 for it. I insisted I could not and would not raise that kind of cash. Eventually they asked if I could sell a tractor. To which I replied, of course I can sell tractors. So they arranged for me take orders for new tractors, and finance them through AGC.

I sold the first four tractors very quickly. Then back they came, asking how much can you raise now? I told them I could find about $3000.00. I was now a Ford Tractor and Machinery Dealer and the business boomed.

The next drama to unfold was when the Ford dealer in Kimba sacked his mechanic. There were many tractors broken down on the farms in the Kimba district, some still in pieces still being repaired. To add to the confusion, the dealer himself did a mid night disappearing act. I now had some very irate Kimba farmers screaming to get their tractors going. By this time I had two new utes and an old Falcon. My three mechanics were racing all over the country keeping machinery maintained. Ford asked me if I knew where they could get another dealer to take over the Kimba territory. I said, I’m right here and eventually the Kimba territory was combined into my Primary Market Area. All of this happened while we were working from a two tractor shed.

Our next move was to purchase more land and a build a new workshop. Done. Eighteen months later and we had doubled the size again. By now we had developed a modification to remedy the ever troublesome 5000 Select-o-speed transmissions. The improvement meant the transmission gave no further problems. But Ford’s engineers wouldn’t wear it. However it didn’t worry us, and our customers kept buying in confidence.

Front end loaders were extremely hard to get at the time, so to satisfy demand we started manufacturing our own. A little “agricultural” in appearance they worked extremely well and serviced a need. The Napier wide line cultivators became an excellent seller; at one stage we had twenty seven on order.

Recessions, wheat quotas, interest rates, and droughts, brought huge expensive changes to the whole farming industry. And naturally, to the tractor and farm machinery game. Many share farmers were forced out of business. To survive, small farmers had to find more land and get bigger or get out. This promoted bigger holdings that needed higher horsepower tractors and wider machinery to put in larger acres. Across the country the number of small farmers dropped and this had a severe impact on the sales of average sized tractors. The droughts caused a huge change in the traditional methods of farming, and very soon everyone had moved to minimum tillage. These were times of change.

I accepted the new challenge and took on Versatile tractors and imported their associated Canadian rod weeders, blade ploughs, and disc drill seeding systems. Air-seeders offered a new means of sowing with relative precision and soon were all the go. In 1977 I’d sold enough Versatile tractors to win a trip to Canada. The company said I could take the trip or they would give the value in money. I opted for the money. We were told we’d won again the following year and offered a similar deal. I said that I hadn’t received the money as promised for the first year yet, and so I wasn’t about to repeat the decision. In the end Gloria and I were able to participate in the tour and had a wonderful eleven days, it was an experience of a lifetime.

We were riding high and the business was going well during this period. A highlight was taking out the prestigious ‘Best Machinery Display’ at the Eyre Peninsular Field Days in 1978, however things were about to change. I didn’t allow for three years of drought. To experience three droughts in a row was unheard of on Eyre Peninsula and I didn’t or couldn’t downgrade as quickly as other dealers. The early eighties crippled many farmers and in turn machinery dealers dropped like flies.

We decided to sell the Cleve operations and concentrate on Kimba, and built another workshop up there. Staff numbers fell from a peak of 22 down to 5. But it was too little too late. We sold out to Anders at Freeling, but I stayed with the business for another five years.

My worst day at work, all I can say is that it’s not something I’d want published. However my best day at work is an entirely different story. Soon after I became a Ford Tractor Dealer, they released a new 97 horsepower tractor, the Ford 7000. I organised a farmers field day and after a successful demonstration of the tractor, I took four orders in two hours.

 

Most of my life I have been self employed. You could say that I have tried everything from the sales of hydroponic systems, to women’s clothing and everything in between. About 1985 Gloria and I opened a ladies fashion shop in Port Lincoln. The business sold clothing for women, and we stocked knitting wool along with other fashion accessories. We called the business Gloria’s Wood Wool &Rags as we sold my handmade wooden clocks and barometers from the same store. To compliment the business we ran Party Plans. We partied with Hydroponics, Pottery, and Perfumes. When one of us was out on a party plan the other would run the shop. We gave the shop away around 1988. There were too many miles and not enough profit to remain viable.

The giftware I made, the clocks, barometers, mirrors etc I crafted from various materials. Around Cleve we had plenty of mallee stumps and this became a favourite material to use.

 

Around early to mid 2000 Gloria took over running the TAFE Canteen. It became much more than just a canteen as eventually it expanded to cater for weddings and large functions. The success of this business meant we were now catering at the Port Lincoln Racecourse.

In accepting to take over the Racecourse canteen we had inherited a catering business with a shocking reputation and it was a huge challenge.

 

Our first task was a major clean up of the canteen and its kitchen. The original brief was to supply a range of pies, pasties, sausage rolls and sandwiches. There was a small dining room for visiting officials and we would service them with quick light meals.

Over time we expanded the menu to include takeaway. Some meetings could be unpredictable and we would cater for between fifteen hundred to three thousand people some days, while a big meeting would see as many as five thousand people at the track. The challenge was enormous. My role was to get this, get that, and sometimes to: ‘get out of the bloody way’. Along with the shopping that could involve up to four trips into town. I would count the tills, organise the wages to pay the staff and try to keep everyone happy.

Our biggest challenge for catering came in the form of providing a Dinner for the 100^th Anniversary Celebrations of the Waybacks Port Lincoln Football Club. We had six hundred and thirty people to feed and from a kitchen no bigger than you would find in a caravan. The Basketball Stadium could hold the guests but its kitchen couldn’t feed them. Our challenge was to build an industrial kitchen for the event.

The council agreed for us to cut into the 3-phase power and access the gas supply to feed the gas stoves and hot water systems we’d hired. We had over nineteen 10amp outlets and used extension cords to manage the rest. We provided a three course meal for the occasion. Roast beef and pork cooked in the kitchen ovens from four different homes and transported hot to the venue. To service the crowd we employed six deep fryers and four large Bain-maries. The night went well and we received a letter of appreciation and a standing ovation from the diners. Photos from the night swell us with pride.

Over the years I gained a lot of pleasure by restoring a lot of tractors and selling them to people to use to put their boats in and out of the water. I’ve made plenty of furniture in my time too. Along the way I became expert at servicing fishing boat hydraulic systems and carrying out engine repairs. But last and definitely not least is our catering business. Over time I have had many jobs I thought were the best one, but looking back there were many days like that.

One of the times I look back on with fondness during my career was working with Versatile Tractors and the associated equipment we supplied at that time. This was at the end of the seventies and early eighties and farming practices were changing. I look back with a certain satisfaction that by being able to provide my customers with a product that improved their farming practices and overall efficiency. These advances allowed them to time their cropping better and make greater profits.

The challenges I see for the farm machinery industry over the next few years will be the operating, and the initial costs of replacing equipment. To produce food at a competitive price is fast coming to a stage where overseas producers will have a monopoly. In this I fear the biggest danger will be that many small Australian farmers will not survive the market pressure created by imports and forcing them to sell their farms. This will provide an opportunity for giant overseas corporations to increase buying large tracts of Australia’s richest farmland. The biggest downside is the quality produce will be shipped overseas, leaving everyday Australians with lower grade produce.

These days Gloria and I live on the Fleurieu Peninsular and I still harbour a passion to one day restore tractors. Now retired, I find plenty of things to do with family and have many other commitments. Who knows, I still dream that one day I’ll have a bigger shed and energy enough to fill it with some old machines that are nice to have.