THE EARLY YEARS - Abigroup

Creatingthe businessJIM ABIGNANO 1961 - 1986FOUNDERGennaro Abignano - Jim once he’d arrived in Australia - created the company that was tobecome Abigroup. In a classic tale of rags to riches Jim did it tough moving to Australiafrom war-torn Italy with very little money and finding various low paid jobs beforeestablishing G.Abignano Pty Ltd in 1961.We take up Jim’s story following the Second World War in Italy.‘Life in Italy after the war was difficult. It was tough during the war too, of course, butafter was worse. My village was Montoro Superiore in the mountains near Salerno and wemanaged somehow. Different villages survived in their own ways, and my village madeits living through timber - charcoal, firewood, posts for farmers, wood for factories andtimber for construction. My father was with three partners and was employing 80 percent of the village.‘Food was very scarce and I remember my father taking with him 15 to 20 labourersto search the countryside to buy any sort of food to feed ourselves and the workforce.At the time we were getting timber from a forest in the next village some 4km awayand some of the workers used to scavenge for food along the way digging up potatoeswhich had just been planted. From that village to the forest on the mountain was oneto two hours walk and we had no mechanical means of getting around so we had towalk everywhere. The timber was transported on our shoulders, by mules and by flyingfox. The timber business was not the best but it kept the pot boiling and things startedto improve. I started working for my father and his partners during the war and by theage of 16 I was playing a management role which grew as the business expanded. InJanuary 1954 I was called to do my compulsory 18 months army service and in myabsence they formed a joint venture with another group which proved to be a disaster– within 12 months they had lost all that we had gained. With help from my father Imanaged to get an early discharge from the army and on my return I dismissed the jointventure partners, got control of the business and within 12 months recovered most of thelosses. In 1956 I managed to secure for the company an agency agreement with a fruitprocessing company to purchase on their behalf chestnuts in our area. I put my heartinto it from August to November and in the end we made 1.3 billion lire commission –more than we made from the timber in a full year. Following this success I presented myexpenses for the work which included a 14,000 lire repair bill for my motorbike. One ofthe partners objected saying that the bike was personal and the repair shouldn’t be paidby the company. That was it for me I’d had enough!’Never one to do things by halves, Jim decided not just to leave the business, but to moveto the other side of the planet. It did help, however, that his girlfriend Maria was alreadythere. ‘Maria’s brother was a prisoner-of-war in Australia and he returned after. She wentto see him. We were from the same village, so my idea was to go out for a bit, get her,then come back. But it didn’t work that way. I arrived in Australia on 3 March 1957 andby August we were married. Our first daughter came in 1958, and I got stuck out here!‘A residential job came up in CastleCove. It was a rock excavation fora garage and driveway. I had anold compressor, but I didn’t have awheelbarrow. Back then, the standardcost rate to move a cubic yard of rockwas £4. There was 37 cubic yards inthe job… so I quoted £2. “You sure?”the guy asked. “When can I start?” Iasked back.’THE EARLY YEARSJIM ABIGNANO12

‘It was hard to find work at first. My first English that I learnt was, “Sorry, full up.” But byMay I got a job with Wallis & Moore Surveyors digging trenches. In four days I becameforeman and I picked things up pretty quick.‘There was an engineer there called Jack Cejka [his son Paul joined Abigroup in 2000],and we decided to go it alone with a business called “Beavers” and subcontract. Ourfamilies lived together and we worked together for 18 months until we were so in debtwe had to stop. I couldn’t go home to Italy because I owed the tax office for tax onlabour. We were sharing a car between the families and I didn’t even have enoughmoney for a pram – we were carrying our daughter around in a laundry basket!’Then Jim’s fortunes changed. ‘A residential job came up in Castle Cove. It was a rockexcavation for a garage and drive-way. I had an old compressor, I didn’t have awheelbarrow. Back then, the standard cost rate to move a cubic yard of rock was £4.There was 37 cubic yards in the job… so I quoted £2. “You sure?” the guy asked. “Whencan I start?” I asked back. He told me now – so I did. I had to use a shovel and handmoveit. The rock was very generous and I worked around the clock for five straightdays. All I could see was £74… £74… £74. I finished the job and immediately went andbought a pram.’Another job followed soon after, but Jim charged £3 this time. ‘I became an expert atrock. I got an old guy to show me blasting and we did it with gunpowder packed intotight holes. Then Jack Cejka, who by then had got a job as an engineer for RadfordConstruction, wanted me to do a trenching job, so I got some boys together and cleared£1000 in three months.’That job got Jim’s tax bill down, but more importantly, it got him on his way. Theforerunner to today’s Abigroup was just around the corner. ‘In 1960 I did go back to Italy,but realised there were too many good opportunities in Australia. I came back and hadbeen given advice to formalise things. I had a little dozer by then and a bit of machineryand a crew of between ten and 20 labourers. I was the only staff and I was doingeverything - including the labour. So in 1961, Abignano the business was formed to makethings more organised. There was no change to our lives and no grand plan – we justwanted to get things done. My English was getting better by now, too. At least I couldread the contracts!’Opposite Page:Jim Abignano, 2010.Top:Jim Abignano (left) and Bill Badsor (right)on construction site.Above:Intake Tower at Cressbrook Dam.Right:Jim Abignano, 1984.By now, Jim and his business were out of debt and starting to grow. His ability to seeover, past or through obstacles to get things done was creating a reputation he couldtrade on and in 1963, he reached another turning point. ‘At the time I was building roadsfor subdivision all over the metropolitan area. The work was mainly in rock areas and Iwas charging up to 45 shillings a cubic yard for earthwork – blasting and using two D7dozers with a cable between them to rip the rock. George Moore from Wallis & Mooredesigned the Comenarra Parkway in Sydney’s north for Lend Lease. It was tough countryand they had commercial problems because there were 42 lots of land each valued at£2000 and that meant the job couldn’t cost more than £80,000 otherwise they couldn’tdo it. The problem was that there was 40,000 cubic yards of earth to move and at a costof 45 shillings a cubic yard to excavate, excavating the land the traditional way wouldcost more than the land was worth. Mr Moore asked me to look at this project and see ifI could find a way to do it within the budget as there was another section to follow. SoI did a survey with Caterpillar, who had just brought out a new D9; a 435 horsepower13 THE EARLY YEARSJIM ABIGNANO

piece of equipment. We found out we could get by with only blasting ten per centbecause the D9 could rip out the rest. So we said we could do the job for £78,000 and MrDusseldorp [Chairman of Lend Lease] couldn’t believe it. He asked me how we could doit for that, and I told him that it’s my business. He started talking about guarantees, andI just said, “You pay me after the job, so what can you lose?” He said he liked me, thensaid, “You do this well, and I’ll give you more work.” On the 23 September, we got thefirst D9 into the [Sydney] metro area and started into a new phase of business.’And it didn’t stop there. On top of an increasing workload with Lend Lease, ParksDevelopment as well as Stocks and Holdings also contracted Abignano’s expertise intough jobs with hard rock. ‘The business was based around charging 18-20 shillings percubic yard against a five shilling cost. My boys were on above the nine shillings per hourflat rate with lots of bonuses. In November ’63 I got another big machine, then anotherin February 1964. In June ’64 I got another, plus graders and front-end loaders. I alwaysbought, not hired. Hiring is dead money. It’s more important to own machines andconcentrate on efficient use.’ It’s a strategic position that remains with the business 50years later.In 1964/65, Abignano was running about 20 jobs in the Sydney metro area. Therewere two foremen and every operator was basically his own boss in charge of hisown operation. Jim was still running the business, doing the books, the pays and themanagement at night. Add to that his maintenance work on the machines to keepthem going and his work directly on the jobs, and the picture of a driven man jugglingmultiple balls at once whilst happily shouldering significant responsibility is entirelyaccurate. Times were good, but Jim had never been one to stand still. ‘We were onlyoperating in Sydney and there were a lot of big jobs in the regional areas. Things wererun differently in the country but I had to experiment so I tendered for a job in Oberonas a test, knowing I’d lose money. From that I discovered that I needed a better businessstructure. At the time, the DMR [Department of Main Roads] was leasing some machinesfrom me and one of their guys was talking about leaving. His name was Paul Dolstal andover some beers we decided to form a business to do the country jobs. We called it A&D.Abignano provided the funds and leased equipment to A&D, and our first job was a roaddeviation around Blowering Dam in Tumut. We also did the last 32km of the Indian PacificRailway from Cockburn to Broken Hill. This was where I met Allan Livingstone [wholater was to play a major role in the business]. He was in charge of restructuring thestation for NSW railway. The A&D business split in 1969: Paul was the hardest-workingperson – he’d work 23 hours, sleep one, then start again, but it was too much: it couldn’tcontinue.’But Abignano continued at his own blistering pace, and Jim acknowledges a turningpoint that played a key part. It was the Lake Mokoan Dam project in Benalla, Victoriawhen Allan Livingstone joined the company. Allan would later become Jim’s second-incommand,and take the Managing Director’s role, but he had to earn his stripes first‘We opened a quarry for rock on that dam job and I put Allan in charge of it in 1969/70.But he was operating under a less qualified man and after a month, he wasn’t happy.So I flew to the job [Jim flew his own plane to the various jobs by this stage] and in themorning I took him out to the quarry and told him why I wanted him to do this job in thequarry… and why next he’d be cleaning machines, then operating equipment. He hadbig potential and he needed to learn all areas of the business. He took it to heart andbecame a big player in the growth of Abignano.’THE EARLY YEARSPETER JIM ABIGNANO BRECHT14

Opposite page:Jim Abignano in front of his house.Top Left:Abignano soccer team.Middle:F3 freeway.Above:Windamere Dam NSW, 1983.Top Right:Jim Abignano, 1984.REMEMBER...• JFK is sworn in as the 35th president ofthe USA.• The Beatles perform for the first timeever.• Construction of the Berlin Wall begins.• Oral contraception is first sold inAustralia.Until 1970, Jim was still working out his business cash flow and calculations in his head– even with a few million in turnover and a private aeroplane! Around this time, thebusiness won the Waterfall to Wollongong Expressway job. Jim was able to win thistender because – like in 1963 – he was able to reduce running costs by buying biggermachines. He introduced the Fiat Allis HD-41 bulldozer, the first of its class in the world.The HD-41 was 750 HP and weighed 75 tons compared to the D9 which was only 435 HPand weighed 42 tons. Using the bigger equipment reduced the amount of blasting thatneeded to be done which in turn reduced the cost of the job.Abignano’s rapid growth was becoming an issue and Jim took steps. He employed AlanJones as General Manager and was also introduced to a man called Mal Evans, whomanaged to get some structure and processes in place. ‘Mal was a consultant and heasked too many questions. He’d ask things like, “Where’s your business going?” and I’dsay, “To the next job”. He’d ask about the status of my cash flow and I’d answer, “Huh?”It was time to get some structure and direction.’With the more professional approach, the early seventies progressed strongly. Roadsand dams filled the order book and cash flow was no longer just in Jim’s head. The midseventies,however, rocked the boat. ‘In ’74/’75 there was a revolution in inflation. Forten years prior to 1974, CPI [Consumer Price Index] averaged three per cent, and allcontracts in NSW contained an escalation clause of 85 per cent of Sydney CPI. But afterthe Whitlam Government came in the Sydney CPI reached 17 per cent and at the sametime the actual job CPI reached 60 per cent, which added a few millions to the cost of thejob. The DMR recognised that the whole industry was having difficulty but contractuallycould not recognise claims we had until the Minister approved ex-gratia payment. Havingto carry the high cost, coupled with large amounts of variation in jobs wasn’t easy and bythe end of 1975, we were stretching our creditors past the limits - but they had faith inme.‘For the Christmas closure on 23 December we’d budgeted to pay holiday pay and somecreditors from our November CPI claim of $700,000 from a dam job we were doing inCairns. We should have received the money by 20 December but instead I received acall from the Chairman of the Cairns Water Board who was in Sydney. Over dinner hedropped the bombshell - saying that they had run out of allocated funds and couldn’tpay the November claim. I almost dropped dead right there – thinking on the 23rd I’mclosed, Merry Christmas and goodnight! There was no sleep that night and I couldn’taccept that with so much money outstanding I would go broke. I came up with a plan ofaction and the next day myself, Allan Livingstone and our accountant Roman Hosak wentand visited our major creditors – who had much to lose if we went under – and askedthem for help. Most of them helped not only be deferring payment but also by providingus with financial assistance. Through their support and by refinancing some equipmentwe managed to raise sufficient funds to stay in business.By February 1976, Jim had to sell six machines back to Caterpillar as part paymenton his debt, but it wasn’t long before he’d got himself out of trouble and disaster wasaverted. Then in early March, he got his payment from the Water Board and within a fewdays of that, he received a $2.5 million advance on a pending DMR job. He was back. ‘InApril that year I went back to Caterpillar and bought ten brand new machines from them.I parked them in the workshop for all the world to see. There was real excitement aroundthe place and those machines were a symbol of it.’15 THE EARLY YEARSPETER JIM ABIGNANO BRECHT

The business grew strongly from that point on, and even the improved systems andstructure that had been put in place a decade previously were no longer enough. Astockbroker had been advising Jim and encouraged him to go public – to list Abignanoon the stock exchange and sell shares in the business. ‘Everything I had was tied up inthe business, even my bed. I needed more capital to move away from being tied to myassets. So in 1980, we took it to a public company and while it achieved some aims verywell, I couldn’t act on instinct as much any more. Even though I was still running theshow, I had to deal with so many more people now.‘In 1984, Abignano bought some assets in Enacon. They were friendly, but it was theworst decision I ever made. We really wanted to keep the Graham Evans [building]part of Enacon and planned to sell off the rest of their companies because they didn’toperate in our core business. But Enacon put some people on our Board and theydidn’t understand us. They became our shareholder and they made me nervous. Thebusinesses we purchased were in trouble and we [Abignano] had to call on some of theirguarantees – we had a $25 million litigation against our major shareholder. I was hatedand the whole thing hurt very badly.’Going public raised capital because Abignano was a successful business and peoplewanted a piece of those good times. But going public also wrested control from the manwho had created that success and it was tough to take. So tough in fact, it resulted inJim having stress-related heart surgery. ‘In 1986 I sold my shares to Enacon and thatwas it. I didn’t sell pleasantly, but you’ve got to move on. But I still regard Abigroup asmy business even today. I flew from Cairns to Sydney recently and I saw dams, railways,roads and I know I did them with this business. I see the Abigroup logo or drive by theoffices and I feel proud – it’s part of my memories whatever happens. Mostly, I’m proudof my employees and the fact that many have gone on to great things inside and outsidethe business.’So a life of leisure came knocking. Comfy slippers and day-time telly, right? ‘No way!I did do nothing for a few years after that, but I went crazy. So I started doing somethings like property and factory developing, and then in 1991, I was approached by abank because a business they dealt with called Trio was having difficulties. They workedin insulation of power stations and refineries and also did construction. I bought thatcompany and wanted to learn all about it. It was very successful for a few years, then wealso went into demolition and became the best in power stations. I also took up golf –now that’s something I regret not doing earlier!’Jim also owns and operates a 700 hectare olive farm 120 kilometres north west of Griffithcalled Montoro, in deference to his old village in Italy. In many ways, it’s made his lifecome full circle - the boy who grew into a young man logging trees in an Italian villagein the forties and fifties now has 110,000 trees under his control in his adopted home. ‘Ilove going up at pruning and harvesting time. We do about one million litres a year andwe’re exporting to Italy!’What’s old is new again, although these days he no longer needs to worry about howto feed himself or his family like he did in his early lumber industry days in war-tornTHE EARLY YEARSPETER JIM ABIGNANO BRECHT16Top Left:Jim Abignano, 2010.Top Right:Jim Abignano and his wife at their home.Above:Abignano cricket, 1984Opposite Page:Jim Abignano, 2010.

Italy. But he does worry about who will sit next to who when each of his six children, 14grandchildren and one great-grandchild come around every fortnight for lunch. That andhow to get his pesky golf handicap down!Note: Jim officially carries the letters AM after his name after he was made a Member ofthe Order Of Australia 1983 for services to the construction industry and the community.He also carries the title Cavalieri in front of his name after receiving the equivalentaccolade from the Italian Government.MILESTONESKey early turning points:• Jim’s first ‘major’ job, 1959.A residential earthmoving job using ashovel and Jim’s two hands.• 1961.‘Abignano’ was created to formalise agrowing business.• 1963.Comenarra Parkway was Abignano’s firstsignificant project. The first D9 used inSydney metro area was used on this job.• 1964.A&D was formed by Abignano andDostal to complete jobs outside Sydney’smetropolitan area. It wound up in 1969and Abignano started completing regionaljobs itself.• 1975.A difficult economic environment andtough times for the business almost sawthe business closed down. By late 1976, itwas back on track.• 1980.The company lists on the Australian StockExchange.• 1984.The business buys shares in Enacon.• 1986.Enacon becomes the major shareholder.Jim sells out of the business he created.• 1970.McCullen Dam and Wollongong to Waterfallexpressway were two big projects thattook Abignano into a new league.17 THE EARLY YEARSPETER JIM ABIGNANO BRECHT

A link withthe pastPHIL TREMBATH 1972 - 2008SUPERINTENDENTPhil is a well-known Abigroup old-timer who joined the company in 1972 to work on theShoalhaven Scheme. ‘I’d just finished up working elsewhere and wanted to move backhome to Wollongong. I knew the Shoalhaven Scheme was beginning and after speakingwith some friends, found out that Abignano had won some work on Wingecarribee Dam. Iknew nothing about Abignano – had never heard of the company. But I went up, knockedon their door and asked for a job doing whatever was available, and I got it.‘It was Jim [Abignano’s] biggest job and they’d only really done earthmoving androadworks previously. But my first impression was that the place was very inclusive andthat the people were willing to give anything a go. The atmosphere was great – it wasa place where work was important, but that it wasn’t just about the work. I’ve still gotfriends from those days, and in fact many guys on that job kicked on to great thingswithin the company. Over time I’ve worked with Allan Livingstone, Peter Brecht, DavidJurd, and that’s the great thing about Abigroup – the bosses come from within and havebeen out there on jobs with the guys. Abigroup people stick together because we’veknown each other for ever.’In those days Jim Abignano was still active on the jobs and he left his mark on everyonearound him. ‘Jim was a tough guy, but he had respect. He’d often spy on us from up on ahill or something and I remember one time we were finishing up a job and we had threeguys next to each other walking the job with their barrows. Jim asked me what they weredoing and I told him they were just doing some clearing up – he told me to split them up100 yards apart so they’d stop talking and work harder!‘He was a wealthy guy, but I don’t think he really understood the trappings of it. Hedrove a nice car to the jobs and wore good clothes, but I remember one time in the midtolate-seventies when a scraper broke down. The next thing we knew, he was under therig and fiddling around in his beautiful Italian suit – he got oil over it but he couldn’t havecared less!’In the late seventies Phil moved onto a dam job in the Snowies and then on to projectsaround Lithgow, before his services were required on the biggest job Abignano had everhad – the Bayswater Power Station. ‘It was around 1980 and I stayed for a couple ofyears. It was a full-on, busy place with trucks going everywhere all the time. We setearthmoving records up there and the staff numbers were totally different to what we’dseen before. There was still a great atmosphere, but it was a much more serious worksitethan the previous, smaller ones I’d been on. There were more rumours that the businesswas struggling again and that Jim was about to sell and take a step back, but it didn’taffect us out there. Abigroup has always employed many more staff than subbies and hasalways been great in retaining and looking after its people – that’s a lot different to othercompanies in the industry.’‘The size of the jobs these days isamazing, don’t get me wrong, but itdoesn’t surprise me that we are outthere doing them.’The company was growing, but money was always tight. ‘It got rough in the eighties, andwe always had to watch spending. Jim was big on that, which was fair enough becauseTHE EARLY YEARSPHIL TREMBATH18

it was his money. But there were regular rumours that the company was struggling andgoing to go under and sometimes it was distracting. We were on a job in Mittagong in1974 when Jim sold a scraper - which fuelled the rumours. So Jim came on site to talkto us about it – he didn’t want to lose guys because they thought they wouldn’t be paid.“Now, there’s rumours around that I’m broke,” he started off saying. The guys were allsilent. “Well, I can tell you it’s not true,” he then said firmly. “I came to this country witha suitcase and £10… and I still have the suitcase!” Jim had an unusual way with people,but it seemed to work. Everyone stayed.’So what has changed in the way that jobs are done now compared to the “good olddays”? Technological advancements are one of the key areas of improvement thatcomes to mind when Phil looks back. ‘Everything has been made so much more efficientbecause of technology. For example, 20 years ago if we needed to change a bucket onan excavator, we’d have to knock pins out and spend hours dismantling and re-fitting it.These days there are quick-release buckets, buckets that can turn 90 degrees, and evenelectronic simulators to teach people to drive! But probably the biggest technologicalchange has been in surveying. There used to be teams of people out there with theirtheodolites and chains, but now it can be just one guy out there with a computer. Peopleemail each other and text each other, but on the early jobs we didn’t even have phones.In fact I remember two-way radios coming in the late seventies and how excited we allwere about that. On the Bayswater job, for example, if I wanted to discuss things withsubbies, I’d have to go and meet them in the pub so we could communicate - I had toask for an allowance to keep me going, although it was knocked back of course! Thechanges just keep on coming and I guess they always will.’The size of jobs has increased massively over time, and Phil, who took on key roles onthe M2 and the M7 projects, has witnessed the phenomenal growth of the business inrecent times. ‘Look, the size of the jobs these days is amazing, don’t get me wrong, butit doesn’t surprise me that we are out there doing them. The business has been built ongiving things a go – of just getting stuck in – so it’s just another challenge.’Phil officially ‘retired’ in 2008, but don’t make the mistake of thinking that means he’s nolonger involved. ‘I recently spent eight weeks over in Perth helping with a new projectthat was starting. Keeping involved suits me fine. I guess I’m like a consultant and oneof the reasons they keep people like me and Lyell [Miller] involved is to stir the youngengineers up a bit and to maintain a bit of a link with the past. People have always toldme that I have blue and white blood in my veins!’MILESTONE PROJECTBayswater Power Station, Hunter Valley,NSW, completed early 1984.• Batch plant was producing 10,000 cubicmetres of concrete and backfill mortar permonth.• 50,000 cubic metres of concrete.• 400,000 cubic metres of excavation.• 5500 tonnes of reinforcing andstructural steel.• 100 kilometres of pipework.• 160 wage employees plus varioussubcontractors.Opposite Page:Phil Trembath, 2010.Top:Bayswater Power Station, 1983.Above:Staff on site, Shaolhaven RiverIntake Works, 1982 (Phil secondfrom left).REMEMBER...• Aborigines are given the vote in Queensland.• Prime Minister Robert Menzies declares Australiais at war with Vietnam.• Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra officially opens.• 80,000 cubic metres of formwork.19THE EARLY YEARSPHIL TREMBATH

Everybit countsJIM MITCHENER 1972 - 2002FORMER PROCUREMENT MANAGERWhen Jim Mitchener retired from Abigroup in 2002 after some 30 years with thecompany, a farewell party was held for him at Acer Arena and was attended by the manyfriends and acquaintances he’d made over his long career as Purchasing Officer and thenProcurement Manager. His leaving card was signed by most of Abigroup’s head office staffincluding the then-CEO John Cassidy who ominously wrote “See ya back soon!” abovehis signature. ‘When I left I took six months off and did some travelling, and after thatstarted painting the kitchen ceiling and doing things like that. Then I got a call to helpbecause the existing purchasing manager was going on leave for a few months and theywanted me to fill in. I left the hallway half painted and went back. When I was done Iwent back to the painting and had just about finished the hallway when I was asked backagain to help the tendering for Special Projects. I guess I actually got to retire threetimes!’‘Luckily I didn’t throw away his Abigroup shirts!’ Jim’s wife Pam jokes. ‘But he enjoyedthe company back there at Abigroup – in fact we all did because everyone was loved andrespected, including the wives and partners.’Jim joined Abignano in November 1972 as the company’s first Purchasing Officer. ‘Therewasn’t even a full-time Estimator in the business because Mr A [Abignano] did mostof it himself. My wage was $7500 a year with a $20 a week car allowance, which waspretty decent for those days. You just got to know who sold what and who to work with.Gradually, I wrote all the contacts in a big red book so we could have some sort of recordbut before that, it was just ad-hoc. Guys on the job would call me and tell me what theywanted, I’d take handwritten records then go and try and find what they needed.’Jim Abignano was very active back then, driving his business to success. ‘Mr A was ahard man, but he was fair. You would never want to get caught calling him A-big-na-noso I called him Mr A. He always wanted things cheaper and he’d query everything, butwe soon figured out how to work together. It was like sport for him, but we had goodrelationships with the suppliers and that really helped.’So were there ever any weird and wonderful items he had to try and purchase? ‘Therewas a lot of standard stuff because the business was largely in excavation back then.It’s just that the quantities got bigger and bigger. I do remember a time when Mr Awas looking into getting some big scrapers in from Saudi Arabia. We’d never done anyimporting before, so I went and figured it out, filled in reams of paperwork and all thatjunk – then he changed his mind!’Nicknames are commonplace in the industry, and Jim’s was pretty cool. ‘In the earlyseventies there was a big stormwater and drainage job at the Holsworthy Army Barracks,so I was sent there to run purchasing from their offices for the civil division. It startedthe trend of having purchasing officers based on the site of the bigger jobs. Anyway, Itook the biggest office up there – it was the old Colonel’s office – so everyone startedcalling me the Colonel. Back then the main switch at Head Office was still one of thosepull and plug ones and we had two-way radio out at the job sites. At Holsworthy, though,‘I became one of the estimators. Thejobs got bigger and then we spenta year tendering for the M2. I don’tthink we really thought we could winit, but we did.’THE EARLY YEARSJIM MITCHENER20

I had to run the two-way off my Datsun car battery! There were no fax machines andthe photocopying machines would always break down. There were secretaries to writeletters, and Australia Post certainly got a workout. Everything is done so much quickerthese days.’One thing that stands out in Jim’s memory is how quickly the size and complexity ofthe jobs the business was tendering for grew. ‘Bayswater [Power Station] was thefirst big step up and a real feather in our cap. Our ordering jumped up a lot and so didthe amount we ordered. At Bayswater there was an administrator on site who’d orderplant and from there, an Estimating Team was formed led by David Havercroft with twoestimators and a secretary. I became one of the estimators. The jobs got bigger and thenwe spent a year tendering for the M2. I don’t think we really thought we could win it,but we did. These days all the main jobs have their own purchasing officer.‘Everyone in every area played their part in making a job successful. I remember whenwe were tendering for the Bangor Bypass road job, all the tender docs had been doneand printed when at the last minute I finished sourcing and negotiating with a newsupplier for the sound walls that would save us $1 million. So we changed the figures byhand then submitted the doc just in time – and won it. Every bit counts.’Jim worked through the time when the Imperial system of measurement was beingreplaced with the Metric in the late seventies. ‘That was fun! We did soft conversions,which basically meant we just rounded down with decimal points when ordering andmeasuring. It’s OK here and there, but if you’re ordering long lengths of piping, it’s0.4mm multiplied by many, and the lengths of pipe begin not to fit into each other! Wehad to get more accurate, but it took a while I can tell you.’After all those years, what does working for Abigroup mean to Jim? ‘Well it was goodto see the way internal people were promoted within the company. For example overthe years I saw both Peter Brecht and then David Jurd take on increasingly more seniorpositions as they headed towards the top job. But I guess you can summarise it like Idid in my farewell speech – I didn’t say, “Get stuffed”, I said, “Goodbye” and I meant it.’Opposite Page:Jim Mitchener, 2010.Top:Acer Arena.Above:Sandhurst Creek.Above Right:Reception at Asquith.REMEMBER...• Led Zeppelin I, Led Zeppelin’s first studio recordedalbum, is released. British singer Elton John releaseshis first album, Empty Sky, in the United Kingdom.• The Woodstock Festival is held in upstate New York,featuring some of the top rock musicians of the era.• The first automatic teller machine is installed in the USA.(Australia gets its first in 1977).MILESTONE PROJECTWindamere Dam, Mudgee, 1981-1984.• 1,640,00 cubic metres fill volume(1,000,000 of which was rock).• An eight-span, 140 metre long bridge.• Around 100 working on the site, with90 of those wages staff and employees.• 94,000 bags of cement for grouting!21THE EARLY YEARSJIM MITCHENER

HistorymattersLYELL MILLER 1976 - 2006SUPERINTENDENTLyell Miller first came into contact with Abigroup when he was working on the NewcastleExpressway project, which is now known as the F3. ‘I was an operator working foranother contractor on the F3 as well as other DMR jobs so I ended up alongside Abignanoguys quite often. Then in 1976 I joined them to work on the Hume Highway duplicationat Bargo. Jim [Abignano] would be there every day at 6am to drive through the job inhis nice Jaguar, making sure everyone was there. It was the kind of place where you’dactually start ten minutes early so that you could hit the ground running at the official6am start.’The Bargo job was quite straightforward, but it was a good introduction to the wayAbignano worked. ‘Jim wanted his pound of flesh, but he was also a guy you could speakto. There was never a problem getting paid, even though sometimes he had to sellequipment to make sure it happened! And if anyone ever needed help – a short-termloan to buy a car or something – Jim would lend them the money interest free and takethe repayments from their wages. Bargo was a six or seven kilometre road job – a bigdeal at the time – and we had 20 or 30 men on the job. We’d meet at the pub after workand there was a great atmosphere. We worked hard, but it was fun too.’By 1983 Lyell had worked his way up to foreman and was working on a very aptly namedjob. ‘It was the Lyell Dam – I’d like to think it was named in my honour, not because ofthe river crossing nearby! It was up near Lithgow as well, so I spent a few years in thearea. In those days you were paid a living away from home allowance and you had tofind your own accommodation. It might be above a pub or in a caravan, whatever youcould find for the least amount of money.’Another thing that began changing around the mid-eighties was the attitude towardssafety. ‘I think back and I reckon the time when it started to change was around 1985when we started work on the Woodlawn Mine near Goulburn. It was a fairly big mineand we were there to strip overburden, but gradually we got pulled into actual miningoperations and we were there for about four years. The thing was that the mining guyswere far more advanced with safety than us guys from the bush. It was a real eyeopener.‘In the old days “incidents” were called “near misses” and we’d often have a laugh aboutthem. There was always something on the big jobs, like when you were working in oldmine country, you’d pretty regularly fall through into old mine shafts – they could be twometres down and empty or full of water. I can tell you it’s pretty scary when one side ofthe tractor just disappears.’‘The history matters in this place andit becomes more than just a place todo some work.’Lyell remembers a particular “near miss” that turned out to have more positiverepercussions than negative. ‘It was the early eighties on the Mt Piper Power Stationin the mountains and it was a tricky job, not least because it was an old mine site andthe ground preparation was proving extremely difficult because there was no wateranywhere. There was a big brick and rock wall that had been cut into the side of themountain previously and we’d been told to keep our machines away from it. But one ofTHE EARLY YEARSLYELL MILLER22

the guys got too close and backed into it. All of a sudden, water started pouring out –it’d been trapped in an old mine shaft and he’d cracked it! We ended up turning it into apositive and used that water for all the prep works – it was like finding gold. We didn’tknow whether to sack him or thank him!’Big tractors are one of the major attractions of the job for a guy like Lyell. ‘Jim[Abignano] always tried to buy the biggest and the best – plenty of D9s and HD41sbefore D10s came around. But you didn’t get to drive the best ones straight away. You’dget the old ones first so you could earn your stripes – and then you’d think you’d won thelottery when you got to spend a few hours in a new one! You’d start by spending a fewhours at the end of the day on them then work your way up with good performance. Itwas my brother that actually taught me way back at the start – he saw there was moneyin it and we’d grown up on a farm so we were already pretty good with equipment. Inthe early days everything was run with hydraulics and before that it was cable controlled.There were always blown hoses and drama and down-time. Now, it’s electric overhydraulic and it’s more efficient with less breakdowns. You could go to work in a suit andtie and wear them out later that night these days! The cabs are like comfy couches infront of a computer game.’Opposite Page:Lyell Miller, 2010.Above:Bayswater Power Plant crew (Lyell frontrow, far left).Left:Abigroup tractors doing what they dobest.After all the earth he’s moved, are there particular jobs that stand out? ‘I’d have to saythe M2 because it was full-on from start to finish. It rained for the first few months andwe had just about all our equipment waiting on that job. But we still ended up finishingearly and it was a massive learning curve for everyone in the business. We were ten to12km out of the city – you could see the Harbour Bridge – and there we were ripping theside out of a mountain. It really put us into the big league.‘I also remember working on the F3 at West Wallsend when fire threatened the wholetown. It was a hot, windy day and some sparks flew onto the grass from powerlines.So we all stopped work, got water from the job and rumbled through the main streetsof town using our 769s as water carts to fight the fire. We managed to put the fire outand we saved the town. There was another fire at the Warragamba Dam project oneChristmas holidays. The fire jumped the dam and we lost a lot of equipment and officeseven though we went in there to try and save things. The saddest thing was that I lost allmy Christmas grog as well!’Lyell officially resigned from Abigroup in 2006 after 30 years’ service, but don’t gothinking that this signalled the end of his Abigroup life. ‘I was invited to the Christmasparty that year, and that was the end of my retirement! I was asked back to do somepart-time mentoring – I go from site to site every couple of weeks to meet with theleading hands and see if we can help turn them into effective foremen. It’s been goingwell and it’s a good opportunity to pass on some things I’ve learnt and to keep theAbigroup culture alive. But it’s also about training and trying to help people avoidmistakes – any mistakes these days can be big dramas. So we need to make sure weavoid that happening.’REMEMBER...• The first scientific hand-held calculator(HP-35) is introduced (price $395).• Mariner 9 sends pictures from Mars.• The Godfather is released in cinemas inthe United States.• Australia introduces equal pay for women.Thirty-plus years is a long time to do anything. Why stay in one business for so long?‘I’ve been close to jumping the fence on occasion, I’ll be honest. But why go somewhereelse when right from the start Jim would always make sure you had another job to go towhen one finished? There was never a drop in wages if there was down-time and that setup still exists today. The history matters in this place and it becomes more than just aplace to do some work. Most of my thirty-plus years have been fantastic, so there neverwas any point in going anywhere else.’23 THE EARLY YEARSLYELL MILLER

SalzerstalwartsMICK, FRANK & BRIANFOREMAN, SOLID PLASTERER & CARPENTERMick McGuire and Frank Taverna were both with Bob Salzer from the beginning, notchingup over four decades of employment with Salzer and its subsequent owner, Abigroup.Mick began as a concreter and Frank is a renowned master plasterer.‘I was payslip number eight,’ Frank remembers. ‘Bob Salzer was number one and to him,we were all his family. He and [his wife] Betty didn’t have any children. My brother alsoworked with us and I remember he needed a second mortgage, so Bob lent him $4,000with no interest to pay – that’s the type of guy he was.’‘I joined three months after you,’ Mick adds, ‘and I was payslip eighty-two. That showshow well he was going.’The company’s first job was a ripper. The apartment building at 15 Collins Street inMelbourne stood out not only in its size but also in the speed of its creation. ‘Constructinga 22 storey building in one year was just unheard of,’ Frank enthuses. ‘We all felt like ateam and I guess there was a lot of self-performance happening before the term waseven heard of.’‘We poured a slab every five days which was ground-breaking from a productivity pointof-view,’Mick remembers clearly.Both guys had a respect for their boss that seemed to be shared by the industry. ‘Bobwas just a normal guy,’ Mick explains. ‘People liked him, but he didn’t let anyone walkover him. He could pick a person’s character in ten minutes and even if there were 120guys on site, he’d know all of them by name.’‘And the wives and children’s names,’ Frank adds. ‘He did have his moments though. Idon’t remember him yelling at people, but you knew when he was angry with somethingand then it was just best to keep out of his way and get on with your work.’Both Mick and Frank remember the Abigroup buyout in 1987 and the subsequentmanagement takeover of Abigroup by John Cassidy’s Vercot in 1988 with mixedemotions. ‘I thought it was going to be all over,’ says Frank candidly. ‘I was worried, I cantell you, but the company kept going even though it was tough financially. It did take abit of time before I began to feel like an Abigroup person though.’‘Everyone wished Bob all the best,’ says Mick, ‘but we were all hoping he’d sold it tosomeone who would keep it going and keep us in jobs. That’s what happened, and nottoo much changed, really.’Frank agrees, but adds, ‘We all ended up having Abigroup shares, so the more workthere was and the more opportunities there were, the better it was for all of us. Then wehad to sell them [after the Bilfinger Berger takeover]. We’d bought them at about $1 andsold them for $3.90, so I can’t complain, but most people I know wanted to keep them.It made us feel more a part of the place.’Neither Mick or Frank can count how many jobs they’ve worked on, but a couple standout as favourites. For Mick, it was Little Bourke Street, Melbourne in 1981 because ofthe volume of pre-cast cement they worked with. For plasterer Frank, it seems like‘We all felt like a team and Iguess there was a lot of selfperformancehappening beforethe term was even heard of.’REMEMBER...• Bill Gates founds Microsoft in Albuquerque,New Mexico.• The Governor General, John Kerr, dismisses thegovernment of Gough Whitlam. Malcolm Fraser isinstalled as caretaker Prime Minister.• The world’s population hits four billion.• Papua New Guinea gains independence fromAustralia.THE EARLY YEARSMICK, FRANK & BRIAN24

every job was a good one. ‘I enjoyed the restoration work at Treasury Place in 1981. 1Collins Street in 1984 and the Law Courts were great, and so was the City Baths, whichI know Bob was especially proud of. In recent times the Camberwell Town Hall was verysatisfying. Heritage stuff is always my favourite.’Mick emigrated from London in 1969 and remembers the multicultural nature of theworksites back then. ‘At the start it was all Italians and there were often only two orthree English-speakers on site. Then ten years later it was Greek, then Yugoslavs. Thesedays there’s a mix of everything. It makes it really interesting.’‘Yeah, and back then there was no dunny paper, you had to rip up your newspaper anduse that!’ Frank laughs. ‘I see the beautiful lunchrooms now and think back to us puttingdown three bricks here and three bricks there and then putting a long plank across them– that was our lunchroom. In winter we’d get a fire in a tin and toast marshmallows.’‘Remember the trees, as well?’ Mick prompts.‘True,’ Frank nods. ‘We had a tradition where we used to get a branch of a tree and put iton top of the roof of every project we finished and all the guys would sit around it, havea BBQ and some drinks. Nothing too over the top, but a chance to have one last timetogether as a team and reflect on the job. The last time we did that was the LonsdaleStreet job nine years ago.’‘Things like that made you feel a part of a team,’ Mick adds. ‘You wouldn’t be here 40years otherwise!’Guys like Mick and Frank are a highly valued element of the culture of the business, andboth notice that the younger employees love to hear their stories. ‘The stories are a wayto show there’s some soul in this industry,’ Frank concludes. ‘I’ll leave this place withdifficulty, I can tell you that. Abigroup people are now like my family.’Opposite Page:Mick McGuire (left), FrankTaverna (right) and Brian Moody(below), 2010.Above Left:Salzer building project.Above:90 Collins St, Melbourne, 1987.Left:Workers laying foundations forMelbourne’s high-rise growth inthe seventies.In June 1973, at the tender age of 16, Brian Moody applied for an apprenticeship withRobert Salzer Constructions. ‘The office was in Flinders Lane in Melbourne. It was verybasic, no frills, with wooden floors, and Bob told me to come back at the end of the yearwith my report card. Even at this initial stage of pre-employment he was sending themessage to set goals.‘Sure enough, he remembered me when I turned up again at the end of the year, reportcard in hand. We talked and he obviously saw something in me, because he said on thespot, “There are our projects Brian,” pointing to pins in a map on the wall, “Pick yourjob.” So I quickly pointed to a Caulfield project which was on my train line and that wasit – I started the next Monday.’A key aspect of the transition from Salzer to Abigroup was that as with Bob Salzer,John Cassidy believed in the importance of a flat management structure that allowedthe bosses to connect with the workers. But Brian acknowledges that the transitionwasn’t without its problems. ‘The biggest issue that I noticed in the 1987 changeoverwas the difference in the thinking process between engineers and builders. Salzer wasa family-based master builder business and Abigroup, even at that stage, was a diversebusiness with primarily engineering thinking. It meant there were difficulties in reachingunderstanding on how to get things done, but the common thread and the real link hasalways been that Salzer and Abigroup share the “let’s get it done” attitude, and that,combined with the camaraderie of the people I have worked with, is why I’m still hereafter 37 years.’25 THE EARLY YEARSMICK, FRANK & BRIAN

Fifty yearsof familyBILL PUSELL 1960 - to datePLANT YARD SUPERINTENDENTBill Pusell started his career with Abigroup in August, 1960 – even though G.AbignanoLtd wouldn’t be formed for another year. The link between Graham Evans and Co. andAbigroup (Abignano at the time) would take another two decades to eventuate, butthe heritage of Graham Evans is an important foundation for the growth of Abigroup. ‘Istarted as a concreter and labourer with Graham Evans in Sydney. It was a constructioncompany doing pipelines, swimming pools, sewage works and buildings, and every jobwas a challenge. The job I was in before that didn’t earn me very much but with GrahamEvans I was getting up to £180 a week so I was pretty happy! You could work around theclock if you wanted to, so that’s what I did.’Bill and his colleagues at Graham Evans were solely focused on getting the work done,no matter the complications. These days it’s known as a can-do culture. ‘We worked allover the place and lived on the jobs in a lean-to that had four sides and a roof madefrom five-ply wood. You had to bolt out the wooden window to get any light in. I do geta bit jealous now with all the technology and training – I mean, there are simulators nowto train people how to drive the equipment but back then it was a case of, “Billy – comehere. Drive this…” and you just taught yourself to do it. You had to be and do everythingon site and safety was just whatever you thought about at the time to stop you fromgetting hurt. But it didn’t worry me though – the money was good and I was happy to bebuilding things.’It was a tough era in an industry populated by tough men. And the Graham Evansculture was no different. ‘Graham Evans the man wasn’t around that much but he wason the Board. His shares were sold to Harry Shead, which basically gave him controlof the business. Sheady was a hard man and was out there doing the work with us – ifyou couldn’t handle hard work you were out. I remember in the mid-sixties we wereworking in Kandos – we were doing a lot of work in the town – and it rained for threedays straight. So Sheady retrenched us all so he wouldn’t have to pay us while there wasdown-time. Thing was, it stopped raining that afternoon, so he came into the pub, stoodthere and said, “Righto boys – back to work!” Didn’t ask or anything. So the boys toldhim where he could put that idea. Eventually we went back, but we certainly didn’t rush!’It wasn’t an era renowned for subtlety, either. ‘I remember working on some sewagereticulation in Orbost [Victoria] where we had to blast all around people’s homes. There’sall sorts of community liaison now, but back then all we did was put a card into theirletterboxes a couple of weeks beforehand to say it was going to happen. Plates werefalling off tables and glasses were cracking… they weren’t happy I can tell you, but itdidn’t stop us.’‘That’s been one of the biggestchanges over the years – safety.It’s meant much more paperwork,but it’s been a really importantimprovement.’THE EARLY YEARSBILL PUSELL26

Opposite Page:Bill Pusell, 2010.Below:Capalaba underconstruction.Bill’s favourite job was building the Gladstone mine’s underground water treatment plantin the mid-seventies. ‘It was an easy-going, fun, team atmosphere and we did a greatjob. The company was getting bigger and while I joined them for the money and becauseit was work, I stayed because the work was interesting and I got to do just about everyjob possible on the sites.’Bill also remembers building a swimming pool in the Riverina, but for different reasons.‘It was a Friday afternoon and we put some water in the pool to cure the tiles. ThatSunday night we all decided to go for a swim after we’d left the pub, so we chargedto the pool and I jumped straight in – luckily feet first because the water had beenall but drained out and I smashed up both my ankles. That’s been one of the biggestchanges over the years – safety. It’s meant much more paperwork, but it’s been a reallyimportant improvement.’Bill moved around the eastern states for jobs, which appealed until his kids began schooland he decided it was time to settle down. Until then, he’d work ten days straight to beable to take three or four off to spend with his family. One of the jobs he was working onduring that time was in Druin, Victoria, which required some tunnelling under existingroads. ‘We had to drill holes down 40 feet either side of the road then tunnel betweenthem. These days machines can do all of it, but back in 1970 it had to be done by hand.We had to get guys down there in the red clay to hand-clear about three feet a day,lining up their levels using wicks on three candles in a row. They timbered the tunnel asthey went and had a trolley behind them for the soil as they went – pretty much like inthe Great Escape movie.’Graham Evans and Co. was a subsidiary of Enacon and was an appealing target for JimAbignano as he sought acquisitions in the early eighties. By then, the Graham Evansoperations in Queensland and Victoria were significant and profitable, even if the NSWoperation was not performing as well. But did the backroom wheeling and dealings thatled to the ultimate marriage between Graham Evans and Abignano make any differencein the field? ‘Not really - the work was just the same. But I was asked to join Abignanodirectly in 1982 which meant I didn’t get shifted around and it was better for my family.Unfortunately it also meant I got paid for 40 hours even though I kept working 70! Ido remember one time early on when Jim [Abignano] came out to the yard up here inQueensland where I was working. He turned up in a yellow cab unannounced and startedasking me all sorts of questions about how things were going. “And you are–?” I askedhim. “I’m Jim,” he replied. “I own all this stuff you’re working on.” He then did the samething out on another project and the guy out there had his feet up reading the paper.When he asked who Jim was, he didn’t have a job much longer!’The tough times through the eighties were felt by everyone, but Bill remembers thebreath of fresh air in 1988 when John Cassidy and the buyout team took the reins. ‘Itimmediately became a more family-orientated place and they brought in bonuses for jobswell done. Before that, you were lucky to even get an ice-cream! They had to sell, sell,sell to get some cash into the business though. They sold lots of the plant - the hoists,the cranes, almost everything. They rented for a while until the business got back onto27 THE EARLY YEARSBILL PUSELL

its feet. Still, for a while we continued to have problems getting supplies because wehad outstanding accounts and people wouldn’t supply us, but we really began to believethings would turn around.‘When my son fell, broke his neck and couldn’t walk anymore, John helped by buildingsome changes around the home and even got him a computer. At my 35th anniversaryparty, I was going to be given a $299 weekend away, but apparently John asked mymanager what I was going to be given before I was given it and he said, “What aninsult!” He tore it up and immediately wrote out a $5,000 cheque - that’s the kind of guywe were working for and knowing that helped us all want to make things work.’Much of Bill’s 50th year with Abigroup has been based out in the new Yatala plant yardsouth of Brisbane, working through the archives of previous jobs. He’s not sure aboutthat word ‘retirement’ but he’ll enjoy a six-month break in 2011 and see what happensafter that. ‘It’s amazing how big this place is now. It used to be such a tin-pot industrybut now there are such big, complex jobs out there - and we’re doing them! I’ll have alump in my throat when I leave because this place has become like my family. But I’mgoing to be wary if they give me a phone as a gift when I go – then they can get to meat any time to come and help, and I’d find it hard to say no!’In October 2010, the Yatala plant yard was officially named the Bill Pusell Plant andOperations Facility.THE EARLY YEARSBILL PUSELL28Top:Bill in front of the Bill Pusell Plant andOperations Facility, 2010.Above:An Abignano job in Winton, Queensland.Opposite Page:Baroon Pocket Dam Tunnel, 1987.REMEMBER...• Dick Smith of Dick Smith Foods tows a fakeiceberg into Sydney Harbour.• One-child policy introduced into mainland China.• Garfield, which eventually becomes the world’smost widely syndicated comic strip, makes itsdebut.