Dandenong Industrial Fencing
Without Prejudice
Business taught me a lot about people, we might get 2 or 3 good employees per year, the rest of 17- no good at all.
One office girl stole our spare business cheque book and tried to cash one of them, using our stolen cheques, to try and buy a horse. Tools went, cars went or were smashed, trucks, too. Material was sold at Pubs in the local area, the list went on and on.
One younger Mother taking all the proceeds from the Melbourne Cup Sweep and we had to go legal to get it back.
We could have papered the walls with the court cases we were involved in. Someone was always sueing us for something.
I guess some of the happiest times were spent running the business. B was always dynamic and ruled his "boys" with an iron fist. he was the best Fencer ever and he taught the "boys" to match him and they never could.
B could work till he dropped and get up and go straight back to work. It was everything to him. He could do everything in the business himself, except the books which I kept. he would challenge the "boys" to races or holding pegs open with their fingers and he would always win.
But no one could match him as a fencer.
Simon came close and Gardiner, and Mondon. who runs his own Fencing business and Paul from Frankston was good. Peter J went on to run his own business too and Alex, learning the trade and moving on. At least ten over the years run their own Fencing businesses now.
It's an industry that is labour intensive and all monies are paid after completion. B would never take deposits, reasoning it pushed them and him to complete and get paid.
We worked like dogs, by headlights of the F100, we did the South eastern Freeway, a mile each side, in the middle of Winter, we did Caulfield's winning post and pulled down all the beautiful historic stables and had to burn them
We did St Kilda Barriers and the residents kept pulling them down in protest and we just kept having to go back and re do them.
We did the loos in St Kilda, Acland Street and had to re do them just about every week. we did the pier, we did the Geelong Trotting Track and went to the opening and B bought me an incredible gold necklace. Like an Egyptian necklet, beaten thin, just divine, he had fine taste B.
We did miles of Freeway, and The Remand Centre in the City, upsetting Unions and I had to go in and negotiate with John Halfpenny. B had walked off the job and taken the "boys" with him. But we had $20,000 of special ordered material and a compromise had to be reached.
I felt pretty "chuffed" when that one resolved. It was in the days of Norm Gallagher and the BLF. Not a lot of fun, but they felt sorry for me and showed me what to do to get back on site.
B hated unions with a passion and made it very clear. If we attached mesh to timber we had to be in the BLF, the Ironworkers, Carpenters and Joiners, Signage, the list was endless and we tended to avoid those jobs.
We worked for A.J.Galvins in Box Hill, a building company, and Leighton Contractors both fantastic payers. We did Smorgans jobs and they were slow payers. we had a few "cashies" which were usually the horse owners, race horses and rare breeds.Kevin Dennis provided us with on going work and paid us the same day.
We spoke in jargon, six foot 3 barb, tennis court, en tout cas, PVC capped posts, razor ribbon, (crazy stuff to work with) we made the mesh from coil and erected it accordingly or sold it to the Public.
We reclaimed all materials and if in good condition posts were cleaned of concrete and re used. Mesh you couldn't really re use. We made gates, to order. B, socks forever in holes and shirts, pants. He smelt like welding and grease and Galvetch. he read the Weekly Times from cover to cover and was always finding bargains.
We ate slept dreamed work it was our whole life for years, learning from mistakes in the past and pushing on. We had to go bigger or bust and we didn't know how we were going to do it. From 83 to 89 we made real money, even in the middle of the recession, we made money.
We could not stay as we were. So we went bigger, faster, more men, employing teams like Johnny and Greg, two of the best fencers around. We had to keep them in work all the time, those two boys liked their beer and their money and that was it.
We had to recruit them off another Company and promise them unending, ongoing work, to keep them. Sometimes paying them to go to the pub, virtually.
We had Mick and Dean and Ivan, Simon, Gardiner, Mick, Roy, Gooch, Gary K who went to Otters to run their machine, eventually, ironically the first place B. had worked in Fencing.
A couple of "boys," were incarcerated for driving offences and we would wait patiently for them to get out. Hiring Solicitors for them and getting charges reduced.
One went to Pentridge and within a week was transferred to Sale. He had seen a man cut his own throat and another hang himself, so he nearly had a nervous break down and was transferred out on humane grounds.
We went to see him up there, driving hours and the place was in the middle of mountains and forest.It was a good place, little cabins for each prisoner and they were expected to work.
A year he was there and we went to Bendigo to see another, that was like a bluestone castle. We went through probing security checks and he was delighted to see us.
He told us the worst part of "doing time" or "Boob", was having nothing to do, all day, every day. He swept down a tier at 7am in the morning and that was it. Nothing else to do and lockdown at 4.30.
He said he spent a lot of time sleeping.
He was out within a year as well and he brought a few shady charcaters with him, which we eventually had to get rid of.
We had other fencing companies sueing us, ex workers sueing us. B was openly sexist, racist and anti everyone of the workers and din't trust any of them, his reasoning,
"The nicer you are to People the more they **** on you." and,
"You have to be an arsehole to be a boss"
I don't knwo what he was stressing about, the "boys" worked hard and he would never tell them if they had done a good job, only picked fault, the tiniest things.
And he would try and cut their money down after promising certain amounts. They hated him, when he cur their money down and they knew what he was doing, but they liked the work and the place and us girls, so they would stay.
He would come in the office and laugh about it and rub his hands with glee. I had to ring for all the money owed and it was a job I absolutely hated, ironically it was the first job I had out of DIF, and I found out I was fairly good at it.
The girls had to be left to their own devices a lot and caused endless rows, as I wanted to be a family.
We took some holidays, one at B's insistence, he wanted us all to have a " Family Holiday, " to Bermagui, which was a disaster from start to finish.
The girls were mid teens, 16,15,12,10. and bored without their friends. We were in the middle of nowhere, it was freezing. The girls sat out on the empty lake muttering dark threats against their Father,
who spent the entire time with his Police Chief friend golfing and fishing, both of which B hated, and drinking which he loved.
The Police Chiefs wife had bad asthma and had brought a machine with her and she spent the entire holiday breathing it, and hardly went outside.
We went to the Cheese factory in Bega, the girls kept threatening to mutiny. We ended up going into a big town and went shopping, while the lads went to the Pub.
The girls wanted Family Time, needing us more as Teens than when young, and they fought a lot or were ignored a lot, expected to behave, and B and I would fight endlessly about it. me seeing them leaving one day, soon and B thinking we had plenty of time.
We kept working together even after we had separated and still saw each other but we were becoming strangers, the trip to the UK, rejoining us, we had the best time and as soon as we were home, the work piled up again, trying to finish off the brand new factory we had built, Debbie graduating year 12, Yvette becoming a Mother, which B hated. Her being only 18
We were never more busy and it seemed like we kept pushing and pushing and that one day soon we we had to bust through the ceiling we had built ourselves. It was the most intense feeling ever and we savaged at each other under stress, money woes, kids, personal problems shoved to one side and always there was the work and we just kept on working.
And then one day in November our world exploded and everything changed in a split second and life as we knew would never be the same again,
To be continued
.
Love Janette
.
Business taught me a lot about people, we might get 2 or 3 good employees per year, the rest of 17- no good at all.
One office girl stole our spare business cheque book and tried to cash one of them, using our stolen cheques, to try and buy a horse. Tools went, cars went or were smashed, trucks, too. Material was sold at Pubs in the local area, the list went on and on.
One younger Mother taking all the proceeds from the Melbourne Cup Sweep and we had to go legal to get it back.
We could have papered the walls with the court cases we were involved in. Someone was always sueing us for something.
I guess some of the happiest times were spent running the business. B was always dynamic and ruled his "boys" with an iron fist. he was the best Fencer ever and he taught the "boys" to match him and they never could.
B could work till he dropped and get up and go straight back to work. It was everything to him. He could do everything in the business himself, except the books which I kept. he would challenge the "boys" to races or holding pegs open with their fingers and he would always win.
But no one could match him as a fencer.
Simon came close and Gardiner, and Mondon. who runs his own Fencing business and Paul from Frankston was good. Peter J went on to run his own business too and Alex, learning the trade and moving on. At least ten over the years run their own Fencing businesses now.
It's an industry that is labour intensive and all monies are paid after completion. B would never take deposits, reasoning it pushed them and him to complete and get paid.
We worked like dogs, by headlights of the F100, we did the South eastern Freeway, a mile each side, in the middle of Winter, we did Caulfield's winning post and pulled down all the beautiful historic stables and had to burn them
We did St Kilda Barriers and the residents kept pulling them down in protest and we just kept having to go back and re do them.
We did the loos in St Kilda, Acland Street and had to re do them just about every week. we did the pier, we did the Geelong Trotting Track and went to the opening and B bought me an incredible gold necklace. Like an Egyptian necklet, beaten thin, just divine, he had fine taste B.
We did miles of Freeway, and The Remand Centre in the City, upsetting Unions and I had to go in and negotiate with John Halfpenny. B had walked off the job and taken the "boys" with him. But we had $20,000 of special ordered material and a compromise had to be reached.
I felt pretty "chuffed" when that one resolved. It was in the days of Norm Gallagher and the BLF. Not a lot of fun, but they felt sorry for me and showed me what to do to get back on site.
B hated unions with a passion and made it very clear. If we attached mesh to timber we had to be in the BLF, the Ironworkers, Carpenters and Joiners, Signage, the list was endless and we tended to avoid those jobs.
We worked for A.J.Galvins in Box Hill, a building company, and Leighton Contractors both fantastic payers. We did Smorgans jobs and they were slow payers. we had a few "cashies" which were usually the horse owners, race horses and rare breeds.Kevin Dennis provided us with on going work and paid us the same day.
We spoke in jargon, six foot 3 barb, tennis court, en tout cas, PVC capped posts, razor ribbon, (crazy stuff to work with) we made the mesh from coil and erected it accordingly or sold it to the Public.
We reclaimed all materials and if in good condition posts were cleaned of concrete and re used. Mesh you couldn't really re use. We made gates, to order. B, socks forever in holes and shirts, pants. He smelt like welding and grease and Galvetch. he read the Weekly Times from cover to cover and was always finding bargains.
We ate slept dreamed work it was our whole life for years, learning from mistakes in the past and pushing on. We had to go bigger or bust and we didn't know how we were going to do it. From 83 to 89 we made real money, even in the middle of the recession, we made money.
We could not stay as we were. So we went bigger, faster, more men, employing teams like Johnny and Greg, two of the best fencers around. We had to keep them in work all the time, those two boys liked their beer and their money and that was it.
We had to recruit them off another Company and promise them unending, ongoing work, to keep them. Sometimes paying them to go to the pub, virtually.
We had Mick and Dean and Ivan, Simon, Gardiner, Mick, Roy, Gooch, Gary K who went to Otters to run their machine, eventually, ironically the first place B. had worked in Fencing.
A couple of "boys," were incarcerated for driving offences and we would wait patiently for them to get out. Hiring Solicitors for them and getting charges reduced.
One went to Pentridge and within a week was transferred to Sale. He had seen a man cut his own throat and another hang himself, so he nearly had a nervous break down and was transferred out on humane grounds.
We went to see him up there, driving hours and the place was in the middle of mountains and forest.It was a good place, little cabins for each prisoner and they were expected to work.
A year he was there and we went to Bendigo to see another, that was like a bluestone castle. We went through probing security checks and he was delighted to see us.
He told us the worst part of "doing time" or "Boob", was having nothing to do, all day, every day. He swept down a tier at 7am in the morning and that was it. Nothing else to do and lockdown at 4.30.
He said he spent a lot of time sleeping.
He was out within a year as well and he brought a few shady charcaters with him, which we eventually had to get rid of.
We had other fencing companies sueing us, ex workers sueing us. B was openly sexist, racist and anti everyone of the workers and din't trust any of them, his reasoning,
"The nicer you are to People the more they **** on you." and,
"You have to be an arsehole to be a boss"
I don't knwo what he was stressing about, the "boys" worked hard and he would never tell them if they had done a good job, only picked fault, the tiniest things.
And he would try and cut their money down after promising certain amounts. They hated him, when he cur their money down and they knew what he was doing, but they liked the work and the place and us girls, so they would stay.
He would come in the office and laugh about it and rub his hands with glee. I had to ring for all the money owed and it was a job I absolutely hated, ironically it was the first job I had out of DIF, and I found out I was fairly good at it.
The girls had to be left to their own devices a lot and caused endless rows, as I wanted to be a family.
We took some holidays, one at B's insistence, he wanted us all to have a " Family Holiday, " to Bermagui, which was a disaster from start to finish.
The girls were mid teens, 16,15,12,10. and bored without their friends. We were in the middle of nowhere, it was freezing. The girls sat out on the empty lake muttering dark threats against their Father,
who spent the entire time with his Police Chief friend golfing and fishing, both of which B hated, and drinking which he loved.
The Police Chiefs wife had bad asthma and had brought a machine with her and she spent the entire holiday breathing it, and hardly went outside.
We went to the Cheese factory in Bega, the girls kept threatening to mutiny. We ended up going into a big town and went shopping, while the lads went to the Pub.
The girls wanted Family Time, needing us more as Teens than when young, and they fought a lot or were ignored a lot, expected to behave, and B and I would fight endlessly about it. me seeing them leaving one day, soon and B thinking we had plenty of time.
We kept working together even after we had separated and still saw each other but we were becoming strangers, the trip to the UK, rejoining us, we had the best time and as soon as we were home, the work piled up again, trying to finish off the brand new factory we had built, Debbie graduating year 12, Yvette becoming a Mother, which B hated. Her being only 18
We were never more busy and it seemed like we kept pushing and pushing and that one day soon we we had to bust through the ceiling we had built ourselves. It was the most intense feeling ever and we savaged at each other under stress, money woes, kids, personal problems shoved to one side and always there was the work and we just kept on working.
And then one day in November our world exploded and everything changed in a split second and life as we knew would never be the same again,
To be continued
.
Love Janette
.
