After electing discharge from the Army in 1984 I was employed by Wormald Security, working at the Fourex Brewery and the Brisbane Airport until 1986 when I was posted to the Mack Trucks site at their Richlands assembly plant. Here I was responsible, not only for the security but also for the plant First Aid, operating from a guard room which was actually the Medical Centre. There were four other guards on this site to look after the night and weekend patrols and I was promoted to Site Supervisor and later Group Supervisor.

With the assistance of Guards like Jim Manser, Lew Evans, John Revell, Bill Cockerill and Sam Parker, my task as Supervisor was fairly easy, which allowed me more time to write poems, especially with Sam Parker urging me on.

I had the privilege of meeting many people whilst at Mack Trucks and some became the subject of my poems including Human Resources Manager Neal Hewton. Assembly Line Foremen, Bob Hodgson, Jim Parker, Alan and Dennis Addison, Neville Ede and John Gillespie. Assembly Employees Paul Davis, Paul Bromley, Tom Burton, Roy Stuart , John Fullerton, Lenny Hobbs, Errol Fowler, Geoff Brown and Ivan Petrovic.

I was relieved of my First Aid duties when Mack Trucks Management decided to employ a registered Nurse responsible for all medical centre duties and Company Workplace Health and Safety.

Steve Gilbert was the successful applicant and he and I worked together in the Medical Centre/Guard Room or what became known as the “Baker Shop” because it was considered that it was the place where employees came for a Loaf. Steve eventually decided to move on to furher his career in his medical profession.

When the new Sister arrived to replace Steve, (sister Erica Parker), things began to change around Mack Trucks and Erica was quickly nicknamed by employees as “The Dragon Lady”, simply because she demanded that safety regulations be strictly followed. No longer were employees frequenting the Medical Centre/Guard Room unless it was necessary for first aid and no longer was it called the Baker Shop.

My job remained the same and I got to know Erica very well and it was obvious that whilst she gave the impression to employees that she was a Dragon Lady , she was a person who really cared about the Health, Safety and general welfare of everyone and it wasn’t too long before employees realised this and became very cooperative with her. When Erica left, the Maintenance Manager (Greg Brown) was appointed the responsibilities of Health and Safety along with the many other tasks that he was responsible for.

When a position became available in the maintenance department I applied for the job, my application was successful and I resigned my position with Wormald Security. Greg later decided that he too should move on and with his recommendation, I was promoted to Maintenance Manager until the pressure got the better of me and I went back to Wormald Security. (I might add that Greg Brown came back and replaced me)

My experiences at Mack Trucks were tremendous both as a Wormald Security Officer and a Company Staff member. I met some very fine people who often gave me the subject matter for my poems and inspired me to keep on writing.

Names in red above are links to poems written about them or stories told to me by them

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