R.L. Blake Pty Ltd

Chris Blake Manager of R.L. Blake Pty Ltd and his daughter Prue report on the history and growth of the business.

R.L. BLAKE PTY LTD is situated in Cobden which is in South West Victoria, 60km west of Colac and 60km east of Warrnambool, in the middle of the dairying industry.

Ronald Lester Blake was born in Cobden on the 20/10/1925 and by age 15 he had brought his first truck which was the start of the R.L Blake enterprise. He started out carting sand loaded by shovel.

Also in his early days he carted 6 foot long lengths of wood to the local Cobden Pioneer Cheese and Butter Factory which was used to fire the boilers to process the milk.

In the mid 50’s Ron purchased his first bulldozer an international TD9 bulldozer. This enabled Ron to raise road making material and do earth works on farms.

In the early 1960’s the Heytesbury settlement commenced which was a massive project undertaken by the Bolte government. This was a huge development program for roads, dairy sites, dams and dairy tracks (for the cows to walk along) because it was extremely wet conditions for farmers to operate in.

Some of the first settlers walked off these farms because the conditions were just too wet to operate a farm. Ron carted a lot of local red gravel onto farms to allow the farmers to build tracks for the cows to travel on. This became extremely busy period for Ron because as farms developed the need for cow access also increased.

As the settlement progressed along with the rest of the dairying area, new road making materials were required by the Country Roads Board (CRB) and the local councils. Ron decided to open up a scoria quarry at the foot of Mount Sugarloaf which is located in Camperdown. The site was used for many years until protesters began agitating to close down the quarry.

The farmer who owned the Mount Sugarloaf threatened to take the top off the mount so Ron had his operator take the dozer to the top and level a small pad which was only to allow vehicles to turn around on top after driving up the narrow track which wound its way up to the top. This plan sparked a protest which involved the local media, Melbourne media (ABC), and the local community.

The protesters thought Ron was going to carry out the owners threat to knock the top off so that it would no longer be a perfect scoria cone so protesters laid down in front of his machine. The Bolte government purchased the site for the National Trust. Because of the protesters Mount Sugarloaf is still there today as one of only seven perfect natural cones in the World.

Ron opened another quarry on the east side of Mount Leura on a different farm and this site is still operated today by WA Molan and Sons.

Ron moved out of his Mount Leura quarry to Wiridjil Road where his first main job was to supply the fill for the Weerite railway over pass when he ran his own small crusher. We still operate from this pit today but any processing of the scoria material other than pit run which our D8T produces is done by mobile plant from David Eldridge Pty Ltd to give us 20 and 40mm minus products which the local council uses for road works.

A tuff quarry was opened on land purchased by Ron at Cobrico in 1991 enabling him to keep up with the demand of these softer road making materials for cow tracks. These two quarries help to keep work going for our business without relying on other parties.

The companies truck fleet has grown from Leylands in the 1960’s to International Acco single drive trucks in the mid 70’s and the Mack truck and trailers of today. These earlier trucks carted 4.5 cubic meters of road making material compared to the 24 cubic metres carted by the Mack trucks and trailers today.

Ron looked after his 10 employees by buying bush land to be developed to keep his employees in jobs in the wetter months of the year. You aren’t allowed to clear trees today so other farming works are now carried out during these wet months on our farms. Employees like truck driver John Buckingham have been with the company since 1975. Bev Smith has been doing the books since 1972.

Many other employees stay for a while then go off elsewhere but always seem to return for another go with our company. Currently we employ 15 people. Ron was and we still are committed to helping out community projects and local sporting groups with construction activities that they need.

Ron was always loyal to other contractors he worked with and always used the same ones. Today we still have a group of contractors that we rely on for completion of jobs.

In 1998 Ron as a sole trader needed to become a company so as to still be eligible for VicRoads work so R.L. Blake Pty Ltd was created.

Chris Blake, Ron’s nephew has worked full time since 1988 after completing a surveying degree and working for 2 years as a surveyor in Portland. In 2002 more of the day to day running of the business was passed onto Chris. Then in 2004 after Ron suffered a major stroke Chris took on full responsibility.

Then as Ron got better he was still actively involved in the business until he passed away one month short of his 81st birthday in 2006.

R. L. Blake Pty have been members of the CMPA since early 2010 and is supportive of the associations efforts to represent the extractive industry and finds the benefits of membership to be invaluable.

60 SECONDS WITH A VOTING MEMBER…

What is your name?
Geoffrey Pillar

Who do you work for?
R.L. Blake Pty Ltd

How many years have you worked for this business?
8 years now and 5 years previously

How many years have you been involved in the Industry?
30 years

What is your role at the company?
Dozer Operator

What does your job involve?
Ripping and digging out soft rock as well as digging dams.

What is the best part of your job?
Working on my own away from other, doing my own thing.

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