E.B.MAWSON & SONS PTY LTD

JOHN MAWSON, Managing Director of E.B.Mawson & Sons Pty Ltd reports on the history and growth of the business.

E. B. (Barney) Mawson started contracting with a horse and dray in Northern Victoria in 1912. Barney was an enterprising man, always on the lookout for an opportunity to grow his business but not shy to sell something either.

Over the years the Mawson business has included interests in; sawmills, butter factories, charcoal production, tobacco growing, dairy farming and market gardening. The constants throughout however were earthmoving and an ethic of hard work, respect and integrity.

Innovation is another key value at Mawsons. In 1927 Barney sold 12 of his horses and brought a 1 ½ ton Chev truck. Prior to the Second World War Mawsons were using “The latest, new” diesel trucks and hydraulic loaders.

In the early 1970’s Mawsons were amongst the first earthmovers to use lasers for land leveling in Australia.

Today Mawsons work in conjunction with several major industry suppliers refining the latest technologies in blasting, off road tyres, equipment design, software development and concrete admixtures.

When Barney passed the business on to his three sons (Ken, Bernie & Lloyd) these core values stayed and the focus remained on earthmoving. Barney had however already recognized the importance of having reliable access to affordable, good quality raw materials.

The fledgling signs of a vertically integrated construction materials supply business were apparent. And so it was over 60 years ago that Mawsons brought into their first quarries at Mount Hope and then (because there was electricity available) Pyramid Hill.

Ten years later the construction business’ need for concrete meant that Mawsons started producing ready mixed concrete and Besser Blocks. The block plant was soon sold but the concrete business proved to be a great way to increase sales from the quarry and sand pits while better utilizing the ever expanding fleet of trucks, loaders, draglines, bulldozers and scrapers.

Work at this time included road, channel and dam construction with projects including the Big Hill Cutting (south of Bendigo), Dartmouth township, numerous weirs (including Torumbarry), Hume & Buffalo reservoirs, bridges (including Cobram, Echuca rail & Robinvale), flyovers along the Hume freeway, water treatment plants, railway upgrades, schools, hospitals and the now popular slab on ground homes.

By 1995 the size of Mawsons’ operations had grown considerably and the families decided to split the business in two; Mawson Constructions Pty Ltd would continue to operate the earthmoving business and farms around Shepparton, owned and operated by Lloyd Mawson’s family, while the Cohuna farms and Concrete and Quarrying business would continue trading as E. B. Mawson & Sons Pty Ltd. and be owned and operated by Ken and Bernie’s families.

During the next ten years most of the farming interests were sold off as the third generation focused on growing their respective Earthmoving and Concrete and Quarrying businesses. By now the sales from the concrete and quarry divisions were almost equal.

In 1997 Ken Mawson’s family share of E. B. Mawson & Sons Pty Ltd was sold to Adelaide Brighton Ltd., Bernie’s family retain their interest. Mawsons is now a 50/50 joint venture, still managed from the Cohuna head office.

Mawsons operate over 30 sites plus a fleet of mobile gear supplying concrete and quarry products throughout Northern Victoria and Southern NSW. Today the Mawson concrete and quarry business employs over 200 people.

Mawsons were founding members of the CMPA. Managing director, John Mawson is on the CMPA Management Committee and believes that the Association has a critical role to play in educating industry operators and liaising with government. CMPA training plays an important role in developing Mawsons’ staff and helping to ensure that Mawsons’ plants operate safely and efficiently.

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