Member Spotlight
Kerr Family’s Quarrying History and Involvement in the CMPA
As a proud 25-year member of the CMPA, I was asked to provide the story of Conundrum Holdings and our involvement in the CMPA. As an essential industry for society’s development, quarries provide raw materials for growth and are often the foundations from which other businesses can emerge, develop and thrive. From the maintenance of our roads to the construction of essential infrastructure such as family homes, workplaces, dams, hospitals and bridges to name a few, all are underpinned by quarry materials.
Our family’s story is the same as many others in our sector, who have had the privilege to play a role in serving the community and contributing to the supply of quarry materials. For me this has included supplying quarry materials for projects such as the Seymour Bypass in 1980 [Front Cover Photo] through to Horsham’s SEC Renewable Energy Park currently under construction.
A story underpinned by the dedication of our family and workforce, the support of suppliers and customers and the opportunities, and sometimes a sprinkling of luck, which presented themselves during a time in history when entrepreneurship and improvisation were welcomed and respected.
Our family’s association with quarrying goes back to the 1940’s when my grandfather, Fredrick William Kerr, along with his son (my father) and sons-in-law established F.G. Kerr Pty Ltd, a civil engineering and building company. Even then, the dependence of Victoria’s construction industry on consistent and reliable quarry sources was keenly felt leading to the Kerrs’ momentous decision to enter the quarrying industry. To ensure supply for future projects, Ferntree Gully Quarry was acquired by Fredrick
William Kerr in 1948.
Since the purchase at Ferntree Gully, four generations of the Kerr family have been continuously associated with the quarrying
industry in Victoria.
On the completion of my secondary education in 1973, I was guided into the industry by my father, Fredrick Grant Kerr, one of the old Quarry Masters. Dad had similarly entered the industry, following military service, under his father’s guidance. I began serving a traineeship with Ready Mix in Western Australia and later returned to Victoria to work at their quarry sites in South Morang, Bundoora and Pakenham. A highlight during this time was pressing the button for the commissioning of the first test run of one of their new Kangaroo Mobile Crushing Plants at Bundoora Quarry.
1980 saw me begin the next chapter of my life – becoming an independent operator within the quarrying industry. In that same year, my wife Cathy and I successfully won our first contract to supply quarry materials for the Seymour section of the Hume Freeway. This project also involved the design, sourcing, fabrication and funding of our first skid mounted crushing plant which we called ‘Wallaby One.’
Soon after, R.F. Kerr Quarries Pty Ltd was established and continued undertaking the supply of quarry materials for contracted works, including Blue Rock Dam, Rosslyn Dam and the Wodonga and Gisborne bypass. Continued growth saw us move away from mobile operations and undertake the design and construction of our first fixed crushing plant
at Tynong North which opened in 1987.
With the registering of Conundrum Holdings Pty Ltd in 1988 our family’s involvement in the quarrying industry expanded once again, this time to the design and construction of mobile plant for the Euroa bypass, and fixed crushing plants including Epping and Stawell, and in time concrete plants at Horsham and Wallan.
Our focus on efficiency and improved safety outcomes has seen ongoing refinement with design upgrades, such as the 2023 project at Stawell Quarry to prevent fine dusts from circulating around the weighbridge. Hand in hand with the growth of our quarry sites has been a dedication by our Managers to the continual rehabilitation programs, from our earliest projects, such as the Wodonga Bypass through to our Northern Quarries and Stawell quarry today.
It was during the first 20 years of my working life that I had begun to understand the need to work together, with support and respect, and to participate in the industry’s regulatory reform. As we moved out of the 1980’s it become apparent that the singular regulatory oversight was not going to continue in its present format.
In the late 1980’s, the state was moving away from managing major infrastructure work such as dams and freeway projects due to the challenges of managing cost. This outcome along with quality assurance accreditation, the gradual contraction of our Act, the expansion of Work Cover into our industry and the increasing powers of the Planning Act had us all looking at how we could even continue to survive as individual small
business owners.
Having been involved primarily with mobile contracting work throughout the state during that period I had formed associations
with many individual owners, managers and employees with a love for our industry’s work ethic and life. The necessity to bring together and support these various voices started to become clear as conversations became constantly about how we, as small to medium business owners, could comply and maintain a presence in our changing industry. The overwhelming view was that regional quarries were not sufficiently represented specifically in the areas of rehabilitation bonds which were
sterilising working capital and the implementation of changing safe work expectations.
An inaugural meeting was organised at the old BP Roadhouse in Epping; where the formation of an association was agreed to and would over the next 25 years grow into today’s CMPA.
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