Pictures on this page are linked to larger versions

Memories of A T Thomson

I became aware of Andy Thomson almost immediately after joining Sulphide Corporation in July 1950. I think he had been there a couple of years prior to this and was nearly 29 years of age. My impression was of a very solid-looking individual, closely inspecting a drawing he was doing in what then passed for a drawing office in the old Sulphide.

I think I must have been located there in early days of my experience at Sulphide as we became friends before the "saga" of the company's Attunga limestone quarry, located not far north of Tamworth.

I spent two short periods at the Quarry in 1950 and 1951 as "Acting Manager" in the Quarry Manager's annual leave or when he was sick. It was a pretty small operation then, with an output of 20-25,000 tons per annum. In its heyday (late 1920s) this was as high as 119,000 tpa and during the war 50-75,000 tpa.

To improve performance, two shuttle dumpers (tip trucks) were introduced in 1950/51 and these required to be housed in a fairly large "garage". Steel construction was something I was unfamiliar with, besides which the Quarry had to be looked after, even though the manpower then numbered only about 15. I appealed to the Chief Engineer at Cockle Creek and was much relieved (I remember well) when he said: "I'll send Andy up". I knew all would then be well. It has seemed to me (in old age) that Andy spent his working life "fixing" situations and meeting other people's needs, getting them out of trouble.

I think he really enjoyed his stay at Attunga. Putting up the "garage" was a "piece of cake". We had time to reflect. I recall he said, with some surprise, that it was the first time he had lived separately from his family since marriage.

The Quarry "ganger" (foreman) lent us a couple of rifles and we went in search of rabbits. Never saw one but had some target practice. Spent one evening entertaining the Newcastle Lime & Cement manager, a guy called Breckenridge, who lived a pretty fast life (hard drinker) and later was killed in a car accident in which he was, I think, the much-over-today's-alcohol-limit driver.

(I do not seem to have photos of this visit by ATT to Attunga but know there were some; a few may have got into those two books we prepared at the time of his departure from Sulphide to England in 1976.)

Anyway, I'm sure he enjoyed himself. Much later (after we'd both retired) be wrote me a letter recalling the visit in remarkable detail, things I'd forgotten. Do wish I'd kept it.

After this we continued on with the Quarry. There were intentions to develop it and ATT and I were associated in design of crushing and screening plant. I visited other operations and did calculations whilst he did the design work. We thought we'd done a pretty good job but the Board reckoned we weren't in the limestone business and the property was sold to Newcastle Lime & Cement Co. Now it is operated by a firm called Unimin whose chief product is quicklime, made in the quite modern vertical kilns in their Works, closer to the township of Attunga than is the Quarry. Unimin have only been at it since 2001 but now have an output approximating 900-950 tonnes of limestone per day, ie in excess of 200,000 tpa (five days quarrying per week).

They have left the old face that Sulcor Quarry was operating (under Sulphide Corporation management) as it was, and developed two new benches below it. They have drilled the quarry area generally (something Sulphide Corporation never thought of doing in 1951) and have located their next site, I think about a kilometre north of the present operation.

It's good to see a natural resource we were associated with now being developed so sensibly.

Sulcor (now Unimin) Quarry 1Sulcor (now Unimin) Quarry 2Sulcor (now Unimin) Quarry 3
Sulcor (now Unimin) Quarry 4Sulcor (now Unimin) Quarry 6Sulcor (now Unimin) Quarry 5

Quarry photos from ~2003

One of the thoughts Andy had about his future at Sulphide Corporation in 1950/51 was his great interest in getting onto Works operations as a maintenance engineer. This, he told me once, would quite satisfy his ambitions. Little did he anticipate what was to come in the ensuing decades.

The Super Shed - from a commemorative book made for ATT by Tim Collis-Rice and Jim ScarfeIn 1952 I went to the Fertilizer Department at Cockle Creek as Assistant Superintendent. It was locally known as the "Super Shed". Maintenance was something of a problem. There was a maintenance foreman who was also responsible for acid plant operations. At the "Super Shed" it (maintenance) was left chiefly to a leading hand who did a great job (I cannot speak too highly of him) but he was overworked.

It was therefore a great relief when Andy was appointed maintenance engineer responsible for both departments sometime in later 1952, I think.

We had no maintenance worries thereafter.

A grinding mill being taken away after the Sulphide cement plant closed in 1956. Caption reads: ...and a cement plant.  From a commemorative book made for ATT by Tim Collis-Rice and Jim ScarfeIn 1954 I went to the Cement Plant as Acting Superintendent (later Superintendent) and Andy began his ascent of the Sulphide hierarchy. We lost touch to a large extent (works-wise) during the late 1950s and into the 60s. (At the Cement Plant we ran out of raw materials - lime shell from Hunter River - in 1956, and I moved into technical investigation, development and admin work which continued until ATT and I were associated following his appointment as General Manager in 1971.)

Prior to the Smelter era, which began with operations commencing in 1961, Andy was appointed Works Engineer. This was a pretty big job, covering all aspects of maintenance on the entire Works. That he carried it out so successfully was clear when he was appointed Production Manager, prior to being transferred to Hamersley. I remember remarking to him that I now knew what a "Production Engineer" was. Not a very clever comment, I think, with hindsight!

Port Hedland iron ore train While working for Hamersley Iron, ATT was in charge of the iron ore train which ran from Mount Tom Price to Dampier. This photo of an iron ore train at Port Hedland provides an idea of the extraordinary length of the trains. It's reproduced by kind permission of the photographer, Colin Johnson.

Andrew in ~1970Andy returned to Newcastle mid-1971 to take up the job of General Manager.

Our last association was on zinc market promotion which began in 1969 and in which I played a leading role, I believe I can say. ATT really liked this, particularly our magazine Zinc Today, and used to make very astute observations and comments. I remember once we featured a toilet roll dispenser which was a zinc die-casting and which won some prize in an industry competition. When he read our account of the dispenser and (I think) saw one, Andy pointed out (which no one had mentioned) that it would seem that it only could dispense one "sheet" at a time and he said this was not good enough for him and, he suspected, for most users!

We had also embarked on a pretty large scale press advertising campaign. Sizable adverts in media like the Australian, for instance. They were also very expensive. Came the time when ATT felt he could no longer sustain this level of expenditure in the face of Melbourne Office criticism. (Mining companies are notorious, or at least were then, for rejecting attempts to extol, widely, the merits of their metal products.) So he called a meeting - me and my advertising agency people. I remember, after discussion, he sat silently for quite a time. As his granddaughter Helen said, he was searching for the right words to tell us sympathetically that he couldn't approve the expenditure. Well, he did tell us and we survived!

I would say, if there's one word to sum up Andy Thomson in my experience it is wisdom. I shall always remember him for that and what a good friend he was always, in many different circumstances.

- J H Scarfe
24 August 2005

Page created 29 July 2005; last updated 10 November 2005