Local profile: Andrew Jones

By Liz Clark

Andrew Jones is one of those fortunate people who has made a permanent move to Anglesea because he has such fond memories of the idyllic life he spent here as a child. He is one of our local passionate, hard-working volunteers.

Andrew’s early memories of Anglesea centre around his father’s purchase of land in Parker Street in 1954, when a colleague, Dr Kent Hughes decided he had too much land and offered a block for sale to the Jones family. The family’s first holiday there was spent in a van and a tent, with a two-bedroom shack being erected in 1956. On Boxing Day each year, the family of five children (which later grew to seven) were packed into their old Citroen – three rows of seats, no seatbelts, Mum and Dad and one child in the front, children in the second row, animals and luggage in the third row. From the moment they arrived till the last hour before they left, the children were at the beach or the river, surfing on blow-up surfboards, fishing off the rocks and the beach, making their own rods with bamboo sticks and twine, working out ways to attach their Christmas present reels to their new rods. They learned how to read the waves and keep safe, with Mum sitting on the beach keeping track of the children by counting heads. Although it was no holiday for Andrew’s mother who still had to cook and wash and clean with minimal facilities, it was his father’s release from a very busy life as a doctor. However not completely –there were four doctors in surrounding houses in Parker Street, and each was available for medical needs as required during the holidays as there were no doctors in Anglesea. When it was their dad’s turn ‘on duty’, he used the loungeroom for any consultations.

Andrew and his wife Rosemarie and their family holidayed in the house for many years with other family members. Eventually he arranged to buy the property from his mother. On weekends they began to find themselves leaving Anglesea later and later on a Sunday night to return to work in Melbourne. They eventually decided to pull the old house down in 2006 and build a more modern house, using it as their home and office.

Work life

Andrew studied science at university, specialising in industrial research. He moved to Sydney, met and married Rosemarie and moved into a sales and marketing role selling printing inks. For his postgraduate degree he studied polymer technology and he was sent overseas for a two-year assignment in Singapore.

On his return to Australia he was employed by ACI and worked as assistant product manager. His work covered fibreglass manufacturing, reinforced fibres, and other aspects of the composite industry. He became general manager seven years later. His next role was with the Smorgon family as general manager of steel distribution. Andrew believes luck, a good work ethic, doing the right thing, and giving everyone respect are the key ingredients to his success. But in time, Andrew realised he’d had enough of corporate life, politics and travel and decided to open a business consultancy with two others. His work is mainly in Geelong, Ballarat and Melbourne developing strategies for future business. A large amount of his consultancy is via video conferencing.

Andrew believes luck, a good work ethic, doing the right thing, and giving everyone respect are the key ingredients to his success.

Passion for volunteering

In addition to his business life, Andrew has a passion for volunteering. In 2001, he began an involvement with the Rotary Club of Southbank, facilitating tutoring courses about business in local schools. In 2009 he joined Rotary Club of Belmont, becoming President and driving their social inclusion program (through Headspace Geelong). He is heavily involved in fundraising for this program – to date, $560,000 has been raised through business lunches, involvement with Geelong Football Club, support from Bendigo Bank and local businesses. In 2009 he also joined the Board of the Barwon Health Foundation. This Foundation’s task is to raise money that is used to support Geelong Hospital and the McKellar Centre, and the Andrew Love Cancer Ward upgrade. Currently, the focus is on the Kids’ Rehabilitation Centre at McKellar, which is due for completion very soon. Andrew was invited to become a director of Corangamite Financial Services Ltd, which besides operating Anglesea and District Community Bank has a strong focus on investing in the needs of local community groups, sharing with them up to 50% of profits after tax. He sees the recent purchase of the new bank offices in Anglesea as a statement of support for this community. More recently, as director of the Community Investment Committee, he has been proud to be involved in its support of the One Act Play Festival and upgrades to Anglesea Memorial Hall. If that was not enough to fill his days, Andrew also is a Board member of the APCO Foundation, which is an offshoot of the APCO fuel chain. It donates money to enable changes in the community in the areas of health, poverty, education and disaster relief. Money is raised through the Geelong Heritage Wine Walk, a race day at Geelong Racing Club and by sale of branded products in their service centres. The Foundation supports Cottage by the Sea, Cops N Kids, Wombat’s Wish as well as various individuals in need. It seems that Andrew won’t have time to retire in the near future. Let’s hope he finds time to swim and fish and walk in what is indeed a very busy but fulfilling life.