C o f f s successful in their everyday timber trade, but they were also very successful in the sport of wood chopping. Ray won a world championship in 1957 and had in previous years won the prestigious Britstand Trophy at the Sydney Royal Easter Show. This trophy is presented to the most successful competitor in all the single handed events. Ray’s uncle, Manny McCarthy, was 23 when he won his first championship at the Sydney Show; he went on to win the world championship title 27 times and now has one of the world championship events named in memory of his feats and long service to wood chopping. Coffs Harbour Hardwoods is now owned by Ray McCarthy’s five sons, John, Bill, Garry, Dennis and Harry. When Ray passed away in 2000, Garry took over as the General Manager of the business, which had now grown in size. These five brothers have helped the business grow into what it is today; they have poured well over 100 years of blood, sweat and tears into making it successful. Of the five brothers who have grown the business, there are eight of their children: Scott, Shane, Rob, Neal, Martin, Phil, Ryan and more recently, Stacey, involved in all facets of the business. We’ve tried to utilise the family across the business to ensure that there is a good spread of knowledge and skills in all the different departments. The company has recently employed three members of the sixth generation of the McCarthy family, and it’s likely that this number will grow in the future. We hope to continue our family name with the business for many years to come. How has the business developed in the past 50 years? What challenges has the industry faced, and how have you overcome these problems? There have been numerous challenges over the years that the company has faced, that have been difficult to say the least. In the 1970s, a large amount of power poles where being produced for the State Electricity Commission of Victoria;
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poles treated with creosote were later discontinued, giving a greater demand for de-sapped poles. The company made and installed its own de-sapping planer machine on our previous site to where it is today in Glenreagh; the site was at the Jetty foreshore in the now vacant area on your left as you head towards the marina at Coffs Jetty. This site would have been a dream to work at nowadays. However, due to the increase in demand from markets in Sydney and Melbourne, it was decided that this location would not be able to suit our needs well into the future, so we decided to move the business to Glenreagh, west of Coffs Harbour, to allow for a second planer machine and more space to store stock. In the mid to late 1980s, the company faced further challenges, with the market for de-sapped poles declining; CCA treated poles were now the more accepted product due to their lifespan, and so in 1989 the company commissioned a CCA treatment plant for treating its poles. Although logistically it is a drive for most of us each day, the site at Glenreagh gives us a lot more freedom to grow. Further issues we faced stemmed from tighter government regulations and gaining access to timber that had become locked up in National Parks and other regulated areas. We built our own sawmill in 1994 into a larger, more efficient way to cut timber for bridges and wharves. We have also faced challenges from things like bridges being converted from timber to concrete use. This had slowed down the demand for this product; we still produce this product for historical listed bridges, but we had to find new products to saw some of this timber into. We have had to adapt with the times, and in 1996 we built a large board plant and timber drying kilns for doing dressed timber products like flooring and decking, as well as other profiles such as weatherboards and lining boards. This upgrade to our company has made significant changes to what type of products we can create from our timber.
coffs coast focus.
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