Next year CCF WA proudly celebrates our 50th anniversary of representing the WA civil construction industry. By John Feary

It was a meeting at the iconic Herdsman Lake pub in the Perth suburb of Wembley that changed the course of the earthmoving industry in Western Australia. The meeting was in June 1975, although it seems no one is sure of the exact date.

Given the historic liking of hard-working contractors for a cool drink on a hot day as well as the Herdy’s reputation as one of Perth’s most popular entertainment pubs in that era, it would be easy to assume this was a rowdy gathering.

But there was a serious purpose this time. This was the meeting at which many of Perth’s hardest working and most resourceful contractors agreed to set up the Land Development Contractors Association.

In June 2025, the Civil Contractors Federation WA branch will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of that meeting, recognising the establishment of the LDCA represents the foundation of the modern earthmoving and civil construction industry body in Western Australia.

The LDCA operated in Perth for just 12 years, fighting on behalf of its members for greater access to the emerging business opportunities. Then, in 1987, the growing influence of national decision-making on infrastructure development and issues such as industrial relations resulted in the LDCA members agreeing to become the WA branch of the national Australian Earthmovers and Road Contractors Federation. Eight years later, with WA delegates taking an increasingly important role in national decision-making, the AERCF transitioned into the modern Civil Contractors Federation with branches in all states and its national office in Canberra.

What was once considered rather fondly by many members as “a bit of a gentlemen’s club” has become a peak industry group for companies involved in all aspects of civil construction and a federally registered employers union providing balance on industrial relations issue.

In the coming months, the CCF Bulletin will explore the events, the decisions and the background to the transition, drawing largely on the recollections of some of the people who were there. Given the nature of the industry 50 years ago, written records are quite sparse but the available evidence demonstrates clearly how these giants of the past assessed the circumstances, recognised the opportunities and protected the industry in very challenging circumstances.

Minister for Planning and Infrastructure Hon. Alannah MacTiernan MLC with the WA Earth Awards winners, 2002.

Prior to the famous Herdy meeting in 1975, there had been several attempts by earthmoving contractors as well as equipment suppliers to form representative groups in Perth. Most were probably focused more on picking venues for long lunches than industrial politicking.

For, despite its critical importance to all aspects of construction, earthmoving as an industrial sector was barely recognised in the early years of Western Australian development.

When the first European settlers led by Captain James Stirling arrived off the Perth coast in June 1829, it should have been obvious that the task of building a new settlement from scratch in the vast landmass would require a large and trained workforce.

It should have been obvious, but within 10 years the critical shortage of skilled workers had left the economy on the brink of collapse due to the inability to clear land and construct roads.

While the Swan River Colony had been proudly planned and promoted as a free settlement, the colonists were now demanding access to convicts from the UK’s teeming prisons to save them.

Nearly 10,000 convicts were transported to Fremantle between 1850 and 1887 with the specific aim of creating a workforce for public construction and infrastructure. These were not all the uneducated, unskilled city vagrants of popular imagining. A number had experience as carpenters, blacksmiths and stonemasons, others had worked on farms before falling foul of the law.

In addition, the British authorities had set up skills training courses inside the UK prison hulks that would equip the law-breakers to work in brickmaking, construction of walls and simple buildings. The unskilled prisoners could be used to build roads, clear land and plough fields, produce crops and collect shells to crush for lime mortar.

During and after the convict era, prisoners who had completed their jail time (known as ticket of leave men) then became available to work for private citizens as well as on public projects. The state and federal government departments that were responsible for major public works relied heavily on private contractors, generally appointed through public tendering, to complement their large workforces.

Throughout the century that followed, the provision of essential services and infrastructure including roads, railways, ports, bridges and public buildings became increasingly critical to the growth of residential and industrial projects, land developments and the emergence of the mining sector.

The West Australian gold rushes that began in the 1880s and completion of the Goldfields water pipeline in 1903 helped underpin the state’s growth against further downturns, and there was a further dramatic economic recovery from the inrush of European migrants following World War 2.

By the 1970s, the growth in the mining sector and increasing government infrastructure investment was intensifying. One acute frustration for the more ambitious contractors was that state government departments such as Main Roads and the Water Corporation, as well as many local councils, refused to open jobs such as roadworks and utility works for outside tenders.

Under the leadership of inaugural president Ross Walker (1975-79) and subsequently by Dudley Campbell (1979-82), Mike Moloney (1982-84) and Jim Giumelli (1984-87), the LDCA lobbied strongly for earthmovers for the right to undertake a full range of work in land development.

The transition of the LDCA to the AERCF under president John Vincent (1987-89), followed by Alex Wolfe (1989-92) and Lance Croker (1992-94) delivered the independence as well as the national partnerships that the industry needed. Then, its next big step was to set up its own administrative structure.

AERCF National Executive Director Doug Huett at an AERCF National Council Meeting in WA, 1993.

Lance Croker (centre) accepting his CCF National Life Membership with CCF WA CEO Mike Morris (left) and President Philip Marsh (right), 1998.

The LDCA/AERCF originally operated as one of many industry units within the Confederation of WA Industry (subsequently the Perth Chamber of Commerce and Industry), which provided secretarial services and could be called on to lobby on the members’ behalf. However, the members became increasing concerned that part-time lobbying effort was not always effective, particularly when their issue might conflict with the views of the chamber’s bigger and more powerful member companies.

In early 1993, the AERCF recruited civil engineer Mike Morris from Victoria to be its initial executive director. Morris worked closely with Lance Croker and Reg Toohey, who was the state’s first delegate to the national body, in robust and occasionally heated national debates that ultimately led to AERCF making way for the new Civil Contractors Federation in 1995.

Over more than 13 years, Morris took responsibility for the introduction of high standards of occupational health and safety, training, environmental responsibility, human relations and compliance for the whole of the WA industry. He also built an extensive calendar of seminars, workshops, networking and social activities that became, and remain, a key factor in the CCF’s popularity.

The CCF Bulletin will trace other aspects of the last 50 years in its 2025 editions.

The voice of the industry for 50 years