Blue Metal & Gravel Prop

Billy P you forgot to mention that they also had their own tyre retreading shop..I worked there when they had the night shift going to do the runways at Mascot,and they got their first GM powered F1800d Loadstars.

Billy, as the actress said to the Bishop, keep it up.

thanks for the great pics and stories BillyP and olddon .. i'm pretty sure BM&G were an O'Neil company, as i recall Laurie O'Neil mentioning the Saturday afternoon BBQ's ??....

.....i think they eventually sold out to Readymix??.....cheers

As a youngster (about 10 y o), approx. 1957, I can remember a very serious accident on the Gt Western Hwy cnr Houison St Mays Hill involving a BMG truck with the driver trapped in the cab for over an hour.

olddon,
Your spot on , i clean forgot about the tyre bit.
Yep, on the top floor under the office was a modern tyre recapping / re treadding set up.
that supplied all the trucks. the off road stuff (as i recall) was soursed out side.
I was down the bottom in TIP.( for a second trot) when Mascot was being lengthened, doin the midnight
to dawn shift as the quarry was workin 2 shifts to supply the rock.
That was pretty hard on the gear as some times 2 or 3 rocks made a full load out to Mascot

There was also a truck wash & spray paint bay down the yard
Virtually there was nothing they couldnt do.
.........................


Detective,
I dont think ONiels had any thing to do with BM&G.
They had the old Erskine Park quarry & ran it under ABM (Australian Blue Metal Quarries)
using blue & white Fodens (mostly) because they also had Diesel Motors (the Foden agency)

As for RMC , Keeping track of all the quarry owners was nearly an impossibility.
But,( ICBW) Styles , next door to BMG was owned by RMC ,who was owned by Boral & CSR.
BMI was involved & RMC was split up.
Then Boral fronted on the scene & complicated things further.
That should have every body totally confused (no more than me )
I suppose you could say Boral now owns BMI (who knows these days)
By the way , this is just my slant on things

(remember RIPLY, believe it or not)


Wanestr,
I guess these things just happen
.....................Billy..............

Part of T.I.P. workshop with R210s & an old chevvy blitz with a boring plant on board.
This was used for playin around with some test holes for blasting
The serious drilling was done with a various assortment of compressors ,
Ingersol Rand (one was a 2 stroke with the blower mounted on the end of the crahkshaft ,& to start it
you would turn it over to a starting mark ,screw a holder out of the side of the head ,fit a cartrige to it
similar to a shotgun shell, screw this back in & give it a whack with a hammer, Away she would go
(if you were lucky).
Consolidated Pneumatic & others.
The air drills would rattle away all day drillin the holes.
the hole would be filled with a measured amount of Nitro pill(amonium nitrate ) & diesel.
a detonator and caulking tossed in & she was ready to go
(Probably a bit more technical than this but you get the drift)
....................................







Same spot from the other side

A little story from the first time i was there...........
When on day shift a few used to start early to fire up all the quarry stuff run them through the
work shop check tyres etc so they set to go when the drivers came in .
A new young laborour started & just loved driving so this winters mornin he was with us .
a heavy fog was about & it was a bit hard to see, anyway he sets off down to the parkin area & is
gone for quite a while,( we had heard this strange noise) & he is on the missin list so some one sez
we better go & have a look, Next thing here he is , lookin all of a dither & excited like.

Now what had happened , was this
He jumped into one of the FG Foden side tippers slammed the door,slipped it into neutral, & straight
away the old girl ambled off
No air (,no maxis in those days) & a suspect hand brake (none)
Windows all fogged over so cant see nothin & wots this no inside door handle.
So bailen out was a problem.
By this time she was gaining momentum & ran over the side of the batter of the parkin area
She leaned right over to the l/h side with the trailer jammed up against a tree & thats where she stayed.
No harm done ,but i reckon poor old Bob wouldave been kickin the day lights out of every thing
tryin to get out of the cab.
Any way we ran all the other trucks through & grabbed a loader & rescued the old Foden.
Away it went to work with no body any the wiser.
Yeah, that a bit funny at the time.
.................Billy................

R210 being loaded at the face






Two old K11 inters with side tippers ploddin around







Marion shovel havin a rest





bitumin

Bitupave Pyrmont Plant
A old Inter unloading bitumin to the plant.


One quick one before i go............
the first time i went to Peats Ridge Quarry to help out,during the day i wanted to visit the toilet.
So the bloke there points me towards the back of the workshop across to some bushy trees.
These were growing on the edge of the cliff with the valley behind.
There on the edge was a forked tree with a heavy plank bolted to it with a nice sized hole in it.
The idea was to perch on this hole & let it rip into the valley below ,,praying that the tree was nice & solid.
There even was a wooden box with newspaper nailed there as well ....all the comforts of home.

I didnt ask if it was a unisex toilet.


WELL, Therta....Therta.......Therts all folks.

All items did really happen.......the way of telling may have differed a bit .
But yep never worked at a place like it
Every body there was a character in their own right ...
A really top bunch of blokes...........Billy..........Thanks for listening......

PS Forgot these................

...thanks for the correction and these wonderful stories BillyP .. i got Blue Metal and Gravel mixed up with Australian Blue Metal : : :......cheers mate

...PS .. i think the name Boral means Bitumen and Oil Refineries Australia Limited....

The BMG / Boral quarry at Widemere the big hole in the ground is filled up, looking north from the prospect highway widemere, it's'probably 98% built out with industrial sites.....