Cab Sir?
When I was a young minister freshly graduated and ordained, my first ministry in the 1960’s, after seven years of the slums of Newmarket, was in a small country church, in the small country town of Ararat, gateway to the Wimmera in Western Victoria. There I learnt the difficult art faced by all city bred ministers, of becoming a country parson.
When I arrived in January of 1964 in Ararat the wealthiest man in the church was a business man who, from a small iron shed, was building cabins for tractors. He was to become the most significant citizen in Ararat’s development over the next twenty five years, and in that time was also to become one of my dearest friends.
When I arrived at Ararat he was obviously a self assured, confident and successful small business man who had the reputation of keeping ministers in their place. Although I was more than twenty years younger than Frank I wanted him to understand right from the word go that I was the minister and would be leading the congregation. I then discovered in Frank one of those qualities that made him an outstanding leader: He could not suffer fools lightly, but he had a tremendous respect and support for able leaders who knew where they were going. Frank’s support for me became valuable right from the beginning of that ministry and that support has continued to the day of his death.
His own story is one of those rare stories of successful Australians, so much so that it ought to be told again and again. For in an age when entrepreneurship is associated only with the money market and the buying and selling of breweries, Frank Gason had all the values that made Australia great: intense personal integrity, community mindedness and Christian values. He was successful because of them.
A medium sized man, with a good stock of wavy hair and a ready smile, Frank had a good singing voice which he had used in leading the music at evangelistic missions, an enthusiasm in leadership which had made him a good church youth group leader, and an ease in talking with people.
He had worked for Ford Australia on their production line in their war time plants both in Brisbane and Geelong, working on trimming the interiors of trucks and ambulances for the war effort.
As 1945 was bringing the war to a close Frank caught the train to Stawell and Ararat, took his push bike and rode around both country towns with no money, no plans, no contacts, and no premises, but a huge hope that he might start in business on his own in one of the towns.
He sold his idea to the owner of the General Motors agency in Ararat and as a result the owner built a three car workshop adjacent to his garage and rented it at twenty five shillings a week to Frank.
So Frank and his young wife, Jean, and their baby, shifted up to Ararat and started work in January 1946. In those days the Ararat shops were poorly maintained and old fashioned as they stood along the highway, yet the Town Hall, the Shire Office and the Post Office all reflected back to that rich era of the gold rush when Ararat found that gold was king.
There were 5,700 people in town then, and when I arrived 18 years after Frank there were only 2,000 more. Frank moved into the bare workshop with only a wooden work bench, a few hand tools, a treadle sewing machine, and an intense desire to build a business in the country. He advertised in the local paper:
“A.F. Gason, Body Building and Trimming.”
Mr. F. Gason has had eleven years experience with the Ford Motor Co. and will cater for all types of body building, upholstery work, panel beating, hood and side curtains.”
His advertisement indicated that he had available:
“Rubber and carpet floor mats, windscreen and door rubbers, door handles, etc., a good range of canvas, leather and leather cloth available, celluloid, acetate. Furniture recovered. Prompt attention assured.”
So the business began which was to become, eventually, one of Victoria’s most important rural sector businesses. From the day he opened Frank was deluged with work. The war had meant that many family cars had been on blocks for five years and there were many older vehicles which would be useful now if they were converted into farm utilities. Frank worked on these older vehicles constantly. He converted an army ambulance into a caravan in which wood cutters could live. He would take old tourer cars, remove the back seats, recover them, put on a new hood and create a tray. He even built a new horse drawn milk delivery cart for the Ararat milkman.
At the end of twelve months the young motor body trimmer from Geelong was employing three men. From the very first day he arrived in Ararat Frank had attended the Ararat Church of Christ and soon was the Sunday School Superintendent and a member of the Board of Deacons upon which he has served ever since.
The event that would put Frank’s name into every agricultural magazine in Australia, make it one of the best known names in Australian agriculture, and create Ararat’s largest industry and the centre of attention for farmers from Germany to South America, from the United States to South Africa, and be supportive to soldiers in Vietnam and explorers in Antarctica, occurred in 1947 when a local farmer from Tatyoon asked Frank if he could build him a cabin on his tractor, to keep out the weather.
The only comfort farmers had on a horse drawn plough or upon their mechanical tractors, was the hard steel seat that was often covered by a wheat bag. Through the heat of summer and the cold chilling rains of
winter the farmer was totally exposed. Most farmers scoffed at the idea of a cabin over a tractor as being wimpish, and not suited to the manly occupation of farming. When Frank did build his first cabin it was dismissed without even being seen as being obviously inferior if it was made in Australia.
But Frank built a cabin for a tractor that would keep out the worst of the weather, and he argued that it would reduce winter colds and chills, would provide shade to prevent skin cancer in summer, could be used in the worst of weather and so prevent lost time and furthermore, would add to the farmer’s safety. The number of farm deaths every year by being killed when tractors rolled on their drivers, was in excess of one hundred.
His first cabins were made with a timber frame cut to fit the contours of the tractor body with armour plated safety glass all round and windows to collect fresh air and a padded waterproof fabric roof to reduce the noise.
Sweden is often considered the home of the tractor and industrial cabin, but in fact Frank was into production ten years before the Swedes. The idea caught on. Other farmers, in spite of their prejudice against cabins, realised that at only 49 pound, a tractor cabin was a good bargain.
By the end of 1947 Frank had to move into new premises with more equipment and larger facilities. As his staff increased and the turnover rapidly developed, Frank wrestled with the problems of ledgers and invoices, and had to take lessons himself in running a small business.
Soon a tractor serviceman offered to sell cabins on commission as he moved around the country and soon sales were coming from all over Victoria. This meant a lot of travelling for Frank who had to travel to the farm, measure and hand craft the cabin to fit onto each individual tractor.
Frank very soon saw the value of quality in the work that he did and of the need to charge higher prices in order to provide stronger and safer cabins and to build up a good dealer network. Also the whole farming community needed to know what he had to offer. So he took a cabin to the 1948 Royal Melbourne Show. Interest was intense but the farmers were sceptical and no sales were made that year, nor in 1949 either.
However Frank persisted and placing a cabin set upon a trailer on the back of his old car, he started doing the rounds of all the country shows, something he would do a hundred times in the future. Gradually the idea of cabins caught on as farmers at the shows saw how they could work in greater safety and comfort.
During the 1950’s Frank Gason established a network of dealers and direct salesmen across Victoria and southern New South Wales. By 1950 a hundred tractor cabins each year rolled off the primitive production line.
But a good idea will be copied by others and soon there were more than a dozen other businesses who would be copying Frank’s ideas, some of them making direct copies of his innovative developments. It was a mark of Frank’s ability that over the years fifteen of his competitors have all faded into oblivion and he has controlled more than 80% of the Australian market with his name becoming a household word in farms and industrial communities across Australia.
A sign of his development can be seen that at the end of his first full year in 1947 he had a turnover of 10,000 pounds. Four years later his turnover was 50,000 pounds. Twenty years later it would be $10 million per annum.
By the end of 1951 the future was looking bright for Frank when two devastating events occurred. Just on Christmas Eve 1951, after the men had finished their Christmas break up party and had retired to their homes, the fire alarm at the Ararat Rural Fire Brigade rang persistently. The workshop was on fire. Six years of work together with all of his tools, accounts, contracts and all of his production facilities, along with the children’s Christmas present hidden the office, went up in flames.
He may have had a $50,000 a year turnover, but what was of concern to his bank when they saw his workshop on fire, was that he had a 500 pound overdraft and with the workshop on fire where would they get their 500 pounds? The bank manager called Frank and asked him to pay the 500 pound overdraft immediately!
The workshop was totally in ruins. The members of the Church of Christ rallied round and started clearing up the mess. Various members, men and women, shovelled away the ashes, collected thousands of nuts and bolts and washed and sorted them so they could be used in the future. Singed, water soaked records were dried and re assembled. One amazing thing that remains in Frank’s mind was that even though most people thought all of his records were destroyed, every one of his debtors came to him one after the other offering to pay their bills in full.
With the help of a church member, Frank repaid the 500 pound overdraft to a sweaty and anxious bank manager, and promptly changed banks. Within a year he was back in business, turnover had doubled, the loan was repaid, and the bank that stood behind him from then on was to do millions of dollars of business which one sweaty manager, fearful that his small overdraft might be lost, had caused his bank to lose forever.
The business had to start all over again. Frank immediately bought land and built a new factory three times larger than he had had previously. In the middle of this his second crisis occurred. Jean, his thirty six year old pretty wife and mother of three children, developed cancer. Radical surgery, ray therapy and constant treatment was of no avail. Within a short period of time she was in hospital and close to death. Sustained by her faith, the church members gathered round her and said goodbye. The children farewelled their mother and Frank his wife. Jean died. Frank’s Mum and Dad came to live with them to care for the children but within three months his mother had died also.
Frank had a shattered family and a burnt out business, but with faith and resolution sought to build both back again. In 1957 he married a Perth girl, Merle Caddy, who took to the task immediately of a ready made family of three children, plus a father in law. A couple of years later their fourth child, a daughter, was born. Merle has been a partner with Frank in the business thereafter.
Frank’s business was always diversified to fit in with the seasonal fluctuations and demands for tractor cabins. In between he built luxury caravans, erected aluminium annexes on houses and shops, sold household blinds and repaired car upholstery.
When I went to Ararat in 1964 Frank’s business was rapidly expanding. He was building 260 tractor cabins a year and transporting them across Victoria and southern New South Wales. Within three years the 260 cabins a year had increased to 4,000 cabins per year being sold throughout Australia.
Frank had developed two concepts of tremendous significance. The first was that he made sure that his cabins were built of heavy steel and safety glass to be the safest cabins in Australia. They were rigorously tested by government standard testing authorities and could be guaranteed to save the life of any driver. Frank’s emphasis upon safety for drivers of tractors has been one of his most lasting contributions to Australian agriculture. The number of deaths per year in Australia since he developed the safety cabin has decreased by more than 80%.
The second interesting development was a diversification into cabins for specialist heavy equipment. Huge Caterpillar Traxcavators, heavy earth moving equipment, monstrous road graders and diggers, earth moving equipment for the Keiwa hydro electric project, and specially heated and protected Australian Antarctic Expedition equipment was manufactured.
To the security and safety of the cabin, Frank now added comfort with scoop windows, wipers, air conditioning and heating even armour plating as huge machines for Vietnam were manufactured. Soon 75 cabs a week were rolling off his production line.
More space was needed. Eventually, in conjunction with the Ararat City Council, four acres of prime land was set aside and a huge factory was built and that has been extended ten times since.
Soon Frank was manufacturing cabins for all of the best known tractors in the world and as they came to Australia they were fitted at the factories of Massey Ferguson, Caterpillar, Harvester International, and so on. All kinds of earth moving and industrial machines were fitted with safety and comfort cabs. Soon the Unions began to specify safety and comfort cabins on all earth moving and road making equipment across Australia and Frank had the designs and the ability to be there before anybody else. He spent a great deal of money in research and development and made frequent trips overseas to keep up with trends in other countries.
In Ararat A.F. Gason Pty Ltd became in the major employer in the community with several hundred people working directly or indirectly through his Ararat factory. More expensive automatic machinery was purchased. Heavy steel bending and cutting equipment was purchased. Scientific computer operated equipment was installed. The large paint booths were built and enamel baths were added.
It seemed that here was an Australian country town becoming a major industry before our very eyes. Two things were to change that. Firstly the tractor manufacturers around the world saw that safety and comfort cabins were now so essential that they should make them and install them themselves, and the John Deere company of the United States began to bring to Australia large volumes of tractor cabins at heavily reduced prices in order to capture the Australian market.
With the decline in the Australian agricultural industry because of the credit squeeze and a slump in production, the $10 million turnover was threatened. There were already 30,000 tractor cabs in Australia, most of them made by Frank.
The decision of the tractor manufacturers to make their own cabins as an integrated part of their machinery, of the Americans to flood the Australian market with low cost imports, and the downturn in the Australian agricultural economy hit A.F. Gason Pty Ltd very hard. Frank and his son, Les, were faced with the difficulties of dismissing large numbers of staff and in a small country town that can have tremendous ramifications on the economy of the whole community.
Frank had always taken a responsible part in community leadership. He had been President of the Ratepayers Association, Chairman of the Ararat Technical School Advisory Council, and leader in church and community activities. In 1983 84 the Churches of Christ in Victoria and Tasmania elected him as the layman President of the Conference and with Merle, he visited churches throughout both states giving them encouragement and building them in their faith.
It seemed as if the successful country businessman had, however, reached the end of his career with tractor cabins. The steel presses and the painting booths in the giant factory buildings became silent. Workmen were laid off. Frank agonised about how to revitalize an industry in the heart of the small country town. For generations politicians had spoken about decentralisation and establishing new industries in rural areas but no political party had any answer. The small country town shuddered as the major employer closed its manufacturing capacity.
Then Frank came up with an old idea in a new guise: In years gone by he had learnt to diversify his interests and so he looked to new developments. He found in the United States of America new kinds of farming and agricultural implements, far larger than ever used in Australia before and suitable for some of the broad acre farms of western Victoria, South Australia and southern New South Wales. He began manufacturing large agricultural harrows and cultivators far beyond the scope ever seen in Australia before, often drawn by huge tractors with six and eight wheels. Soon a whole range of new agricultural equipment was being manufactured and the presses and the spray booths were at work hard again.
Then he started manufacturing steel fireplaces in the hope that wood fires would again catch on in an era of oil and gas. They did, and after a few years the factory was turning out 6,000 stoves a year under various brand names.
Then somebody’s misfortune in Sydney became his opportunity. A company designed to manufacture the replica MG TD Series which had captured the motoring public’s imagination, had gone into bankruptcy but Frank was the successful tenderer along with another firm who tendered for the electronics and together they started manufacturing those magnificent MG replicas that are being seen on the streets of Australia. Their pristine red bodywork and authentic note captures the imagination of anyone who has ever ridden an MG. Each car now rolling off the production lines is sold for in excess of $35,000. The steel presses are at work again, and the spray booths and the design office is once more hard at work. Two new cars a day are at present being manufactured with an aim of 1,500 a year for the overseas and Australian markets.
The people of Ararat depend upon the imagination and inventiveness of Frank Gason, and money is flowing back into the town.
He rode into Ararat on a bicycle possessing nothing except a dream. Today he and his wife live in the big house on the top of the hill overlooking the city of Ararat and its huge industrial complex that bears the name of A.F. Gason Pty Ltd.
It is good to see Australian success stories, but it is even better to see them occurring in little rural towns where it is not easy to be successful. It is even better again to see them in industries that produce something for the good of the country and which create employment and housing and well being for its staff instead of just shuffling paper money and buying and selling companies simply to strip them of their assets.
And it is even better again to see that successful work being done by a man of integrity and Christian character who, throughout all of his business life, has operated on Christian principles, has witnessed openly to his faith, and who had given his time and energy for the development of the Kingdom of God.
For the last forty five years I have admired my friend for his resourcefulness and for his ability. But it was all very much a small work of three full time employees in a steel shed in McGibbiney Street when I first came to minister at the Ararat Church of Christ and met there, a small business man and deacon by the name of Frank Gason.
But from that first meeting Frank impressed me as a man who recognised leadership and strength, and who was himself determined to be Christian in all that he did, and at the same time to be a successful and profitable business man in a rural community.
And so I came back to the country manse at 90 High Street, opposite the Railway Station, having learnt another lesson in the difficult art of becoming a country parson.
GORDON MOYES
