A changing of the guard for Mt Arthur Coal site maintenance

Mt Arthur Coal Infrastructure Maintenance Supervisor, Mark, retires this month, hanging up his hat one last time after 24 years of site service.

Mark’s career began as an electrical apprentice in 1984, just six short kilometres away at Shortland County Council (now known as Ausgrid). It was here he met his wife, Joanne, who also started as a first-year electrical apprentice on the same day; and 42 years on, they’re still together.

After his apprenticeship, Mark stayed on at Shortland County Council as an Electrician, he was also the Muswellbrook on-call electrician responsible for restoring power outages to the electricity network across the Upper Hunter region.

“The pager would go off, and I’d head off to a land line phone to call Newcastle to find out what area didn’t have power, and then it’d be up to us to get power back on for the region,” Mark said.

“We took a lot of pride in helping out the local towns,” he said.

Mark also spent time at Shortland County Council as an installation inspector, supervising contractors and adhering to policies and procedures and working with Australian Standards, which he said was valuable experience in his current role as a supervisor on site.

In 1996, Mark started working in underground coal mines as an Electrician, initially in Muswellbrook and then at the Central Coast, then back to Muswellbrook. It was dangerous work and Mark remembers at Moonee Colliery dealing with windblasts and kitting up in motorbike helmets and body armour.

He said although he was dealing with life-threatening hazards, it taught him how to stay calm, operate and lead in difficult environments and the importance of working as a team.

In 2002, when Mt Arthur Coal had just begun the large-scale operations as we know them today, Mark picked up work driving trucks and graders in the pit.

He was eventually given the opportunity to get back on the tools as an Electrician and said over the next few years he worked in all kinds of areas.

“I’ve been in Production, Maintenance, and the CHPP, and have worked as a Supervisor since around 2014 in the Infrastructure team. I’ve done a lot different roles and rosters in my time,” Mark said.

Mark said one of his most rewarding roles at Mt Arthur Coal was the opportunity to be the Electrical Check Inspector where he was involved in a range of health and safety initiatives.

“There’s been a massive shift in where Mt Arthur Coal was in 2002 to where it is today in regards to Health and Safety, and it’s been rewarding to contribute to that improvement,” Mark said.

Mark said another highlight of his career has been helping develop the next generation of apprentices.

“It’s been great to see them go on and become good at their trades,” he said.

Mark reflects that he’ll miss the people and the money.

“But I sure won’t miss the early starts,” he laughs.

In terms of what’s next for Mark, “I plan to ride my motorbikes, reduce my golf handicap, spend some time with family; especially my two-year-old grandson.” Mark said.

“And I’d like to find a way to give back, help look after my parents and Jo’s parents,” he said.

“My parting advice is to look out for all your teammates, and especially yourselves, Health is the real wealth as you get older, without it you have nothing,”

Marks role at MAC requires organising a range of trades including electrical, mechanical, carpentry, landscaping, plumbers, welders, and lots of contractors to maintain the site’s buildings, power, hydrocarbons, water network, infrastructure, and everything else that doesn’t have big tyres or tracks.

His role will be taken over by Maintenance Technician Nigel, who has been capably acting in the role for the past few months.

So, as we officially farewell one legend, lost to the roads and golf ranges of the Hunter, we warmly welcome the next generation to take up the baton of Site Infrastructure maintenance and wish both Mark and Nigel all the very best for their next chapter.