Love of machinery fuels a 45-year career

Rusty Palmer’s 45-year career with Glencore began with a simple love of machinery and a determination to build a hands-on career, not sit behind a desk.

Growing up in Townsville, he left school at age 15. After starting out as a paperboy and apprentice bricklayer, Rusty discovered his passion for machinery at a relative’s sand and gravel plant at Black River. When he spotted sand spilling from a conveyor, he grabbed a shovel and cleaned it up. That initiative earned him a full-time job and set the course for his future.

At just 16 he was operating front-end loaders and stockpiling sand for the new owners, Readymix Sand and Gravel, who took over his relative’s business. He quickly picked up welding and machinery repair skills and after learning to run the screening plant was sent to work in Weipa for six months at the screening and batching plant making concrete from crushed bauxite. He recalls it was a great experience for a young bloke.

When Townsville Transport Services (TTS), part of MIM Holdings (MIM), took over the Readymix site in the late 1970s, Rusty began weekend work on the Townsville wharfs unloading trains and loading ships. Before long, he was full-time with TTS, launching a decades-long career with Mount Isa Mines and later Glencore.

Rusty says back then Townsville port looked very different.

“All the machinery used on the wharves at that time were owned and maintained by MIM for use by wharfies to load and unload ships, however we always loaded our own ships. We took a lot of pride in our equipment,” says Rusty.

“It ran much the same way it does today - material in, material stored, material out - just with less technology and a lot more manual work.”

TTS’s extensive contracts for civil construction and earthworks took Rusty across Queensland, from Abbott Point and Hay Point to Awoonga. At Awoonga Dam, he spent weeks pushing dozers across steep, freshly blasted rock.

Rusty says you really learn how to operate machines in those conditions.

“As the saying goes, a good operator in a bad machine is better than a bad operator in a good machine,” he says.

He also recalls the massive job of relocating the molasses tanks behind the TTS office.

“It was a 24-hour operation involving a brand-new Kenworth truck with very low gearing and a front-end loader to get it moving - that was one for the history books,” says Rusty.

In 1982 Rusty moved to Mount Isa Mines to stockpile zinc concentrate, then returned to Townsville to work at the phosphate plant before overseeing ship loading and storage.

Work-life balance has always been important to him.

“When I was single, packing up and travelling for work was no issue – it was a great way to gain experience,” he says.

But family changed his priorities.

“Meeting Diane in 1983 was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

He welcomed her three children, they added two more, and today they’re proud grandparents to 16 grandchildren.

Over the years Rusty saw major site changes at the Townsville Port Operations. From open sheds and zigzag roofs to enclosed storage, a new tippler and shiploader, and tighter security. Technology reshaped daily work too.

“We’ve gone from two-way radios and clipboards to cameras, computers and real-time monitoring,” says Rusty.

Safety and environmental awareness have also strengthened over his long career.

“We’ve always been safety conscious, but now there’s more structure. The focus on the environment is huge, water runoff is contained and recycled, and rail wagons have lids to stop dust getting out and rain getting in.”

What’s kept him here is simple.

“The machinery, the work, and the people. And you can’t beat the view. Watching the tugs guide a ship into berth never gets old.”

Now in his role of Port Operations Team Leader, Rusty takes pride in mentoring the next generation, just as others once mentored him.

“Jacko and Marty were big influences when I was young - they taught me about machinery and work ethic. Hopefully, I’ve passed some of that on. I reckon I’m the last of the old school now, most of the blokes I started with have retired or sadly passed,” says Rusty.

He laughs remembering the old crib rooms with their unspoken rules about seats and coffee cups.

“Heaven help the new bloke who sat in the wrong chair. And card games like 500 were serious business during smoko, there were some real characters back then,”

For Rusty, it’s been a life of hands-on work and he wouldn’t have it any other way. He never started out thinking he’d still be here after 45 years.

“I wanted to work with machinery and get my hands dirty, and I’ve certainly done that plenty of times!”