We often don’t think about the Australian businesses that make a real difference in our rural communities.
Yet their products are important tools in our businesses and our homes. Their products are a staple in our lives and become part of the infrastructure that makes our communities work.
And where these businesses are Western Australian or Australian owned and operated, they have a significant effect on the health of our economy and our future.
These businesses exist because they’ve created quality products and services, so Western Australians happily buy from them. These businesses also generate jobs for us and our children. And they result in more of the money flowing through the economy being spent in Australian communities.
As this article couldn’t possibly accommodate all of the awesome Western Australian and Australian businesses that add value to Western Australian rural communities, I’ve focused on some of the larger and more well known businesses that provide products commonly used in the rural communities I’ve lived in. There are however of course many other innovative growing Australian businesses that are rocking our worlds and providing significant value to our economy.
Please note, I’ve deliberately excluded enormous corporates and ASX listed businesses from consideration. This is because in my experience, the larger the business, the greater the disconnect between the business and its customers. And let’s face it, corporates give all of us absolutely abysmal customer service. Their stores are usually a lifeless vacuum and their profits usually head straight overseas. There also seems to be very few businesses with leadership that is strong enough to keep shareholder influence in the back room and to run ASX listed businesses with an enduring and unwavering connection to their customers.
So without any further ado, below are three Western Australian and Australian privately owned businesses have had a significant impact on the rural communities I’ve lived in.
1. Southern Wire
We all know that agriculture doesn’t work without fences. Having sheep and cattle running around on highways or wreaking havoc by trampling through other people’s crops doesn’t work! Fencing infrastructure is an essential part of rural communities.
Southern Wire is now a household name in rural Australian communities. The business is a private family owned business and according to its website, it makes its products in Australia. Southern Wire has a manufacturing operation in Perth, and warehouses in Darwin, Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne. They supply to independent rural resellers as well as to larger suppliers like Delta Agribusiness.
They supply a wide range of fencing supplies, and their infrastructure can be found on farms and stations across the entire breadth and length of Western Australia.
2. Bruce Rock Engineering
Bruce Rock Engineering is a great example of a private Western Australian family owned business that has left an impressive mark on Australian industry. The image above is taken from the Bruce Rock Engineering Gallery.
All industry needs transport to get product to market or to job sites, and in many cases it has to rely on trucks to do this.
The highly recognisable Bruce Rock Engineering mud flaps are commonly seen on truck trailers throughout Perth and the state of Western Australia, and their trailers are also sold across the eastern states.
This family business commenced in Bruce Rock in 1980 and it still operates from Bruce Rock in the wheatbelt, as well as from facilities in Perth.
Bruce Rock Engineering is a long term member of the Wheatbelt Business Network, and it gives back to the Wheatbelt by sponsoring the Wheatbelt Business Network Excellence Awards.
It has achieved considerable success as a result of its innovative truck trailers that offer the lightest tare weights in Australia. The businesses umbrella also includes Transbeam, a complementary fabrication business in Perth, and Bruce Rock Tyres in Bruce Rock.
3. Coerco
Water tanks are a critical part of farming communities as they allow water to be stored for both animal and human use so that we can all get through the year, especially the drier months of it.
Coerco (previously known as Rapid Plastics) is a family owned business that cranked up in 1993 and that is now a huge player in supplying PVC tanks and associated products to Western Australian agriculture. It also provides a range of PVC products to manufacturing and mining markets.
Importantly, all Coerco water tanks are still made at their large production facility in Dalwallinu in Western Australia’s wheatbelt and it also has premises in Perth, Darwin, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Rutherford in NSW. They supply directly as well as through independent rural resellers and family owned farm supplies stores.
In summary, I’d just like to acknowledge the contribution that private enterprise makes to our world. While governments are perpetually tripping over themselves in the process of doing nothing at all, private enterprise is getting on with the job regardless of the circumstances and making things happen.
© Annemaree Jensen