Draper’s hit the 50-year milestone

DRAPER’S Civil Contracting has just hit its 50-year milestone after founder George Draper started the business in 1970.
Before this, George had been working on construction sites, initially as a labourer, then truck driver, and eventually plant operator both in Australia and in New Zealand.
While working in New Zealand George spent between four years working for McConnell Dowell, a large construction business.
When work quietened off in New Zealand, George and Anne put their house in Auckland on the market with the view that if it sold they would move back to Melbourne, and if it didn’t, they would stay. It sold in less than a week so the decision was made to move themselves and their four young children (Vic, David, Andrew, and Fran), back to Melbourne where they purchased a house in Blackburn North for $14,000.
This was in 1967 and around this time, George decided that he wanted to try working for himself.
Options he considered at the time varied from purchasing a Grace removalist truck through to purchasing a general store in Korumburra, down Gippsland way.
One evening, George received an unexpected phone call from Stewart McDonald, an engineer with McConnell Dowell, who he had worked with extensively in New Zealand. Stewart had sourced George’s phone number in the White Pages phone book.
Mr McDonald promised George six months of hire, six days a week, if he purchased a backhoe.
With this, George, at age 35, purchased his first ever item of plant and equipment, a Massey Ferguson 50B Backhoe, for the sum of $13,000, which was a significant amount of money when compared to the cost of a house at the time.
This was the beginning of G&A Draper, and on July 1, 1970, George drove his backhoe from Melbourne to Geelong to start this hire work, with the machinery salesman providing a lift back to Melbourne.
The hire work for McConnell Dowell involved the installation of gas transmission mains across the Geelong region with the first project being the installation of a steel pipe sleeve next to the Barwon River in Belmont.
George recalls this as the “best working day of his life” because this was the start of what has now become known as Draper’s Civil Contracting Pty Ltd.
Driving back and forth from Melbourne in the family Volkswagon station wagon after a long day’s work became very tiring after a couple of weeks.
Some of the men working with George informed him that there were lots of cheap holiday houses available for rent in Torquay for the majority of the year, but the only problem was that you had to vacate them come summer time.
With this in mind, George and Anne relocated the family to a rental property in Torquay. This was the first of many house shifts around Torquay.
Once the hire ended with McConnell Dowell, George began working on plant hire with Green & McCahill on the installation of water mains in Torquay, Jan Juc, and Freshwater Creek around 1971.
This was followed by a stint working with Young Bros, who were installing infill sewer reticulation throughout Torquay.
Infill sewer reticulation was required as unlike today, residential subdivisions were constructed and lots titled without sewer infrastructure and households were reliant on the outdoor toilet, or “thunder box”, which contained a dry can that was emptied weekly by the “Shit Carter”.
This was followed by more infill sewer reticulation projects for the townships of Jan Juc, Point Roadnight, and Angelsea.
Following completion of the Angelsea Sewer Infill Reticulation with partners Collins and Delaney who returned to Melbourne after the job, George continued on his own as G. Draper Holdings Pty Ltd.

By 1984, the business moved into undertaking sewer, drainage, and water installation within new residential subdivisions as Geelong began to grow.
In 1987, the business was restructured and the name changed to Draper’s Civil Contracting Pty Ltd, which it continues to trade as to this day. In this same year, the business survived the 1987 stock market and property crash during which it sustained some heavy financial losses.
Business was quite from 1987 through to 1996 with employees forced to seek work elsewhere, including interstate.
However, the industry began to gain traction from this point onwards and has shown steady growth over the past 24 years with many members of the family, including grandchildren, coming to work within the business.
The company experienced significant growth again, in 1997/1998, when it constructed a major pipeline for Barwon Water and expanded into gas services and reticulation mains, with the purchase of NENS Pty Ltd, a local gas services installation company.
This was the start of many other major pipelines that were undertaken for Barwon Water including the 30km Melbourne to Geelong pipeline and the gas pipeline to Torquay in 1998.

Over the years, many of the residential and industrial subdivisions in the Surf Coast Shire have been completed by Draper’s, including The Sands estate and golf course in the early 2000’s, South Beach estate, Great Ocean Views estate, Seahaze estate, Ocean Views estate, Zeally Sands estate and The Quay, just to mention a few.
The team are presently working on Grossmans Ridge Estate and West Coast Business Park.
Draper’s Civil Contracting is a proud employer of more than 100 people along with engaging many local businesses and contractors.
More than 35 per cent of current employees have been with the company for 10 years or more with about 15 per cent being with the company over 20 years.
The company has achieved much in its 50 years of operation with a large portion of Torquay families now residing on lots created by Draper’s Civil Contracting Pty Ltd.
The Draper family are proud to be celebrating this achievement but sad at the same time, since George’s wife Anne Draper is not here to celebrate this milestone, having passed away in April this year.