The Builder

Today's interview is with Trevor. After finishing his carpentry apprenticeship, Trevor found work in the north-west of Australia, a place where the heat is extreme and desert stretches across the continent. At times, the days can reach 50 degrees centigrade. It was the late sixties. He'd just begun his working life when his number came up and he was conscripted into the army.  He was facing the prospect of being sent off to war in Vietnam.

Then Gough Whitlam's Labor Party came to power and conscription was ended. Trevor was able to leave and return to work in the building industry. He'd met a mate in the army and together they formed a successful building company that went on to build in remote Aboriginal communities. This was a pivotal time in his life. Trevor learnt much from this work, and his love of the desert country and people has never left him.

The interview ends with reflections on the way in which the drawing up of building regulations and checking jobs has changed over time, and perhaps not always for the better.