Dirk Pronk knows Warrnambool’s Fletcher Jones Silver Ball better than most.
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The long-time FJs employee helped complete the landmark water tower, as well as keep it in tip-top shape during his 29 years at the factory.
The 85-year-old former boilermaker still vividly remembers the stomach-turning climb to the top to complete regular maintenance work.
Climbing up the ladder on one of the legs was one thing, but the climb around the ball put Mr Pronk almost horizontal to the ground.
“You’ve got to hang out on the ladder around to the bit around the top, that was the worst part,” he said.
“The wind was shocking, especially in the winter.”
Despite at first thinking it was a “funny design” with its three legs going off, Mr Pronk grew to love the silver ball and said he was pleased to see the current renovation work under way to bring it back to its former glory.
“It’s good to see it, it’s terrific. I’m very pleased to see it,” he said.
Despite his long career with Fletcher Jones, Mr Pronk ended up in Warrnambool almost by accident.
Leaving Holland at 19, he arrived in Australia, a land he knew virtually nothing about, and worked in a mine in Tasmania.
“I got lead poisoning and I spent eight weeks in the hospital. They said if I went back in the mines I would get sick again,” Mr Pronk said.
He thought it was about time for sea-change, and made the journey to Melbourne.
“I went to the train station and I said ‘I want somewhere near the coast’. And he said ‘jump on that train there and stay on that’. That’s how I got to Warrnambool,” he said.
His long career with Fletcher Jones began not long after, when the then 22 year old went to see about a job in 1953.
“When I came to Warrnambool I went to see Mr Jones and he said he wasn’t sure if he had any work for me. ‘But seeing you need it, I’ll put you on for a fortnight’, he says. When the fortnight was over... he said ‘I want to see what else you can do’.”
It’s a long-running joke that Mr Pronk was employed there for 29 years, but never knew if he had a job.
“He said ‘keep working, I’ll let you know’.”
Despite enjoying the work, a single Mr Pronk decided to return home – but fate had other plans.
“I was here for two years and I thought ‘what on earth am I doing on my own’, I’ll go back.
“One day I went to the Palais, there was dancing on, and I met my wife (Colleen) down there. I’d booked my boat and all, so I rang up and asked if I could get another ship or another time, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. There was another one in six weeks and at the end of that I said ‘It doesn’t matter if I don’t get my money back, I’m staying here’.”
The couple had eight children together and spent many happy hours at the FJs Christmas parties each year.
Mr Pronk is full of praise for the boss he still calls Mr Jones.
“He was a great man,” he said. “It was a pleasure to work there.”