Anthony, The Standard reported last month that Fonterra will close its Dennington factory in November this year. For the past 43 years you have walked through the gates in your employment at the factory, firstly with Nestle from 1976 through to 2006 and then with Fonterra from 2006 to 2019. Were you surprised with the news that the factory will close?
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I suppose that the writing was on the wall, but the workers never saw the news coming.
The news was still a shock for all the workers.
We thought it might turn into a five-day-a-week factory, but they just said it's closing.
The majority of the 100 odd workers have worked at the factory for more than 20 years.
There are a lot of people who will find it difficult to get a job.
My wife Annie has worked there for 40 years.
Annie and I are among the lucky ones, because we're not far from retiring, but you've still got to keep yourself busy.
We'll be able to do a bit of travelling, playing bowls and a spot of fishing.
It's going to be a very sad day when they close the gates on the workers for the last time in November.
Take us back in the journey ... what was it like when you started worked at Nestles in 1976?
The funny thing was that I had my name down for a job at Nestles.
There was nothing forthcoming.
My brother Neil was driving me back home to Port Fairy and I said I would drop in an updated job resume at Nestles.
I dropped it in to Ernie Myers. He said that would be fine.
Ernie phoned home later that night and said that I could start work in the morning.
My first job was in the tin shop. Nestles made their own tins and lids.
There was a lot of different sizes of tins and lids.
When I started working in the tin shop, I reckon there was 200 workers over three floors.
It was a very noisy place to work. We used to have a lot of fun.
I then worked in the milk packing room for years before working in the coffee area.
There would have been 400 people working in the coffee area over the various shifts.
The coffee was a massive part of the business back in that era.
I worked in the canteen for 10 years before going back to work in the milk manufacturing side of the business.
Anthony, what was the biggest number of people that worked in the factory during your 43 years?
I reckon at one stage there was just over 1200 people who worked in the coffee or milk areas of the Nestles factory.
Nestles was massive back in that era.
There were three places to work in Warrnambool back then.
Nestles, the Woollen Mill or Fletcher Jones and, come November, none of those places will be there.
It's quite amazing to think that will be all closed.
Anthony, you said that you were born in Port Fairy and your primary school education was in Port Fairy. I take it you would have played junior football with Port Fairy. Is that correct?
Yes. My family lived at Rosebrook, just outside of Port Fairy.
I played under 15s for Port Fairy in a Sunday competition before playing in the under 17s and then under 18s. I played 10 reserves games.
I was an ordinary player. I had very limited ability really.
I suppose my career highlight as a footballer took place against South Warrnambool in the under 18s.
I kicked three goals on Lester Pickett one day.
I always remind Lester of that fact when I see him.
I'm not sure he likes to be reminded of my footy highlight.
I knew I wanted to stay involved with the club in some way.
Then one day, out of the blue, the late Terry Dwyer - who was a star player at the club and our neighbour - suggested I could become a trainer.
I went to a few training clinics and ended up joining the Hampden League Trainers Association.
My dad Leo also joined the training ranks at Port Fairy.
Leo went on to be the president of the club and was head trainer for 20 years.
I had a stint as a trainer at Old Collegians in 1987 and 1988 before going back to Port Fairy.
I was a trainer at the club until the end of 1992 and was on the committee for a few years.
Do you still follow local football now?
Yes, I go to Port Fairy's games as a fan.
I go to the games with my good mates Des Brown and Buck Dowie.
I would say we've only missed a handful of Port Fairy games since 1993.
The main reason why I've missed the couple of games would have been because of work commitments.
We go over to training each Thursday night.
We've gone to training for the last three years on the Thursday night have a meal at the club and sit down to listen to the teams being read out and have a talk with the players. We really love it.
How do you think Port Fairy is going this season?
We've been hit hard by injuries but that's footy.
We're just starting to build a bit of momentum.
I would say the top sides are stronger this season than last year.
We're going to be there at the end of the season but I'm not sure if we'll measure up the the top sides.
I think it's better being an underdog, and that's what we are at this stage of the year.