Ross - project engineer - making a difference
Life at home
Born and raised in small towns in New Zealand I am the middle son of three boys, one 18 moths older and the other 5 years younger. The family moved around with Dad’s work so we never had roots as more stable families had. When I was 10 years old Dad purchased a shop in rural Southland but due to the recession brought about by the oil crisis of the ‘70s the business failed and Dad went bankrupt when I was in my last years of high school. The bankruptcy hit the family hard with my older brother heading off-track into drugs and Dad, in frustration and depression at losing everything, sinking into alcoholism and domestic violence until he had a complete breakdown.
Throughout our lives my parents encouraged their boys into sport and education but despite this I was the only son to enter tertiary education. I had always wanted to be a geologist just as my Great Uncle Jack had been. While this did not occur, geology is still a keen interest of mine in the form of palaeontology and the history of the planet. Being from rural New Zealand rugby union was and still is my great sporting passion and I played from age seven until my mid-thirties. When I had finished high school and completed my University Entrance exams I moved from the family home and into full time engineering study at the local polytechnic in Dunedin New Zealand. I had just turned 18.
Moving out and on
I left full-time study when it became apparent that I could not afford to live on a standard bursary and got a job with the local council in the engineering department as a cadet engineering officer. Being in a council and in engineering the pay was poor during my early years as a cadet and I lived in some pretty squalid shared accommodation. But life was one great round of work, rugby, cricket, squash and parties. I never scaled great heights as a sportsman but was always keen to perform and enjoyed the camaraderie of the team events. I took committee roles in the sporting clubs I was a member of and this work produced one of the best honours I received in the form of an award for best club member of my squash club, which was named in memory of a good friend, work colleague and team member of mine who had died of cancer at age 26 the year before. During the eight years of working at the council, most of my friends had done the overseas experience trip that is the rite of passage for so many Kiwis and Aussies. I had no money due to my rather extravagant lifestyle and my poor paying job so I had not participated in this rite and was very envious of all that had travelled. I had itchy feet and I was discontented with work and my life in general so I decided to sell up everything I owned (not much when all was said and done) and start travelling. I was 26 when most had travelled prior to 25 due to the availability of short-term work visas to the United Kingdom. I did not require this as my paternal Grandmother had been born in the United Kingdom and I could get an indefinite leave of stay in the United Kingdom. I did not get far initially as I went to Brisbane, Australia to visit a friend who introduced me to the heady life of Brisbane in the mid-eighties (joke). I took the opportunity to work as a contract draftsman on the development of the present Brisbane International Airport for a year. While in Brisbane my younger brother had moved to Melbourne, Australia and our parents and I visited him for Xmas. It was then that my Father had a massive heart attack, which required a full by-pass operation and kept him invalided to some degree
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