Cordwell Concrete 50 Years of service

1945

After returning World War 2, Vic Cordwell and family lived at North Street Yandina. Vic worked for the Forestry department in Cooloolabin for a short time before purchasing a small tip truck and starting his own business. He would cart all sorts of things for people all over the Sunshine Coast (3 shires at that time). This included anything from delivering furniture, collecting cord wood delivered to anywhere for boiler engines using steam eg the sugar mill, milk factory and others using steam engines. Bones were collected from the slaughter yards and unloaded into train wagons to be taken to Brisbane to be processed into fertiliser. He collected Molasses in 44 gallon drums and delivered to dairy farms - all done by hand. Vic did at least 4 loads a day and every day he was shovelling something. He would cart sawdust from the local sawmills, collect ash from the steam trains at the Yandina station to be used for tracks and driveways. Rocks were handpicked from paddocks straight into the back of a single drive 4 -6 cubic yard (4.6m) truck (100 shovels to the yard).

Late 1940s

In the late 1940s a horse drawn metal scoop was used to retrieve sands and gravel from the Maroochy River, shovelled into his truck for delivery to customers. Other methods were shovelling into a boat off the banks at low tide and then into a trolley. The trolley was then winched up in near the North Maroochy River bridge bank and shovelled into truck. The demand was very high for these materials. Nothing was crushed at this time it was straight out of the river and used, most being a perfect size. Sons, Ronald, Trevor, and Garry when old enough would help with the loading of trucks.

Sand and Aggregates 1950s

Later a tipper fitted with a Berryman Loader was used, this is a winch mounted under the body of the tipper which pulled the filled scoop up the ramp into a frame and tipped the scoop into the truck. As it started going up the slide someone would have to jump into the truck to use the clutch and jump out again to pull the rope that controlled the gears. A shilling a yard a mile was the charge for works, some of which were done by contract and the rest was whatever was going at the time. Blue metal gravel when required had to come from Gympie goldmines, which was a big trip for a 4m load. Sandstone came from road cuttings from various places around the area to be used for tennis courts. Sand was also sourced from the Mary River in Kenilworth in addition to the sand and gravel from the Maroochy River. Plastering sand/ fine sand was got out of swaps from Bli Bli and Rosemount and supplied to people form Brisbane to make monuments for cemeteries. Brickies Loam came from the riverbank on Fairhill Rd and various other places, when the first brick houses were built. Raw materials were dredged from the river by a tractor (an old David Brown) with a winch. A pulley was placed on the other side of the river and a wire rope driven by one wheel jacked up on the tractor which pulled the scoop to the other side of the river. Then the winch was used to pull the scoop loaded with sand or gravel to an area so it could be shovelled onto the truck. There were others around doing the same thing at the time like Halls, Evans, Rutherford. An old chevy blitz (an old army truck) was set up with the drag line to assist with extraction of sand and gravel. Was also used to clean dams and waterways out when people requested the job.

1960

TE20 Ferguson with a scoop on it was the first loader purchased to load trucks.

1963

1963 A block of ground on Dunethin Rock Road was leased from Ted Klotz to set up a crushing plant, called Vic Cordwell Sand and Gravel. A Ruston Dragline on tracks and an International Hough loader was purchased to help with the additional workload.

1965 1st CONCRETE TRUCK PURCHASED

A range of products suitable for concrete and other uses were produced. In 1965 the first concrete truck was purchased, a 4 cubic yard, Bedford truck to supply concrete to builders in all shires. Concrete was 12 pound a cubic yard at the time. Additional concrete trucks were purchased as the demand for concrete increased. A truck or flat top trailer brought cement bags from Brisbane to the plant almost daily. The 10-20 tonne load would be unpacked and stored in shed by hand. Materials were measured by volume and the cement bags were broken by hand into the loader bucket, before being added to the batching bin. Water was added to the truck by timing per gallon with a wristwatch. Concrete was ordered in yards cubed.

1970s

Raw materials were excavated by loader, out of the Mary River at Moy Pocket and were trucked back to be screened at Yandina as materials began to run out in the Maroochy River. This photo is a concrete conveyor (only one on coast)

1971 VIC CORDWELL’S CONCRETE

1971 11 Cordwell Rd started with 1 silo, by 1993 there were 2 silos, the 3rd silo added in 2008 and in 2016 the plant had 4 silos and 2 loading bays turning the Yandina site into a mega plant. The crusher and screening equipment from the Dunethin Rock site was also moved when Vic open new site in 1971. In 1972 the plant was still manual but had scales and a small silo to hold and measure the quantities. Concrete mixes were solved from custom charts at the time.

1971 – CORDWELL’S HAULAGE “AILORT PTY LTD”

Cordwell’s haulage commenced operations, now “Ailort Pty Ltd” with one 12 tonne tanker. Additional prime movers and bulk cement tankers and tipper trailers were purchased to transport bulk cement, fly ash powder and raw materials to our plant and many other plants throughout QLD. Garry Cordwell drove the tanker himself and carted cement powder for his dad.

1980

1980 - A new office had to be built because the old office site was resumed when the new service road, now Cordwell Road was constructed. The workshop at the back of the plant was an open shed with a small lockable room.

1983

1983 Cordwell Road was named in honour of the contribution Vic Cordwell made to the building industry and community.

1988

After Vic Cordwell’s death in 1988, Garry and Pat Cordwell purchased the concrete business, “Vic Cordwell’s Concrete” from the estate and merged it with their existing haulage business. Vic Cordwell is remembered for his community spirit. He was one of the founders of Scouting in Yandina in 1952 when his sons were young enough to join and he became Patron until his death. The ground at the Yandina Scout den was named Vic Cordwell Park in his honour. Vic Cordwell was also a member of the Lions Club from 1983-1994. Garry and Pat Cordwell continued the business with their family members joining as company expanded with grandchildren also joining in the business. The Cordwell family is also very community minded with; Pat being on committees for the school, scouts, guides, chamber of commerce, Yandina Historical Society and Yandina Street Fair. David’s many years involvement with Rugby League, Brian’s Scouting involvement as a leader and Motor Cross, Peter’s involvement with Soccer and Cadets, Maree and husband Glen with leadership in the Scouting Movement. The Cordwell Group have donated to many community groups around the Coast, over the years.

1991

1991 Large workshop built to service fleet, built near old office. This shed replaces an old workshop which was just a lean-to shed that can be seen in the background. The larger workshop accommodated servicing and maintaining our large fleet of trucks as the company grew.

1993

1992  11 Cordwell Road (site road) expanded further, and other storage sheds built to park the trucks in overnight. Some sheds were to leased out to other businesses. Loader photo from 1993

1994

1994 “Cordwell Resources Pty Ltd”, Chevallum site purchased with dredge and wash plant. Photo of new plant 2020. This site is for Cordwells resource extraction and screening activities (dredging and screening) located on Dickson Road, Chevallum and is a Main Road certified Quarry – sand extraction plant.

1996

1996 Built new workshop and Boiler Maker sheds, near existing office . The workshop moved to this building leaving the old shed to park concrete trucks. The new workshop has more up to date equipment in it.

1997

1997 “Cordwell Resources Pty Ltd”, Yandina site This site is for Cordwells resource extraction and screening activities (dredging and screening) located on Yandina Bli Bli Road, Yandina.

1998

1998 The landscaping yard with product bays was built to display the various products we sell and provide drive through access for customers to have trailers loaded.

2006 OLD OFFICE DEMOLITION

Demolition of old office

2006 NEW OFFICE

2005 Built new office and moved in. Built new office to accommodate growth of business.

2006 OFFICE ROAD LAYING

2007 RECYCLING TANK

Building recycling tank

2009

2009 Cordwell’s Training Centre Offering training inhouse and externally.

2010

2010 Entered into joint venture classifying ash out of Millmerran, which is used in concrete, “Independent Flay Ash Brokers Pty Ltd”

2012

2012 Grand opening of scrommel. First Concrete SCROMMEL Reclaimer installed in Australia– advanced concrete management system. This reflects Cordwell’s continuous industry environmental best practice management benchmark and reduction on environmental carbon footprint.  

2015

2015 Our NATA accredited laboratory, “QCTesting” was established to complement business operations further. The use of the NATA accredited laboratory facilities and testing facilities is a requirement of most project specifications in the field of construction materials. Our testing is conducted using state of the art equipment and experienced geotechnical technicians.

2017

2017 Computerised batching system, moving more electronic. Keeping up with modern technology.

2019

2019 “Cordwell Resources Pty Ltd” leased the Kin Kin Quarry. The quarry is located on Sheppersons Lane, Kin Kin. Quarrying and Andesite deposit, suitable rock source for aggregate, road pavements, drainage media, rip rap and other quarry products are taken using open cut extraction techniques. Main Road certified Quarry.

2020 CALOUNDRA PLANT

2021 Caloundra plant opened offering a range of decorative concrete, with exposed and colour options, along with the ability to meet and deliver all needs and specification requirements for concrete. The plant is capable of producing more than 20m3 of concrete before needing to refill the bins with materials. It will capture every drop of water, with 80000 litres of storage.

2022 CHEVALLUM SITE REHABILITATION

At Cordwell Resources sand extraction plant in Chevallum on the 23rd May 2022 we planted 6000 trees as a site rehabilitation project, reestablishing native plant species in the area. These native trees were sourced locally. Cordwells policy and principal aim is to plant and preserve trees for the rehabilitation of our site area. This is for the wellbeing of our community, the sustainability of habitation, the enhancement of nature and our contribution to combating climate change.

2022 KIN KIN SITE REHABILITATION

October 2022 - Kin Kin Quarry Rehabilitation and Weed Management: Restoring Koala Habitat and Connectivity to areas of Core Koala Habitat The Kin Kin Quarry is situated in the Noosa Shire- an area rich in ecological values and diversity from coastal to hinterland habitats and Regional Ecosystems supporting a range of core and secondary koala habitat areas. Within the Kin Kin Quarry site there is a significant area (10.9ha) of Core Koala Habitat, comprising valued and protected habitat for this now Endangered species. Open areas buffering the Core Koala Habitat required extensive rehabilitation of direct planting ( one area 5.5 Ha and the second 3.5 Ha) and three other locations of assisted regeneration of already vegetated habitat areas through weed control and monitoring, The rehabilitation program of direct planting and assisted rehabilitation for the project area will; Bolster the existing 10.9Ha of Core koala habitat through increased habitat linkages and corridors; 5.5 Ha of KFT direct planting on open space grassland on the western side of the project area and directly ajoins nearby regrowth and remnant Eucalyptus Forest/Woodland a total of 15,100 KFT will be planted onsite; 3.5 Ha of Riparian/Rainforest direct planting with dominant canopy trees being KFTEucalyptus tereticornis and Eucalyptus microcorys (KFT) as well as Lephostemon confertus.