Ross became involved in the Pest Management Industry through his Agricultural Chemical Industry background.

After graduating from Wagga Agricultural College (now Charles Sturt University) in 1958, he firstly focused on farm-use pesticides until he joined Velsicol Chemical Corporation in 1977 as Technical Marketing Manager.  His final role with Velsicol was as Regional Director for the South Pacific.  Velsicol’s major products were its termiticides, Heptachlor and Chlordane.  In 1987, Ross formed his own Company, Agrichemicals Pty Ltd, his major client being Velsicol.

Always a supporter of Professional Trade Associations, he soon became involved with the Australian Pest Control Associations (CAPCA).  When CAPCA’s Secretary, Ion Staunton, indicated his wish to step aside from that role, Ross volunteered to try to fill his shoes.

At that time CAPCA, being a body of State Associations, saw a need for a true National Body.  At the 1988 US National Pest Control Association Conference in Honolulu, an informal gathering of Australian State Leaders (including two other Life Members, Peter Meadows and Ion Staunton) agreed that a new National Body to be called Australian Environmental Pest Managers Association (AEPMA) be formed as soon as possible.

This occurred and Ross’s company, Agrichemicals Pty Ltd. tendered to provide a fully serviced professional office that included a full time Technical Officer, Ian Abraham, as well as secretarial services.  This office also produced ten copies of AEPMA’s magazine PESTALK per year.  At this time Ross held the title of Executive Officer.

After many rewarding and enjoyable years, in 1996, Ross and his Company retired from AEPMA activities and Ross was shortly afterwards awarded Life Membership, of which he is still very proud.

Frank Bonney started working in the pest management industry at the age of 13, when he went to work for his uncle on his dairy farm in Gippsland.  In 1948, at the age of 20, Frank took over the running of his uncle’s South Australian farm where he became one of the first pest controllers to use an eight inch power saw to cut man-holes in the floor.

In 1953, Frank sold up his business and, along with his two brothers, he started a company called Household Pest Control (HPC).  A trip to America around this time to attend the Annual Pest Control Convention in Louisville, Kentucky taught him of new and innovative ways to run his business.  HPC were one of the first companies to use their own designed stainless steel cylinders which had been used by the Air Force during the war.  It was also while in America that he learned of a correspondence course, which would allow them to branch out into all domestic pests, rather than just concentrating on termites.

Frank and his uncle took the course, which led to contracts with most of the huge poultry farms where they desperately needed to eradicate rodents.  Frank was able to come up with a very successful method of keeping the rat population down to a minimum.

By 1970, the business, which had started with just three employees, had tripled its turnover and had 55 staff on its role as well as 40 vehicles.

Frank made a point of personally training his staff, both from an environmental and safety point of view.  He also became a lecturer on termites at Mt Lawley Technical College for a number of years.

Following a very successful career, Frank sold his business to Rentokil.  He went on to build a water-ski park, which he ran very successfully.  He is also well remembered in the skiing world, where he was 17 times Western Australian State Slalom Champion and 8 times Australian Slalom Champion.

Sadly, Frank passed away in October 2012 at the age of 85 following a short illness.

Barry Collins came to the pest management industry in 1989 and started his own pest control company in 1993.

Since 1993, Barry has been active in both TAFE pest control courses: marking papers for the correspondence course and teaching sections of the live course.

Barry was part of the group that developed a list of questions to ask applicants to ensure standardization of assessment as many were put through by Recognition of Prior Learning.

Barry has been a member of the Queensland Industry Training and Advisory Board for Pest Management.  He has been the Chair of this group since 2003.  He has also served on the executive of the overall Asset Maintenance ITAB.

In all his dealings, whether in training and assessing or with government, Barry promotes the pest management industry at every opportunity. 

In 1998, Barry was awarded the Wayne Naylor Memorial Award for service to the pest management industry and AEPMA in Queensland.  His efforts since that award have intensified with an extended period as Chair of Queensland Branch and a long period on the National Board including several years as Chairman. 

Barry was awarded life membership of AEPMA at the National AEPMA AGM held in Darwin in 2008.

Alan Evered joined Shell chemicals in 1962 and became a member of the Victorian Pest and Weed Control Association.  Shell used to produce aldrin and dieldrin for termite management as well as diazinon, maldison and dichlorvos.

Alan, along with Jack Flick, John McCarron and Ray Peek, was a prime mover in the formation of the Council of Australian Pest Control Associations (CAPCA).

In 1980, Alan and Peter Meadows made a joint termite management presentation throughout Australia and Alan also ran the first commercial termite workshop in Perth, which was attended by over 200 people.

In 1982 Alan was the workshop coordinator for the first PIGS (Pest Industry and Government Sector).  This was highly successful, drawing people from Government departments of Health and Education and from the Industry.  It was the beginning of a coordinated approach to licensing and legislation for the industry.

In 1985, Alan became Chairman of the Health and Safety Committee of the Victorian branch of AEPMA.

In 1992, Alan left Shell Chemical Australia Pty Ltd and formed Evered Enterprises as a health and safety consultant.

Following a successful career in hospitality, Geoff joined WA Flick & Company as a technician in the Northern Beaches of NSW. He spent 5 years with Flick and then, after leaving for 2 years, he re-joined Flick and over the following 2 years, Geoff was elevated to the position of Training Officer, during that time Geoff trained new technicians in the Sydney region, until He decided to “Run his own business”.
Geoff moved to the Central Coast of NSW where he ran Coast to Coast Pest Services for 18 months before buying the company. He joined AEPMA in 1995 and quickly became involved in the local sub-branch.

Soon after Geoff became a member of the NSW State Council, where, after 12 months, he was elected NSW Chairman. He became the NSW delegate to the National Board.

Geoff Spent 5 years on the National Board, 3 of those as the National President. During that time, he worked closely with Government departments on various pieces of legislation, many of which are still in place.

In 2008 after some 13 years involvement, Geoff stood down from the National Board, to concentrate on his business.

Geoff was awarded Life Membership in 2020, however due to Covid 19 restrictions this was not formally recognised until 2022.

Roland began his working career in 1964 as a clerk with a firm of Public Accountants in Brisbane, following his then ambition to qualify as an accountant.

After working there for a year or so, he went on to work as a labourer on a bridge construction site, which led to him being recruited to do the book keeping because of his accounting experience.

Through a friend, he heard of a position being advertised for an accountant with a pest control business called Amalgamated Pest Control.  He had never heard of the company but as he was looking for employment, he decided to apply.  It was 1970 and so began his career in Pest Control.

While he did not find the accounts work interesting or challenging, the business was growing rapidly, so he decided to stick around to find out the secret of its success.  He started to learn about all aspects of Pest Control while doing the accounts in his spare time.  After a year or so he graduated to the position of Office Manager.  He quickly became multi skilled and as the company grew, so did his responsibilities.

By 1977, turnover at Amalgamated had reached $2 million and branches were opening up everywhere.  During this time, Roland became General Manager.

Roland’s involvement with AEPMA came about because he believes that the industry needs a strong voice.  He decided that he should become active in the Association.  He was invited to join the National Board of AEPMA.. He relished the opportunity and served as a board member for a number of years.

In 1995, Roland became the President of AEPMA.  It was patently obvious at the time that AEPMA needed to look closely at its relevance.  Membership was at an all-time low, so he set about turning things around.  First, he went to the members and sought their opinions and asked what they wanted from the Association.  Armed with this information, a fresh direction was taken.  Doug Howick then took over the role of National Executive Director.  Of Doug Howick, Roland said “he introduced a level of excellence and professionalism to AEPMA that I don’t think had ever existed before”.  Roland went on to say “I was also blessed with a number of tireless, wonderful Board members such as Malcom Trotter, Grant Currie and David Watkins”.  Roland believes that what that era achieved was to make the Pest Industry a better place today.

Roland has enjoyed his time with Amalgamated Pest Control.  He says “it has been a great journey and along the way Sharyn and I have become shareholders in this wonderful Australian owned Company.  The journey has not finished yet.  I still have goals to achieve and the future looks every bit as exciting as the past.”

In 1961, Doug was appointed to the Wood Preservation Section of the CSIRO Division of Forest Products. Being involved in all aspects of timber treatment, wood borers and termites, he was responsible for CSIRO’s work associated with the importation of the Sirex Wood Wasp and the European House Borer.  In 1968, this led to the award of a 10-month Churchill Fellowship “An International Study of the incidence, distribution and economic significance of certain wood-destryoying insects having the potential ability to establish in Australia”.

In 1969, the Division of Forest Products decided to expand its entomological work on assessing wood preservatives and wood susceptibility to various insects.  Having specialised particularly in EHB and the West Indian Drywood Termite during his Fellowship, Doug was given the opportunity to head up that area.   As an Experimental Scientist, he also worked closely with the pest management and timber industries and as a result of this involvement, he was awarded Honorary Membership of the Pest & Weed Control Association of Victoria in 1975 and Life Membership of AEPMA on its formation in 1988.  After some years as Industry Liaison Officer Doug left CSIRO in 1992 as a Senior Specialist and Assistant to the Chief of Division.
 
With his expertise in pest management, termite management, chemical assessments against wood-destroying insects, industry liaison and his networking abilities, it is not surprising that Doug then became National Executive Director of AEPMA for ten years and, partially concurrently, National Secretary of the Timber Preservers Association of Australia (TPAA) for twenty.  

C. D. Howick is author of 60+ scientific papers on various aspects of forest products entomology, wood technology and pest management as well as a further 50+ reports, conference papers, and presentations.

In 2006, he was honoured with the title of Honorary Advisor for the Federation of Asian & Oceania Pest Managers Associations (FAOPMA).  Doug is now the Editor of “PPM News”, the newsletter for FAOPMA, and of the TPAA Newsletter “CONTACT”, both of which are electronically circulated on a bi-monthly basis.

Brian was born in Cooroy QLD in December 1943 to a farming family.  His father was a farm labourer/share farmer which resulted in his family moving often.  Brian left home at age 13 to live with his Aunt in Chinchilla QLD where she was a school teacher.  Brian says that he owes the successful completion of his “scholarship” year to her strict dedication to teaching and discipline.  At the end of 1958 he was accepted into the Naval Apprentices Training School, HMAS Nirimba at Quakers Hill NSW.  This training lasted for four years after which he joined the fleet as a Weapons Technician.  During his time in the Navy, Brian saw active service in Malaya, Borneo and Vietnam. He stayed in the Navy for 20 years.  Upon leaving, he joined the public service in Canberra as a Senior Technical Officer.

Brian was in the Public Service for 3.5 years until he had a “mid-life crisis”, left the public service and, in 1982, purchased a Pest Control Business.  Brain recalls “what a shock!  I wondered what on earth I had done”.  However he learned the technicalities of the Pest management industry and business management procedures and, as his confidence grew, he really enjoyed the challenges of his new career.  Brian joined the Pest Management Industry Association (UPCA of NSW) in 1982 and was actively involved until June 2006.  Through all of that time, Brian was a member of AEPMA and its preceding organisations.

During his time in AEPMA, he served as Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer of his local ACT Sub Branch as well as NSW/ACT Branch.  He was also a Director on the National Board.  Brian says “I have met many colleagues in Pest Management and am pleased to say that most, if not all, I would hope to be able to call friends”.

Brian left the Pest management industry in June 2006 after selling his Pest Control Business (Check Pest Control) in 2004 as well as his investment in TermiMesh in 2006.  This decision was primarily due to his wife, Leanne having had to fight against ovarian cancer in 2003, a battle she finally lost in October 2007.  Brian now spends a large part of his time involving himself in community service through his involvement in the Lions Organisation.

John originally started his career as a wool classer, but after becoming fed up with the constant strike actions, his father suggested that he join him in his pest control business, Norris Pest Eradication Company.

John remembers that back then, the majority of treatments were for cockroaches and that it was an expensive business for customers.  Bed bugs were another big problem in Brisbane in the 1950s. There were also no safety precautions, so everything from lettuces and tomatoes to sheep and cattle were sprayed with dieldrin.

John soon started looking after the commercial and operational side of the business.  Around this time, he and his father decided that they would set up a domestic pest control business.

Their treatments proved to be very effective as well as inexpensive and soon they had many new customers.  The treatments were so successful and so popular that they were soon struggling to keep up with the workload.  John’s father started phoning relations in different parts of Brisbane to join the business.  Some of these relations then wanted to expand to the Gold Coast, Maryborough and Toowoomba.  This was how the business spread.  There was also no need for advertising as news of their services was spread by word of mouth.

In 1961, John’s father formed Amalgamated Pest Control.

When John moved to Somerset Dam, he received a lot of enquires about termite control and so began the termite business.  It was around this time that the company expanded rapidly and eventually, in 1971, John took over from his father.

Training is now a huge part of the business.  Amalgamated is a registered pest control training organisation – one of the only private companies in Australia to do this.  They are registered with the government and a lot of their income is spent on training.

John concludes “we are spending more and more time on the technical side and we have more people out there with our operational staff on the training side, which is very important.”

Following the completion of his degree in Agricultural Science at Glasgow University, Peter felt that he was not cut out to be a researcher.

Peter’s professor knew the Manager of Rentokil in Glasgow, so arranged for an interview for him and he was offered the job.

Peter was the first graduate sales person in Rentokil UK and he ended up in London where he did well and was singled out for promotion.  He decided that he should get some overseas experience first and accepted a position at Rentokil Australia, not realising how far away Australia was.  He and his pregnant wife were flown to Australia on an assisted immigrants’ package of £10 each, which was paid by Rentokil.

Peter started to work for Rentokil in Sydney under the leadership of Doug Tristram, Manager of Powells Pest Control.  In those days Powells Pest Control, Houghton and Byrne, Flick and Thomas Cowan were the major companies in pest control.

Because of his technical knowledge, one of his jobs was to build up the technical expertise of the company.  He also was to specialise in sales, particularly in the commercial area.

In 1967, Rentokil took over Houghton & Byrne and there was an amalgamation of Houghton & Byrne staff and Powells Pest Control staff.

Peter now set about building up the company from a commercial point of view.  Peter and Fred Westphal did a great amount to change the face of commercial pest management in Australia.  They built a training office next door to the Rentokil Head Office and they ran seminars for groups of clients and prospects.  These became extremely successful and popular.

Peter worked for Rentokil from 1966 to 1979 when he decided to move to Flick.  He had dealt with Flick a great deal during his years at Rentokil and he liked what he saw.  The move created some shock waves within the industry as he was very much looked upon as part of Rentokil.

Peter had to work hard to gain the confidence of the staff at Flick, especially when it came to the treatment of termites.  Some members of staff were convinced he was a spy for Rentokil and that he was going to report back to Rentokil on how Flick kill termites.  Eventually he gained their trust.

During his period at Flick, Peter went from being Technical Manager to Group Technical Sales Manager where he had marketing and sales responsibilities and was in charge of training 400 people from all around Australia, both on the sales and technical side.

In 1986 the Flick family sold the company to CIG/BOC.  The emphasis at CIG was occupational health and safety and crisis management.  Falling profit margins led them to sell the business to a French company called La Grande Companie d’eau.  Along with many other members of staff, Peter was made redundant following the sale.

On being made redundant, Peter decided that it was a good time for set up his own business.  Ever since setting up his own business in 1995, Peter has been very busy and has never looked back.

Greg Moon started as a butcher in Manly, Sydney, before joining the Pest Management Industry 39 years ago.  He started Greg Moon Pest Control in 1976 and worked there for 10 years before joining Amalgamated Pest Control on two separate occasions up until 2007.  He eventually went back out on his own and started All Pest and Termite Solutions, which is still operating today.

Greg attended just about every seminar, convention, meeting or social function held.  In his 39 years in the industry he served almost continuously on Executive Committees at Sub Branch, Branch and National Board levels.

Those who have personally worked with Greg on the National Board over those years have always found him not only to have the best interests of the industry at heart, but that he is prepared to put in the tremendous amount of work necessary to move the Association forward.

In his involvement, he has served a series of Presidents and supported AEPMA’s National Executive Directors.

Greg was awarded life membership of AEPMA at the National Conference in Sydney in August 2014.  Doug Howick said of Greg:- “those who selflessly work for the benefit of the industry and our truly professional National Association, well deserve the commendation and grateful appreciation of the entire industry”.

In 1979, Tom bought a pest control business and was soon invited to join the NSW State Association (UPCA).  A couple of years later, he was elected President, a position which he held for four consecutive years.  During this time, he formed seven sub-branches across the State.  These included Sydney Northern Suburbs, Central Coast, Hunter Districts, Dubbo and Northern Rivers.

In 1997, he was made Life Member of the NSW Association (now known as PCA of NSW).  At an international Convention in Honolulu, they formed what is now AEPMA.  Tom served on the ‘steering committee’, which made the Association a reality.  On that Committee were also Peter Meadows, Ross Blackmore, Ion Staunton, the late Allister Paech and Chris Edwards.

When Tom retired from active pest control, he was asked to be Secretary of the NSW State Branch of AEPMA, a job he held for a number of years until age and ill health caught up with him.

In 2007, at a conference at Coffs Harbour, he was honoured to receive the first ‘Meritorious Service Award’ from the Association.

Tom continues to attend the Northern Suburbs Sub-Branch Meetings and is probably the oldest active member of the Association.

Ion started working for Flick & Co in 1957.  He had originally applied for a job in the technical team, but he was told there was no opening for him there.  Instead they wanted to turn him into Flick’s ‘Commercial Division.’

Ion remembers that Flick were very keen on in-house training.  They would receive four weeks of practical and theory based training before being ‘let loose’ on the public.  They worried that sending new recruits on external courses would mean that they would learn all about the chemicals and then set up in business against them.

Ion was given a list of regular clients including the navy shore establishments, hospitals, chefs, hotels and even poultry farms.

As Ion was still looking for a technical job, he approached Houghton & Byrne and was offered the position of Technical Manager.  His first job there was to develop insect repellents for the Houghton & Byrne product range.

It was at this time that Phil Hadlington approached Ion.  Phil had been running a technical course at Sydney Technical College for three years without a text book.  Phil asked Ion to help produce one.  This was hand produced in 1961, reprinted in 1962 and remained the industry text book until 1985.

Around the time the text book was produced, Ion was appointed Secretary of the newly formed United Pest Control Association.  He also started teaching at the Sydney Technical College specialising in teaching about pests, stored product pests, insecticide formulations and weed control.

Ion left the service industry in 1966 to join Coopers who were strong in insecticides.  His first job there was to introduce their new synthetic pyrethoids to Australia.

While Ion was at Coopers, he helped to develop other State Associations and eventually they formed the Council of Australian Pest Control Associations.

In 1976, after 10 years with Coopers, Ion kept hearing stories of pest control companies having difficulties in buying their pesticides from pesticide manufacturers.  He decided that what the industry needed was a one stop shop where pest controllers could buy their products.  Ion’s original shop was in Cabarita, but because of its success, he was able to open branches at Kingswood and in Melbourne.

Ion says that the formation of associations was a defence against bad publicity but they also turned out to be vehicles to get the government to legislate so that improper activities could be weeded out and technicians could be better trained.

Ion says “the objectives I wrote for the AEPMA constitution sum up my feeling that the industry must focus on providing a service in the best interests of the Australian community which will ensure that the industry becomes even more relevant and stronger.  That constitution encourages anyone and everyone to have a say in achieving this objective.”

Malcolm Trotter entered the industry as a Pest Management Technician with WA Flick & Co in Chatswood, NSW in 1976.  Since that time, he has held positions with various companies in the areas of technical service, sales and management.

Malcolm took on the role of General Manager of Pink Pest Control & Pink Inspection Services in 1986 and held that position until purchasing the business in 1994 when he became the Managing Director, a position he currently holds.

He has served in various capacities with AEPMA including Chairman of the NSW Branch for four years, former National Vice President and National President and current Immediate Past President.  Malcolm has represented AEPMA on the Standards Australia Committee that developed the standard for Timber Pest Inspections (AS 4349.3) and held a position on the New South Wales Pesticides Implementation Committee representing this Association.

Under his management, Pink Inspection Services has provided more than 100,000 pre-purchase inspection reports to home purchasers, conveyancers and conveyancing solicitors over a period of 22 years.

Malcolm is the current AEPMA representative to Standards Australia in relation to Timber Pest Inspections and has run several industry workshops in NSW and Queensland seeking industry input prior to drafting the official AEPMA position and presenting same to the relevant Standards Australia Committee in 2007.

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