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Royston Siddons founded an industrial empire, Siddons Industries Limited, which at its peak had subsidiaries in six countries and 1500 employees. He created the Sidchrome brand, and was Australian franchisee for Ramset. Siddons was a practising Christian. At his church, Ivanhoe Methodist Church, he was a lay preacher, a trustee, and Sunday-School superintendent. He gave his country a tool with which to build. He gave his country the common spanner. One of his bequests continues to help students to train for the ministry of the Uniting Church in Australia.

Royston Siddons was born in 1899 in Williamstown, Melbourne. He was the eldest son of a miner immigrant from England. He left school at 14 to help in his father’s carrying business. The family moved to Wonthaggi, where Royston worked for the local coal mining company. In the evenings he studied electrical engineering at Swinburne Technical College.

At the age of 24 he married and also started as an electrical contractor with his own shop in Wonthaggi. Four years later he sold this business and moved to Melbourne. He and his family lived with his parents while he worked in the manufacture of wireless radios. At the age of 32 he leased a metal-casting factory in Collingwood and with a staff of four, began producing hardware items for cabinet makers. He survived the Depression and began to prosper, moving to a larger premises at Clifton Hill in 1934. Having perfected the die-casting of padlocks from zinc alloy, he manufactured them under the brand name, Sidco.

During World War II he manufactured hand tools for the armed services, including gun parts and bomb caps. Postwar shortages of imported tools offered the opportunity for expansion and his company certainly did expand. By 1945 Royston Siddons was supplying the domestic market with Sidchrome spanners, pliers, chisels, wrenches, hammers and screwdrivers.

In 1948 the company purchased a new factory site in Heidelberg.The business became a public company, and Royston’s son John started working in the company. As an employer Royston promoted a harmonious workplace for his employees.

The Siddons’ factory developed a number of innovations. One was low-voltage resistance heating (a technique in forging invented by the company’s laboratory head). They also developed a continuous ‘austempering’ furnace, automatic electroplating, and advanced forging presses from the United States of America. Royston’s son John set up the Ramset franchise in Australia. Import restrictions forced the company to manufacture Ramset guns and pins in Australia. Siddons tools were exported to the Pacific Islands, South East Asia and the Middle East. The company continued to expand, using drop forging and steel-rolling.

The board removed Royston as managing director in 1963 and gradually eased him out of management. He passed the chairmanship to his son in 1968 and he left the board in 1972. From the 1960s Royston pursued other business interests, with limited success, in gold- and opal-mining, and in citrus- and olive-farming. He was a director of various companies connected with his business. For recreation he sailed and played bowls. He was a member of the councilof Melbourne’sWesley College school.

Royston Siddons died in 1976. Through his Christian principles he survived the Great Depression and flourished. He gave Australia the spanner, the Sidchrome brand, and thousands of jobs. An advertising slogan which became synonmous with their brand was ‘Y canna hand a man a grander spanner than a Sidchrome thats the brand the experts use’. Siddons was a devout Christian man and active in his church in teaching others about the Christian faith. We salute Royston Siddons, a Christian who made a difference.

Today we introduce a woman who came to Australia as a very young convict girl. She later became a successful and respected business woman, and a woman of significant Christian influence and philanthropy. You will have seen her picture many times as it appears on Australia’s $20 note. Her name is Mary Reibey.

Born in 1777, in Lancaster, England as Mary Haydock, she was raised by her grandmother after her parents died. Her grandmother sent her to be a house servant. But, at the young age of 13 she ran away from her employer and was arrested for stealing a horse. At the time she was dressed as a boy and it wasn’t until after she had been sentenced to transportation that the authorities realised she was a girl. When she was only 15 she was transported to Australia for 7 years.

She arrived in Sydney in October 1792 and was assigned as a nursemaid in the household of Major Fransis Grose, the lieutenant-governor. On 7 September 1794 she married Thomas Reibey, a young Irishman who was a junior officer on the East India Company’s store ship Britannia.

Thomas was an astute businessman and developed a grain-carrying business on the Hawskesbury River. He then imported general merchandise and traded the Hunter and Hawkesbury Rivers with coal, cedar and wheat. He was engaged in sealing in Bass Strait and trade in the Pacific Islands and made trips to India and China in the course of his business.

On the death of her husband in 1811, and his partner Edward Wills a month later, Mary Reibey was left with seven children and in entire control of numerous business concerns. However, she was a hotel-keeper, and already had had experience in assisting her husband and managing his interests when he was absent on voyages.
Mary Reibey gradually rose to respectability and affluence in New South Wales society. She gained the respect of Governor Lachlan Macquarie. She opened a new warehouse in George Street in 1812 and continued to manage her husband’s ships. Shse extended her operations by buying the John Palmer and in 1817 the brig Governor Macquarie.

In 1816 her property included seven farms on the Hawkesbury and her wealth was said to be about £20,000. By 1820 she held 1000 acres, or 405 hectares, of land, half of them having been granted to her.

In March 1820 she took her daughters Celia and Eliza to England, and in Lancashire she was received with interest and admiration.

Returning the next year to Sydney, her business interests continued to flourish and she made extensive investments in city property, erecting many elegant buildings. Mary was involved with the formation of the Bank of New South Wales in 1817. This bank is now called Westpac and is one of the largest Banking Corporations in Australia today.

Mary was enterprising and willing to perservere in everything she undertook. Mary was progressive in an era when the role of women was one of limited social interaction,. She was widely respected and lauded for her success as a businesswoman
Although Mary was a very successful business woman, she took time out for church activities and philanthropic pursuits. She also took a keen interest in education and in 1825 she was appointed one of the governors of the Free Grammar School. She was heavily involved in the work of the church and the Bishop, William Broughton, commended her work in the cause of religion generally and of the Church of England in particular.At the age of 50, Mary began to withdraw from direct management of the business and focus on social issues. This she did until her death in 1855.

Two novels have been written about Mary Reibey’s life. The novel Sarah Dane, by Catherine Gaskin, only loosely based on the facts, sold over 2 million copies. It was also made into a television mini-series in 1982. The novel Mary Reibey by Kathleen Pullen tells her story more accurately.

Westpac , the bank Mary helped set up as the Bank of New South Wales, now offers the Mary Reibey Grant. Each year this grant goes to a Not- for-Profit organisation that enables opportunities for disadvantaged women. Also named in her honour is the Reibey Institute, a not-for-profit research centre which provides insight and exploration of Australian women’s leadership issues.

Mary Reibey was a woman from a disadvantaged background. She became a practising Christian who achieved a lot in business and contributed a lot to others’ welfare in the early days of colonial Australia. Her place on the $20 note and in the affections of Australians is well earned.

In Queensland, a school chaplain has taken out the Sunshine Coast’s most prestigious award – Citizen of the Year for 2016. His name is David Larkin, and he beat 12 other nominees for the title at a special ceremony held at Lake Kawana Community Centre.

David Larkin is school chaplain at Buderim Mountain State School. His award was for “dedication and commitment to working with students on personal development and issues to do with grief, loss and self-esteem”. This award comes at a time when the work of school chaplains has been under close scrutiny.

But “Chappy Dave” has personified the value the role can have. He facilitates programs for youths like Seasons for Growth, Drumming Circles and Happy Being Me. His family are involved in foster care and he has developed strong links and networks within the community to improve children’s lives.

For him, it has never been about preaching a religion. He says “We have a practical role and do home visits, providing meals and networking with other community organisations.” “It’s about sharing values, it’s not about me pushing a religious agenda. It’s about serving the needs of the community.”

The number of lives he has affected was highlighted when he was in hospital, desperately fighting for his own life in September, 2014. He had he suffered a ruptured aortic aneurysm and was rushed to Brisbane’s Prince Charles Hospital where he underwent seven hours of emergency surgery.

His doctor said if he had arrived 15 minutes later he would not have made it. The Buderim community rallied around David and his family while he spent months undergoing intensive rehabilitation.

He received more than 1000 get well letters from students. He is now in his second year of recovery and can do 5 kilometre runs.

The mayor of the local area gave a tribute to the winners and the 86 nominees for the awards for 2016. He said “They have been nominated and commended by their own communities because of their willingness to go above and beyond and there is no doubt that their efforts are truly commendable.” “They are, in the main, quiet achievers, unsung heroes – people who work tirelessly to help others without thought of reward or recognition.” “These are the people who set a positive example and are great role models for our community.”

David Larkin, the winner, has indeed worked tirelessly to help others. He’s a Christian making a very positive difference in his Sunshine Coast community.