Midland Brick in Western Australia provided the next opportunity. Ric New, managing director of the company, was a friend of Bruce Kean. In the late 1970s, Boral made a bid for Brisbane and Wunderlich's (now Bristile) brickworks in Western Australia, but that attempt had failed miserably. Neal had planned a market raid but the chairman of Brisbane and Wunderlich's board at the time was also chairman of the West Australian Stock Exchange. The Western Australian business community, which did not take kindly to Boral coming in and trying to buy up a local business, rallied round and staved off the bid. Neal didn't want to be seen to be giving up in Perth and Kean, being general manager of the Boral Brick Group, was assigned to show that Boral was still interested in the local brick industry. He went on a tour of the hills around Perth drilling for clay, and applied to a number of local councils for permits to build a brickworks. He made very visible overtures, but what he did not realise was that Bond Corporation was following him. Bond owned Whiteman's brickworks and Boral had already made three attempts to buy it without success. Bond kept overbidding Boral on the clay deposits. This didn't worry Kean in the slightest; Boral never had any intention of building a brickworks. Ric New, who owned Midland Brick, also got wind of this activity and arranged a meeting with Kean to discuss Boral's interest in Western Australia's brick industry. He told Kean that Boral's actions were the height of stupidity. Western Australia was already oversupplied and New said that Midland Brick could build a brickworks quicker and cheaper, annihilating any outsider who tried to enter the market. New conceded, however, that he was a one-man band and that at some stage he would have to sell the business. If Boral really wanted to get into bricks in the west, he advised that the best thing it could do was be patient. He was quite prepared to shake hands in a gentleman's agreement with Kean, to ensure that Boral would have the first right of refusal when he did want to sell. However, there was neither a price nor a time set on this deal. In the meantime, Kean had achieved what he had set out to do - he'd stirred up the Western Australian business community. He had showed them that Boral still had fighting spirit despite the failed bid for Brisbane and Wunderlich. The years went by and New and Kean kept in touch. But New died without selling Midland Brick. The family, having the majority shareholding, assumed control of the company and then decided to sell. Kean then found himself in a bidding match with Pioneer, which eventually backed out and Boral acquired Midland Brick in 1990. Kean recalls, 'And what do you think I found we had acquired? All the clay that we hadn't bought years ago. Ric New had bought Whitemans from Bond Corporation and, in doing so, all the land Bond had bought when he'd chased me round the Perth countryside buying up the clay.'             The History of Midland Brick Ric New and his brother Gerald began operating a brickworks at Middle Swan in partnership in 1946, immediately after World War II, to overcome the shortage of building materials. Their Midland Brick Company was incorporated in Perth in 1953. Ric New took clay samples from many areas near the Swan River. From these he made small clay balls which he would burn in his lounge room fireplace to determine the suitability of the clay for brick-making purposes. Having satisfied himself of the highest quality deposit in the area, New bought ten acres at Middle Swan (which is still part of the Midland complex) and constructed a square updraught kiln using second-hand bricks. In those postwar years, established brick-making plants had first call on imported heavy machinery due to the scarcity of supplies, so the New brothers, being late starters, had to adapt existing machinery to build the plant. They purchased a gearbox from a war-surplus Sherman tank, which they modified to become the plant's first auger, and the transmission from a General Grant tank formed the base of their first dragline. The next problem was how to lift and move the brick pallets around the yard. This was solved after New visited an American aircraft carrier and saw that the method used for lifting aircraft parts could be adapted to the pallet movement problem. And so it was that three Bren gun carriers were modified to become Western Australia's first commercial forklift. These homemade forklifts had one idiosyncrasy. Their top speed was forty miles an hour, which was fine for on-road use. But their minimum speed was twenty miles an hour, not particularly suited to the confines of the brickyard. This problem was overcome by turning the roads and tracks in the yard into a racetrack with all the corners highly cambered to cope with the speed. This was a fairly hair-raising operation, however, and thank-fully there were no fatalities while these forklifts were careering around the brickyard.   The transmission from a General Grant tank formed the base of Midland Bricks' first clay dragline. This photograph shows clay being hauled to the brick-making machine in about 1950.         In 1985, Midland Brick purchased Whitemans Brick from Bond Corporation and in 1989 Ric New died. This prompted the remaining shareholders, mainly family interests, to consider their future involvement with the company. Gerald New, Ric's brother and partner, decided to sell the business. Boral purchased Midland Brick from the family in late 1990.   The first commercially used forklifts made from army surplus Bren gun carriers, circa 1950.     »»