Here, The Australian Pipeliner takes a look at some of the dynastic families of the industry, as well as some remarkable partnerships that help to define the strong character of the Australian pipeline industry.

The Jinks Family

Barbara Jinks has been involved with gas pipelines the entirety of her career, starting in 1983. Barbara came to Australia in 1993 and met husband Glenn, who then started working on pipelines with Barbara in 1994. Glenn’s father, Peter, is a land valuer and often works on gas and water pipelines in Queensland.

Major pipelines in Australia that Barbara has worked on include the Griffin Pipeline and Goldfields Gas Pipeline (GGT) in WA, the second North West Shelf Trunkline located offshore WA, the Eastern Gas Pipeline (EGP) in New South Wales, and the Trans-Territory Pipeline in the Northern Territory. Glenn has also worked on the SEA Gas Pipeline in South Australia and the EGP.

It was on the smaller Braemar 1 Pipeline in Queensland that the Jinks family combined their pipeline expertise; Barbara was the lead engineer, Glenn acted as the land agent, and Peter the land valuer – all by coincidence.

Have there been any particular highpoints of your time in the pipeline industry?

“A particular highpoint of my career in the industry was an eight-day helicopter trip along the entire 1,400 km GGT pipeline assessing valve station sites. Wild flowers were out and we stayed at small towns and homesteads along the way,” Barbara says.

Other highlights for the pair include being on site on the GGT in the Pilbara surrounded by cattle and spinifex. On one occasion, Barbara and Glenn were at a bush gymkhana and were picked up to go to work in a helicopter as it was on the way.

Do you see any future generations of your family going into the pipeline industry?

“Possibly! Our sons, now 12 and 14, still begin conversations with ‘when I was at work with Mum or Dad’ as they remember being taken around parts of the Braemar, Scotia and EGP when they were young,” Barbara says.

The Gratton/Aitken Family

The Gratton/Aitken family company, KD.1, is involved in aspects of pipeline route selection, engineering, HSE management, licence applications, landholder access and regulatory approvals.

Alex Aitken acts as a Senior Consultant for KD.1, his wife Julie as a Company Director. Their daughter Jodi Gratton is employed as a Principal Consultant for the company, and her husband David as an Engineering and Project Management Consultant.

The family boasts an impressive amount of years accrued in the pipeline industry; David has been in the industry for 31 years, Jodi 15 years, Julie 10 years, and Alex 6 years.

What are some of the major pipelines that you have worked on over the years?

All of the Gratton/Aitken family members were involved in the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline (DBNGP) Stage 5B Looping Project, including relationships with the client, contractor and project management company involved in the project.

Alex says “I was working for McConnellDowell looking after landholder liaison; Jodi was working for project manager WestNet Energy looking after regulatory approvals; David was also working for WestNet Energy as Engineering Manager; and my wife made sure we got paid.”

“Jodi and Julie also supported Agility and AGL on and off with various lands, approvals and administrative support over the years prior to the change to APA Group.”

On top of the DBNGP, the family were all employed in various roles with the developing Extension Hill Slurry Pipeline Project and the Crosslands Resources Jack Hills Expansion Project. The majority of the family were or still are involved in other domestic gas projects including the Brockman Resources Gas Pipeline, the Mandurah Gas Lateral and other developing projects. Alex points out that given that KD.1 is the family business, communication regarding pipelines continues all day and at social events.

Alex says “It does make for interesting dinner time conversations though, especially when we are on opposite sides or have differing opinions!”

What are some of the most memorable stories of your time in the industry?

One of the smallest pipelines the family has worked on was the Mandurah Gas Lateral, however it was a very difficult one from an environmental compliance and constructability point of view.

“The project was completed within the allotted time frame, even though KD.1 were called in very late in the projects planning stage, and completed clearing permit applications and all regulatory approvals in limited time frames while maintaining one of the most rigid environmental controls on construction that has ever been seen,” according to Alex says.

The result was acceptance as a nominee in the Golden Gecko Environmental Excellence Awards, the premier environmental award in Western Australia conducted by theWestern Australian Department of Mines and Petroleum, followed by the receipt of a Certificate of Merit at that award ceremony. Jodi also says that a highlight for her was Alex stepping in at the last minute the night before the annual WA APIA seminar to replace a speaker unable to attend. Jodi says Alex spent the night preparing a presentation ‘to help his daughter out’ as Chair of the APIA WA Chapter and ended up being one of the favourite speakers of the day.

Have there been any particular highpoints of your time in the pipeline industry?

For Alex, Jodi’s success in lifting the profile of the APIA WA Chapter during her years as Chair of the Chapter has been a particular highpoint of his time in the pipelines industry.

The family and company have been very supportive of her in this role and have given her the time and physical support at events to ensure that APIA has had the profile it deserves in the Western Australian industry.

“David is also the secretary of the APIA Chapter in Western Australia. We have also supported him, especially with the development of the Annual Ball activities and Quiz Night,” Alex says.

As to the future of the family’s involvement in the industry, Alex says “it is possible that the grand kids could take this course…we will wait and see!”

For the entire family, the receipt of the Golden Gecko Certificate of Merit Environmental Excellence Award is the highlight of their work in the industry in WA.

The Hafemann Family

In 2005, the Hafemann family started working for Worldwide Machinery’s Pipeline Division, with their office and workshop located in Dortmund, Germany.

Jürgen Hafemann, as Worldwide Machinery (WWM) Vice President Pipeline Operations, has been active in the pipeline industry for over 30 years. His wife, Sabine, also works as the Human Relations/Accounting Manager for the company and has been in the pipeline industry since 1992.

Jürgen and Sabine’s three sons have also become part of the pipeline industry.

Sebastian and Tobias, the first and second sons of Jürgen and Sabine, have both worked as technician’s and master mechanic’s for WWM and have been involved in the pipeline industry since 2000 and 2001, respectively.

Vincent, the third son of Jürgen and Sabine, has worked as an apprentice and trainee in the pipeline industry since 2010.

Sebastian’s wife Yvonne has also ventured into the pipeline industry this year as WWM’s Marketing and Communications Manager.

What are some of the major pipelines that you have worked on over the years? Have you ever worked alongside a family member on a particular pipeline?

In Australia, the Hafemann’s have each worked on the TGP, the DBNGP Stage 5A Expansion Project and Stage 5B Expansion Looping Project, and the Bonaparte Natural Gas Pipeline.

The Hafemann’s have also worked on various projects in Germany, Austria and Siberia.

Is conversation on pipelines ever brought back into the family home?

According to Yvonne, bringing conversation back to the family home is ‘boon and bane’ at the same time.

“On the one hand, you don’t get a clean break between work and free time, yet on the other hand you can reach the corresponding persons in important cases at nearly any time. I think if you work with many family members so close together, it cannot be avoided to talk about pipelines at home. But this is not so bad!” Yvonne says.

The Nixon Family

As the husband-and-wife team behind Nixon Communications, John and Jan Nixon have been a significant part of the Australian pipeline industry for more than 20 years.

John commenced his involvement in the pipeline industry by working in the oil patch in Indonesia from 1969–73, before starting Nixon Communications in Gladstone in 1977.

Nixon Communications provided communications for its first pipeline in 1989 on the Roma to Gladstone project for State Gas, initially providing the construction radio system for Saipem followed by the permanent system after that.

In the past, Jan has managed publicity, recruitment, quality assurance and occupational health and safety aspects of Nixon Communications, but is now semi-retired. However, she still enjoys organising and manning the Nixon exhibition stand at the annual APIA Conference, enjoying all the social functions and catching up with old friends from the industry.

What are some of the major pipelines that you have worked on over the years? Have you ever worked alongside a family member on a particular pipeline?

As part of running Nixon Communications, John has worked on most pipelines in Australia since 1889. Included in this long list are the Karratha to Port Hedland Pipeline, the Moomba to Sydney Pipeline, the DBNGP, the TGP, the EGP, the SEA Gas Pipeline, and the QSN 3 Pipeline.

The Nixons’ son David has also become a part of the pipeline industry in his own right, currently working as a software engineer for Honeywell, creating software for industrial SCADA systems utilised in pipeline control and monitoring throughout the world.

David also worked on pipeline projects throughout his high school and university holidays, including the Kalgoorlie to Esperance Pipeline, the Carpentaria Gas Pipeline, South West Queensland Pipeline, the EGP Pipeline, the SEA Gas Pipeline and others.

Jan and John’s daughter Julia worked in office throughout her high school and university holidays, working on various jobs in the family business.

“It is not surprising therefore that some aspect of the pipeline industry would be discussed at home on a daily basis!” says Jan.

What are some of the most memorable stories of your time in the industry?

John says one of the many memorable moments on the Moomba to Sydney project was circling the campsite while the grader was still finishing making the airstrip for him to land his Cessna 210. The air traffic control was not nearly as stringent here as when he was flying in and out of the Nowra Naval Air Base (Albatross) during the EGP project.

Discovering the wild but beautiful landscapes of sand dunes, sunsets and storms of the Strzelecki Track with his son David and other team members was another enjoyable experience. So was gathering firewood to cook a “barbie” and having a few beers with the boys before the camp arrived on the Mount Isa Ballera Project.

“Being one of the first ‘in’ on the job has its benefits,” Johns says.

However, SEA Gas gets John’s vote for the most enjoyable and memorable of the many projects he has worked on.

“Good relationships with the landowners and farmers, some great times at Patherway House with Frank Martino and the Australian Portable Camps crew, and wine tasting in the Coonawarra and Barossa valleys all contributed to these good memories.”

Jan agrees. “John would fly down with radios and return home with wine – a great arrangement!”

The Voss Family

Gary Voss and his daughter Elizabeth are both pipeline engineers, albeit at opposite ends of their careers.

Gary has been in the pipeline industry for most of his career. Gary started as a pipeline engineer at Associated Pipelines in 1983, working on the Roma to Brisbane Pipeline. In 1988, Gary moved to the Northern Territory as the Operations Manager with NT Gas, then in 1994 became AGL’s General Manager in Western Australia.

In 2000, Gary accepted a role as General Manager Commercial with the newly-created ActewAGL joint venture in Canberra, which involved managing the Canberra gas network. In 2005, Gary moved to Queensland as the Project Director of the PNG Gas Pipeline, and then in 2006 left AGL after 23 years to become a Director of IDM Partners, a consulting firm that specialises in developing pipeline projects.

After graduating with an engineering degree from the Australian National University, Elizabeth started work in 2008 as a pipeline engineer with APA Group in Canberra. Elizabeth has spent two years working on a range of projects on the Moomba to Sydney pipeline, before moving to Brisbane to a pipeline engineering role with APA and working on the RBP.

Elizabeth was born just three years after Gary started in the industry, and as such has been involved almost as long as Gary. Since Elizabeth was two years old, Gary’s wife Eleanor and their three daughters have followed Gary around Australia to different pipeline projects, moving interstate every five or six years.

Elizabeth and her sisters Katherine and Sarah were regulars for many years at the annual APIA Conventions. Technically, however, Elizabeth has been a professional in the industry for about three years now – and she is now attending APIA functions on her own ticket!

What are some of the major pipelines that you have worked on over the years?

Over the years, Gary has worked full-time on the RBP in Queensland, on the Amadeus Basin to Darwin pipeline in the Northern Territory, the GGT and Pilbara Energy pipelines in Western Australia, and, although it was never built, the PNG Gas Project. As part of the AGL Pipelines team, Gary has worked on almost all AGL’s pipelines. Elizabeth and Gary have not worked together yet, but Gary is very proud that she is working on the same pipeline where he started on his career.

Is conversation on pipelines ever brought back into the family home?

According to Elizabeth, conversation on pipelines is regularly brought back into the family home.

“It is usually a brain-picking session on my behalf, but interesting projects, histories and industry happenings are a regular dinner-table conversation,” she says.

Reflecting on his career in the pipeline industry, Gary says that “One of my earliest memorable events involves hot tapping – an activity all pipeline operators look forward to. During the RBP looping project, I was responsible for installing a plug in a hot tap tee on the 10 inch pipeline, when a thread stripped and the entire plug fell into the flowing 10 inch pipeline. We x-rayed the pipe, and sure enough the plug was sitting comfortably inside the pipeline. With little chance of success, we vented rapidly through the hot tap machine, and surprisingly the plug popped right out of the pipe back into the hot tap machine, where we secured it and started again! Since the only other option was a full depressurisation of that pipeline section, I class that as the single luckiest day of my pipelining career.”

Elizabeth says that in her opinion, her first trip to a remote worksite, 83 km from Moomba on the Moomba to Sydney Pipeline stands out as her most memorable experience so far in the industry.

Elizabeth says “Not having seen construction before nor being much of a camper, it was my first encounter with excavators, diff locks, camps, fly nets and snakes. Standing out in 40 degree heat for 12 hours to dig up a live pipeline, and then going home to a mess hall and a room in a shipping container…a whole new world! It’s always memorable when you get that first fly up your nose!”

Have there been any particular highpoints of your time in the pipeline industry?

Gary says “I have been fortunate to have a lifetime full of high points in this wonderful industry. Some of the standouts have been the construction of my first compressor station, the completion of the initial RBP looping program, and the day Bruce McCaul asked me to move to Darwin. The excitement continued in Darwin with the first intelligent pig in the Amadeus Gas Pipeline, and then in WA with the commissioning of the GGT.

“Most recently, I think the high point has been my role as Project Director of the PNG Gas pipeline. This was the largest pipeline project proposed in Australia, and I had the honour of leading a tremendous team of people charged with bringing the project to fruition.

“Throughout my career, year on year, a high point has been the APIA Conventions, catching up with old friends, and making new ones as a new generation of pipeliners make their mark,” Gary says.

Elizabeth says that her most memorable story is probably going to be the in-service lowering of a 400 m section of the Roma to Brisbane lines after the Queensland floods in January 2011.

She says that the project was a huge and exciting project for a new engineer. “After months of analysis and triple-checking numbers, the successful midnight installation on-site was definitely an experience. The involvement in that project was exciting and occasionally nerve-wracking, but definitely a high point.

“My time on the Moomba to Sydney Pipeline and the various projects I was involved in was a huge learning curve. Almost everything has happened on that pipeline system at some stage and being able to get in there with the pipe for repairs and construction was the best introduction to the industry.”

As to continuing the Voss family line in the pipeline industry, Elizabeth says “It’s a bit early to tell, but it’s always a possibility – if they can handle it!”

The Trembath Family

For almost two decades, the Trembath family has been servicing the equipment requirements of the Australian pipeline industry through its business, Tremco Pipeline Equipment. Ron and Margaret Trembath act as the directors of the company with their son, Brett, in the role of Sales and Service Manager.

When asked about how the company started, Ron says “We started in July 1993 and we only had one agency, which was for tape coating. We did very well with this product and developed a good market. It became one of the preferred joint coating tape systems on cross-country pipelines for new construction and maintenance, and we were involved in a number of over-the-ditch coating projects.

“After Tyco bought out our supplier, the agency agreement was terminated. Even though it was difficult at the time, it made us re-think our position and the market we wanted to serve. With our new plan we decided to diversify and take on more agencies to expand our operation.”

Ron has been involved in the pipeline industry for 30 years, Margaret for 18 and Brett for 14. Over the years the business has been operating, the family has supplied equipment for nearly all major pipelines throughout Australia, Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the Pacific Islands.

Is conversation on pipelines ever brought back into the family home?

Brett says that as Tremco is a family business, pipelines is nearly all that the family talks about.

What are some of the most memorable stories of your time in the industry?

One of the most memorable moments for Brett was being dropped into the jungle by helicopter in PNG to repair a damaged pipeline. Brett adds that during the operation, he was accompanied by two armed security guards.

Have there been any particular highpoints of your time in the pipeline industry?

The family considers the annual APIA conferences to be the highlight of their involvement with the pipeline industry.

Despite their long involvement with the industry, however, Brett says that at this stage, it doesn’t look like any future generations of the Trembath family will continue in the pipeline industry.