Sadly on 8 September 2008, one of the finest Pipeliners passed away after months of illness. Pete (Ando) Anderson was a friend, mentor and a leader to many generations of Pipeliners and will be sadly missed.
As McConnell Dowell’s top Pipeline Construction Superintendent, Ando led the growth in Pipelines with Jeff Shepherd from the late 1970s in Gippsland; the 1980s with Jackson and Tennant Creek and overseas projects in South East Asia; the 1990s with the record breaking Mt Isa project, the very successful pipeline in Myanmar and the Kutubu project in Papua New Guinea (PNG); and, then in the 2000s to the UK and again in South East Asia.
Ando’s early working life involved multiple jobs but his real love was operating earth moving equipment and this was his entry into the pipeline industry in the early 1970s. From operating equipment to foreman and then supervisor on pipeline projects, Ando was recognised as a hard but fair manager of Pipeliners and quickly progressed to spread boss with APC on the “˜mainline’ – the Moomba Sydney Pipeline.
Jeff Shepherd arrived from the UK in the mid-1970s to also work on the mainline and eventually Jeff and Pete got together in what was to be a long and successful relationship. As Jeff has said, he “spent more time with Ando driving pipeline spreads than he spent with his wife.”
We all particularly remember Pete for his war stories around the campfire or in the wet mess in remote locations. How many mainline stories did we learn over the years? Or the vagaries of old D6s compared to the modern “˜fandangled ones’?
Ando had unboundless energy and continually prowled the right of way by land cruiser or helicopter ensuring all his men were safe but productive. In PNG, on the very environmentally challenging Kutubu Oil Project, Ando kept the guys together as Jacques Pegaz exhorted the McConnell Dowell/Spie Capag joint venture to greater achievements otherwise Jacques would shout “you are sacked!”
Marg and Ando married over 50 years ago and their time together was a special relationship that allowed Ando to work away from home for many months at a time. In an industry where marriages are counted on more than one finger Marg and Ando had something special. Wherever Ando was in the world of pipelines he would ring Marg and if possible talk to his kids as well.
At his sad but beautiful service in Yallourn North, the quintessential Pete Anderson was evident to those of us who spent well over 20 years in the front of a Toyota clocking up the kilometres and discussing Ando’s strategies for a successful project.
The essence of a large family circle of wife, daughters, a son and his in-laws as well as lots of nieces and nephews was undoubtedly the life beyond pipelines for Pete. Obviously there is sadness at Ando’s passing, but boy there are so many good memories and recollections that when I personally grieve there is always a smile at the end of the sadness.
Vale Ando – join the other Pipeliners and lay 100 km every time you sit with them at night!
The impact Peter had on our current “˜young pipeliners’ is embodied in the following quotes:
“I was fortunate enough to learn a great deal from Pete back on Mt Isa and in Myanmar.
In the closing stages of Mt Isa when we were living at the Ballera Camp there were many road trips up through the Cooper Creek to check on Leo and Gervo doing the reinstatement or out to the pipe siding at Quilpie. I recall many of the stories Pete told me all about his favourite soup recipes while we drove from Ballera to Quilpie, I didn’t know there was so much to know about soup. We spoke about scrapers all the way back. We will greatly miss Ando.” Leon Richards.
“I have many memories of Ando, as does every junior project engineer that crossed his path. There was a learning curve with Ando. You learnt from the master. I think I got it easy though, I made the same mistakes, but he seemed to “˜take a liking’ to me and spared me from what my counterparts copped!
“As the Superintendent on the Mt Isa Gas pipeline, he was unstoppable. Always hovering in the helicopter on the horizon, or driving up and down the right of way. Dominating the airways, or never too far from the two-way in the office, always telling whoever to go to access number…He ran the show with authority.
“Last time I spoke to Ando was about three years ago, having breakfast with him in a hotel in Brisbane before this hive of activity up here. He looked more relaxed and friendly, but unmistakably “˜Ando.’ He spoke of selling off some of his farm machinery in Gippsland, I guess wanting to wind down a bit.” Andrew Tsitas.