Keeping it civil

It’s been an eventful last 12 months for indigenous-owned earthmoving and plant hire company Black Cat Civil. The Nambour-based company’s reach is felt right across northern Australia, servicing road and construction projects from Alice Springs up to Darwin, right through Queensland and into NSW. Director Jai Tomlinson sums it up simply: “We work anywhere that’s building infrastructure.”

Beginning in 2006 as a wet plant hire business, it has now grown to 185 employees, nearly a quarter of whom are indigenous. It’s a proud achievement for Jai, whose family heritage is the Kabi Kabi people of the Sunshine Coast.

Another proud achievement is a deal Tomlinson put