CASCADIA DOES THE DEED
For the most part, Brett Cleary is a bloke who likes to keep things relatively simple. Simply put, he is the third generation of Cleary Bros, an immensely proud and resourceful family company that, for more than 100 years, has built and operated quarrying, transport and civil construction enterprises from a base on the Illawarra coast, which nowadays is little more than an hour’s drive south of Sydney.
Similarly simple, within this family’s code resides a strong, historic appreciation for things that work well and, at the other end of the scale, an equally strong disdain for things that don’t. When it comes to equipment that doesn’t meet expectations, second chances are rare in the Cleary mould.
These formidable and sometimes fierce attitudes are in the blood. Brett’s 80-year-old uncle Denis Cleary is perhaps most resolute of all; a trait no doubt shared with his late brothers John and Brian, and inextricably inherited from their father and company founder, Jack Cleary.
Still, a liking for simple qualities doesn’t mean dislike or even disregard for the inevitable evolution of technology. Not at all.
However, the Cleary credence is that the progression of technology into a piece of equipment – be it a truck, a car, an excavator, a phone, a computer, or whatever – does not, and should not, give licence to the loss of basic qualities like strength, durability and reliability. Otherwise what’s the good of technology?
Moreover, the way Brett sees it, it’s not for him to know the finer technical details or performance protocols of a particular piece of technological wizardry, but it is most certainly for him to know if it does or does not realise its maker’s claims or perform to the
