For the town of Moree, Gwydir Industries is more than a business. And, for the people who work there – most with a disability – it offers much more than a job.
Words Ryan Butta
Photography Sascha Estens
Most days when Adam Love wakes, he makes himself a cup of coffee. “I love my coffee before I go do anything,” he says. With coffee in hand, he calls the local radio station to request a song. His go-to track is Rockin’ All Over the World. “I’m old school,” Love admits. As the Status Quo hit fills the airwaves, Love has his breakfast and gets ready for work.
His workplace is Gwydir Industries in the northern New South Wales town of Moree. Some days he makes his own way there and other days he’s picked up by the company vehicle. Love enjoys going to work and enjoys the friends he has made there, but he makes it clear he goes there to work, not socialise. He is a hard worker.
At the end of a day processing cardboard boxes for recycling, Love likes to relax at home with a cold beer. And as he sits back in his chair, his mind might wander to the future and the holiday he has planned in Fiji. You might say that Love’s day is just an ordinary day, of an ordinary bloke.
Moree resident Bill Crawford recalls 2013 as an uncertain time. He admits he was worried about what the future held for Ollie, his 17-year-old son with special needs. “We had a half-baked plan that Ollie would just stay and work on the farm
with us.”
