b'Family foundations To understand Thiess ninety-year story, we need to first understand the Thiessfamily. And to do that, we need to go back to the tireless perfectionist, Henry Thiess.A carpenter by trade and a taskmaster by practise, he was from German stock and never really got used to being called Thiess with the full T-H sound that the majority-British inhabitants of Queensland expected. Henry married Mary, and in 1909, the couple moved into a small dairy farm in the tiny township of Drayton; at that time, they had five sons and one daughter. But these offspring were not the Thiess brothers who would go onto become the famous men who eat rocks and stones. That distinction would be for the next five boys; Leslie Les Thiess, born in the year that they arrived in Drayton, and the four that arrived in quick succession soon after: Cecil, Pat, Bert and Stan.With eleven children to feed, plus the responsibility of Henrys mother who lived with them, Henry and Mary ran a disciplined, organised household with a strong team spirit and can-do attitude. When Les was twelve, he confronted his father with a decision he had made: he wouldnt be going back to Drayton School that day. Hed had a caning from a teacher the day before for staring out the window instead of paying attention to the lesson. The caning itself wasnt the problem (corporal punishment was par for the course in those days). It was the injustice; he felt the crime did not warrant the punishment. Henry approached the school and was assured that it wouldnt happen againunless he really deserved itand Les went back to class, armed with his own stick, which he kept at his desk. If he hits me, Ill hit him back, he told his mates.By the early 1920s, team Thiess (as they called themselves) was struggling to make ends meet. Henry sold a few cows to buy some old chaff-cutting and corn-shelling machinery, which his sons fixed up and used around the farm in an effort to increase productivity. Soon they were doing the same for neighbouring farms, too. Without any particularly grand plans other than contributing to the family coffers, the eldest Thiess boys began a contracting business around the Darling Downs. This small enterprise stirred something in the young man who would go on to be a key protagonist in the story we are celebrating. Leslater, Sir Leslieyearned to get out of the classroomand onto the road with his big brothers. Then, at the ripe old age of thirteen, he got8'