b'This new generation all inherited their fathers mechanical skills and engineering flair. The brothers were determined that their sons be brought up the hard wayas they themselves hadwith practical knowledge paramount, along with an appreciation of machines and conditions in the field. Colin Thiess is Stans eldest son. In his formative years in the 1950s, the family lived near the companys key mines in Muswellbrook. When school was finished, he went out to live in a tent for ten months, working on Cloncurry projects. Those jobs were followed by work in Victoria and Sydney before working on the Tooma River for the Snowy Mountains Scheme. There was no special treatment [for a Thiess], he said in 2009 as a part of the companys seventy-fifth celebrations. You just got on and worked.The company had started bringing in some serious money by the late 1950s, so maybe those tents were upgraded? Not at all, says Colin. Perhaps Les lived with some luxury and all the brothers did alrightI mean they owned their own homes. But being showy just wasnt their way. You have to remember where they came from.Although these were the days when everyone knew everyone else in the business,and management and organisation tended to be informal, a hierarchy was startingto form. By the 1950s, there were around 300 employees, and the Thiess brothers wereat the top of the pile. You were expected to know who each of the brothers were [when they called in from site], recalls former long-termer Barb Watling, who held a range of roles over the years. And in an era when bosses were called Mr and their surname, that presented challenges. You couldnt just call them all Mr Thiess, so it ended up being Mr Cecil or Mr Stan.A bit later, we tried Sir Les for a while, says another former long-termer, ColeenFirmin, who also worked across many roles, but it didnt stick. Dont worry,he said to me, I cant get used to it either.The Thiess brothers were earthy, realistic blokes who made things happen. Bill Day, now retired, worked with Thiess for thirty-six years18'