b'From the authorThiess is proud of its past, and with good reason. Few companies can lay claim to building so much of Australias critical infrastructure, facilitating the countrys mineral wealth, firing up its energy systems, rolling out its fibre-optic network and even tidying up its waste. Through toil, innovation and good humour, it has earned its reputation as an iconic Australian business.I first came into contact with the company in 2008, in preparation for writing the seventy-fifth anniversary publication Imagine Our Future, released in 2009. Thatbook was based on profiles of people throughout the business, including one Michael Wright, who was running the newly formed Thiess Services (now Ventia) at the time. Soon after, we published a book to celebrate the one team approach that had led to the successful completion of the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney. That book was Building for Life. For its eightieth, the book Building a Nation covered even more of the companys storymore interviews, more images and much more detail on the companys ever-expanding networks around the world.Now the company is marking nine decades. It was clear to me from the first day we started discussing this project how committed the company is to evolving with the timeseven leading them. Back when we were working on Imagine Our Future, we never envisioned autonomous mining having its own division. We couldnt predict how important land rehabilitation would become. And while this Queensland companys reach internationally is no surprise to me, back then it was unimaginable that the future of mining could be founded on sustainability and decarbonisation, making the world a better place.'