The adventurous spirit that led Dick Jupp to Australia’s isolated north-west has served him well in his career since.
DEVELOPING a $4 billion port and railway project in the Mid West would be a daunting task for most people.
But perhaps not if you’re the sort of person to go joyriding to Cambodia at the height of the Vietnam War, or someone who has spent 35 years looking after some of the state’s biggest iron ore and port projects.
Which just about makes iron ore veteran Dick Jupp the perfect choice as the man behind the scenes at the Oakajee deepwater port development.
The softly-spoken son of a Southampton docks shop steward has spent the past four years as project director for the Oakajee proposal, firstly for Murchison Metals and then its specialist infrastructure offshoot Oakajee Port & Rail.
With the project now entering the final feasibility stage ahead of construction, Mr Jupp has just moved into the more shirt-and-tie role of OPR’s director of government and corporate affairs.
But the CV of the Birmingham University-trained mechanical engineer reads like a history of the state’s iron ore industry.
Before joining Murchison to oversee its Jack Hills mine, port and rail development in March 2006, he spent 12 years managing Hancock Prospecting’s Hope Downs project, leaving only when Rio Tinto bought 50 per cent and assumed management control in 2005.
Before that he spent 16 years at Port Hedland helping establish and expand what has become Western Australia’s most important iron ore export gateway and the heart of BHP Billiton’s iron ore empire.
But in stark contrast with the controversy now raging over the manner in which prospective migrants are reaching our shores, Mr Jupp’s arrival harkens back to a gentler time.
He drove. Tens of thousands of miles ... in a second-hand Land Rover with 58,000 miles on the clock ... through countries that today tend only to be accessible if you are in the SAS or US Marines.
“That was 1970, after I graduated from Birmingham University, with three of my friends,” Mr Jupp says.
“We crossed through Europe, through Greece and Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India.
“But there were open borders at that time. There was no Pakistan-India war, though Afghanistan was still a very dangerous place ... and then we crossed into Thailand, and up to the Cambodian border.”
The Cambodian border in 1970? Err, wasn’t there a war on at the time?
Mr Jupp grins as he admits that diversion was perhaps a reflection of youthful naivety.
“There was a pretty heavy military presence and the border was heavily patrolled,” he laughs. “But we were young and invincible, and just went everywhere we could.”
“We got told at gunpoint that perhaps we should go back – it was not somewhere we were supposed to be.”
Mr Jupp also remembers with amazement the generosity local people showed the four Englishmen in places that are now almost no-go zones.
“Just about everything that could happen did ... but we met some wonderful people who were very kind and generous, even though they didn’t have much to give.”
As it turned out, that rough-and-tumble experience proved the perfect grounding for his next adventure when he arrived in Port Hedland a short time later.
Then only a hot, dusty, remote outpost in its infancy as a major export hub, the trek-hardened Pom fell in love with the place and the Australian way of life.
“I got to Australia and found the work attitudes here were very positive,” Mr Jupp says.
“There was no class system; within a week of being in Port Hedland I’d met the operations director – and I was earning several times my English salary.
“The biggest problem was convincing the companies that you were not just a blow-in because the average stay in those days was three months. I actually liked it, so ended up staying for 16 years.”
With iron ore mining still new to the Pilbara, the whole industry was pretty much learning as it went, he says.
“Port Hedland was a frontier town, but it was a very exciting place that a young engineer could make a difference.”
His 16 years in the town included several overseeing the development and expansion of the Port Hedland port, and a decade working on the Mt Newman railway, rising to deputy rail manager.
After leaving BHP in the late 1980s, Mr Jupp joined Hancock Prospecting as project director for its flagship Hope Downs project, seeing it through to the start of construction under Rio’s management.
With that sort of experience, he freely admits a sense of déjà vu with his current role at OPR.
“History does repeat itself,” Mr Jupp laughs. “It all makes sense looking backwards, but you completely miss it (the pattern) looking forwards.”
Importantly for the Oakajee project, his experiences have also taught him the value of independence and entrepreneurial spirit, and that multi-billion dollar mining and infrastructure development is not the sole preserve of monoliths such as BHP and Rio.
“When I was asked to join Murchison, what I liked was that this was a small highly entrepreneurial organisation where you were given a clean canvass and you could really set about creating a project.
“That process has been a lot of fun ... so I think I’ve fitted into the Murchison mould a little better than the Rio mould.”
Likening the significance of Oakajee to the original development of the Pilbara iron ore industry, Mr Jupp looks forward to the port’s 2014 opening being the crowning glory of his career.
“I’d like to see that, then I think it might be time to move onto something else that’s a bit easier,” he says.
What is your favourite thing about WA?
The bush I think. I like the peace, quiet and tranquillity. I've just spent four days at North West Cape and Ningaloo, so I did a bit of diving, had some nice meals and fortunately my Blackberry didn't work. And one of the things I enjoyed most with this job was scouting the original rail routes ... it was good fun.
What is your favourite holiday destination and why?
France would be my favourite destination. I've got some good friends there, it's the opposite of here, and I like the fact it's such an easy place to move around in, there's a lot of rural space ... whereas you feel that England is congested.
How do you see your role today?
I'm really a conceptualiser and a strategiser, rather than a hard structural man. I don't think anyone would let me engineer anything anymore.
You liked the attitude in WA (relative to England) when you first arrived - do you think it has changed for the worse since?
No. The opposite, in fact. When I came to WA it was a very parochial narrow society, and it has changed dramatically - far quicker than any other society could change I think.
