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As
one of a family of eleven, with a father who believed there
was no need to pay for outside help in his fishing enterprise
with so many able hands close by, Les Lowe was started early
in the never ending task of repairning working nets and building
new nets.
To this day he remembers having to do working repairs each afternoon
after school, often till dark. On school holidays and weekends
it was work at sea pulling the pots which were used to trap
the snapper and the nets taking the mackeral.
His father, Ted, was a hard taskmaster but those depression
days allowed very little latitude for slackness. In the years
to come Les was thankful that he was able to meet the high standard
set and in so doing obtained a solid base on which to pave the
way in the years ahead.
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As
the family members became old enough after years of working
the boats, they each obtained their skipper's ticket and took
over a boat of their own.
Originally working out from Ballina in the trawler "White
Wings", Les began then to work north following the season
to Townsville. The Gulf of Carpentaria was open to prawn trawling
in 1966 and in 1968 he was their in the trawler "Edith
Grace".
For a couple of season he worked the banana prawns out from
Weipa and Karumba with the high flying nets and the tiger prawns
off Groote Island employing the florida low flyer nets.
The expertise gained through the many long hours of net making
together with an increasing understanding of the fisherman's
requirements combined to result in net designs which were much
in demand. It was not long after that he began to sell the nets
on a commercial basis. During this time he met Rosemary, whom
he later married and started a family with.
In 1976 they left Exmouth, travelling down to Fremantle and
then across to Adelaide to work the Carpenter's Rock area. At
this time he began to make the nets to meet the demands of the
expanding Raptis company who were in the process of taking over
the Craig Mostyn company, pioneers of prawn processing in the
Gulf of Carpentaria.
Moving to Karumba he started working full time making nets for
Raptis. In 1982 Gulf Net Mending Pty Ltd was established and
for the past 12 years has operated out of Cairns.
The Lowe Family have retained a financial interest in the fishing
industry, with a fleet of trawlers working both the East Coast
and Northern Prawn Fisheries.
Over the past 22 years GNM has diversified greatly. Today from
its base in Portsmith, Cairns, GNM Chandlery offers a wide range
of products and services, to not only the commercial fishermen
but also the entire marine industry. In addition to this GNM's
manufacturing and fabrication division has expanded into the
areas of architectural rigging and
heavy lifting equipment.
Les and Rosemary have the added benefit that
both of their children have followed them into the family
business. David following in his fathers footsteps has represented
the company for the past 15 years. As a graduate from the
Australian Maritime College, Theresa in her position as General
Manager, brings an innovative viewpoint that complements her
parents extensive experience.
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