Go West has farewelled Newman Workshop Supervisor Peter Robson who has retired after eight years with the company.

Peter trained as a motor mechanic in New Zealand in 1968 and moved to Perth and then Kalgoorlie, Kambalda and Newman, before moving back to New Zealand for a brief stint and then on to Queensland.

He purchased the BP service station in Newman in the early 80s and by 1992 was undertaking light vehicle work for BHP. He then built a workshop next to the service station and was eventually servicing 50 per cent of BHP’s light vehicle fleet.

Peter sold the businesses in 2006 and moved to Donnybrook. He worked for CCR on the construction project and fixed plant maintenance at Greenbushes and then worked for Monadelphous at Rio Tinto sites in the Pilbara for five years.

In 2013 he took a mechanics role with Go West at Brockman 4 and then worked at various sites before becoming the BHP workshop supervisor where he stayed until retiring recently.

To celebrate Peter’s retirement, he was treated to his first ever helicopter flight over Newman.

“My time at Go West has been most rewarding,” Peter said. “It’s a very family focused company, and while I have been lucky to be fit and healthy enough to carry out my duties on a FIFO roster, the support from management has been second to none.

“I have been able to set my own destiny from a working point of view and have found maintenance management support to all depots outstanding, particularly with the recent challenges of recruiting qualified staff.”