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Digger Man Blog

by Nick Drew  |  Fri 10 Jul 2020

Eddie Marshall “Artist with a Bucket”

I have been following Australian owner/operator Eddie Marshall Excavations on Instagram for some time now, Eddie has spent around 34 years in the earthmoving business and I was delighted to hear from him following an invitation from myself to be featured on the Digger Man Blog.

Eddie Marshall “Artist with a Bucket”

Born on the Sunshine coast in Australia Eddie Marshall’s first got to spend time on machinery when he was about 15 years old. Eddie said that up until this stage he had, had no real interest in machines until he climbed up into an excavator and started having a go thanks to his dad, Bob Marshall of M. R Marshall earthmoving. From that day on it grabbed his attention and he was hooked. “It Was fun and I could see even at that age you can be very creative with them” said Eddie.

In a familiar tale to many of us over the years, from the age of 15 through to 19 years old, Eddie would work for his dad on weekends after school honing his skills. He later moved on to full time operating on British built Hymac and an old Japanese Kato which he describes as being a (multi-stick control) affair real, this machine was mounted on a barge that his dad had built to dig out a swamp area of peat moss, that was located on his 200 acres of farmland at Forest Glen. From there Eddie would jump on the excavators, dozers and just about any other piece of machinery that was around. When Eddie turned 18 years old, he went to work at his dad’s Parklands Quarry at Nambour as a wheeled loader and crusher operator. A job he remained in for around a year

At 19 years old Eddies uncle Rickie who has sadly recently passed away, invited him to move to Western Australia in 1988. Eddie said, “My uncle Rickie was one of the best bogger operators (under-ground loader operator) he also trained many others”.

“My first company over there was the famous Roche Brothers, where started on a 75-tonne Caterpillar digger in the Gold Mines. In the first two weeks I was nearly sacked for not being fast enough , however my boss Jim could see I had potential but that I needed training, so he personally took on the role and flew in three great operators from three of the mines within Australia from that training I ended up  being the highest  production operator for the company”. 

Eddie ranks one of his biggest achievement’s as being that in 1988 at just 20 years old, he became the first operator under 25 years old to operate the pride and joy of the Roche Brothers company, a Komatsu PC1600 (160 tonne excavator). 

Talking about his work since those days Eddie said, “Since then I’ve worked on every area of earthmoving, gold mines, gas pipelines for State Government, through to regional development estates, council works, main roads, Telstra, Twin Waters resort, Brisbane airport, and the Logan motorway. Working for some of the biggest and prestigious companies in the business such as Thiess, BMD, Civdec, and many more”.

“These days my own business which I started in January 1994, is focused here on the glorious Sunshine Coast area”.

Eddie continued, “My First machine when I set up the business was a Komatsu PC220LC-5 which I put 17650 hours on during the time I had it. I then moved onto the Daewoo brand, eventually moving to Doosan, in total I have had about seven machines since I started my business, all 22-tonners as that is my niche market. I have just recently bought myself a new Ford Ranger (spoiling myself) and upgraded to a new Doosan DX225LC”.

 

Eddie’s primary focus now is the niche market, consisting of private property owners, and smaller personal projects all over the Sunshine Coast for people wanting to improve their properties. Commenting on this Eddie said, “I like to think I bring all the knowledge and skills that I have learnt over my years and put it to good use in the private market Place. Since I have shifted my focus into that market, I have been extremely busy and had great support from the locals in my area”.

“My personal trademark is “ARTIST WITH A BUCKET “, this phrase came from an elderly lady who was sitting on her veranda one day watching me from next door, when I finished working, she came over and she said the words to me. I think you’re an “artist with that bucket”, how you craft and create the land, you’re an “ARTIST “, I said thank you so much for saying so, hence that has remained as my trademark to this day”.

“At the end of the day I love what I do, it’s very creative and you are consistently problem-solving, which I think is great personal challenge. When you go onto someone’s property and you’re trying to nut it  at all out, planning is key, and having a vision moving forward is so important for planning seeing it finished in your mind before you even start, but being flexible enough to make the changes when necessary”.

“Then one step at a time, “create “My favourite quote in my business is simply” absolute attention to detail, to me that leaves nothing out. Attention to the detail is doing what you love, to the best you can deliver”

“And finally, I would like to say a big thank you to my wife Fiona, who has always stood by me, believed in me, and shared this journey with me. She really is my soul mate, and she even hops on the sticks from time to time and has a go” concludes Eddie.

We thank Eddie for sharing his story with us here on the Digger Man Blog, you can also follow Eddie over at his Instagram account @eddiemarshalexcavations in the meantime checkout on of Eddie's timelapse videos from You Tube.

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