CBH Nyabing
Co-operative Bulk Handling
(Taken from its website)
Co-operative Bulk Handling (The CBH Group) was born out of adversity. In the late 1920’s and early 1930’s, Australia and the world were in the grip of the Great Depression. Nowhere did it have more impact than in the bush; the price of wheat had fallen to a point where it was barely worth harvesting. It was the realisation that a cheap and efficient bulk handling system would reduce growers’ costs and the outlay on wheat bags which led to the birth of CBH.
GR Whowell carting to either Pingrup or Kuringup Bins
c 1920’s.
Photo courtesy of Mr Peter Goodchild.
Thomas Coff on left, at Nyabing Railway siding,
circa 1914-1920’s.
Photo Courtesy of Doris Smith & Beryl Bridgeland.
“When I was 4-5 my father and the man he had helping him, had to load the wagon with 60 bags of wheat and drive it in to Nyabing, where each bag was loaded onto scales and the lumpers would walk up planks and place the bags in stacks. These stacks were quite large, about 20 feet high and about 100-150 yards long by about 40 feet wide. To unload the wagon took quite a while, especially if another wagon was in front of you,” Colin Manuel.
On the 4th April 1933, the trustees of the Wheat Pool of WA and Wesfarmers ltd jointly registered the Co-operative with an authorised capital of £100,000 divided into 100,000 shares. CBH was based on the co-operative principles of one member, one-vote, irrespective of the volume of grain delivered. Its capital would be based on growers contributing refundable tolls in proportion to the volume of grain delivered. The first £1 entitled growers to one share, the balance to debentures repayable over 10 years. A unique revolving capital fund had been created for perpetual user ownership. By 1943 CBH had repaid all its start-up debts and control of the company was handed over to growers.
Nyabing CBH during floods of 1955, looking over Richmond Street.
Photo courtesy of Ross Mills.
Wheat Bins c1980’s
Foreground – “A”Type, and in rear “B” Type.
Unknown Photographer.
The CBH storage system expanded rapidly and by the 1960’s there were over 300 grain receival points. But a commitment to efficiency and ensuring the best returns to members led to rationalisation, with many silo’s being dismantled and others upgraded to take larger tonnages faster. Today we have 197 receival points, including four bulk export terminals.
In 1932-33, CBH received just 42,565 tonnes of wheat. By the 2003-04 season, this had risen to 14,695,392 tonnes, a record which still stands today. The growth and success of CBH has not been an easy journey. Among many challenges weathered and overcome by the Company and its grower-members have been pest infestation, disastrous droughts and adapting to changing customer demands to compete more effectively within world grain markets.
(Below) CBH Nyabing “M” Type Cells in 1991.
Photos Courtesy of G&J Addis
Building of the “M” Type Cells in 1991.
Completed Cells – opened 27th November 1991.
In 2002, Co-operative Bulk Handling moved into grain marketing through our merge with fellow grower-controlled organisation, the Grain Pool of Western Australia. At the time, Grain Pool had a statutory monopoly over the export of Barley, Canola and Lupins from WA – all the main crops with the exception of wheat which was controlled nationally by Australian Wheat Board. This was a defining moment for CBH, beginning the transformation of the company into an integrated business focused on delivering a greater share of the grain value chain to growers. Western Australia grain is now exported to more than over 20 countries, including Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan and China.
In 2008, CBH celebrated its 75th Anniversary as one of Australia’s leading grain businesses with net assets of around $1 billion. In 2010, we rebranded our marketing and engineering businesses to CBH Grain and CBH Engineering to better reflect that we are one team, and to harness the power of the CBH name. As we move further into the 21st century we have a much more competitive environment; however we are confident that our continuing partnership with our grower-members will ensure we grow even stronger in decades ahead.
Editors note, with thanks to Nyabing RPO IC, Scott Davidson who at the end of season 2011/12, advised me that the Nyabing CBH Storage facility was so close to reaching its highest seasonal intake ever. Final tonnages were recorded at 99,732.67 tonnes, only 267 tonnes short of 100,000 tonnes!
Modern CBH delivery. Sample Hut – Hydraulic spear takes a representative sample in three-four separate areas of each trailer. As it gets sucked up & into the bucket, it is mixed to make a representative sample of this particular load. Within the Sample Hut, the sample is then weighed, measured and viewed against the Standards, graded, and if needed, sent to the Falling Numbers Hut to ensure the Gluten within the Wheat is maintained.
After being graded, the Samplers process documentation onto the computer, write all the information onto a CDF (Carters Delivery Form) and continue to the weighbridge. The Weighbridge Officer pulls up the Truck ID on the computer program, and then tares the truck into CBH.
Once the truck is weighed in, it needs to travel to the correct bin location on site. Either the Cells, Silo’s or to the OBH (Open Bulk Heads). When the driver reaches the correct grid, the RPO (Receival Point Operator) than checks his CDF Docket, signs off, and then the truck unloads into the grid.
Unloading of trucks into the Grids at “A”Type storage bin
From the grid, the grain travels along the conveyor belts to the stacker, where the RPO has to make the neatest stack available to ensure tarping at the end of the season, or during wet weather is more manageable. This photo was taken in 2011/12 Season, when we were having a bumper crop.
Once the truck has delivered the grain to the correct grid, he needs to make his way back to the weighbridge, and tare out. The weighbridge operator will complete the loads sign-off, and print out documentation to give to the grower. This will have the weight delivered to the nearest kilogram on the form, as well as all dockages/bonuses etc.
All modern photos above are courtesy of Lance & Alyson Cooper.