IN February 1973, Gus Kuilboer walked into the Commonwealth Employment Service building in Hamilton to ask what jobs were available. 

It just so happened that Ansett Motors were looking for a parts record clerk and because Gus already had a keen interest in cars and parts, and knew some of the people at Ansett, this sounded the right type of job. 

Gus went straight away for an interview.

Steve Wilson was in charge of Ansett Motors at the time and asked Gus when he would like to start.

It was a Tuesday and Gus was keen so he said he could start the next day, but Steve said, “how about you start next Monday” - and so it was on the following Monday that Gus began his career in the automotive/parts business.

After two years, Ansett Motors had a revamp in different sections and the truck parts were moved to the agricultural division in French Street. 

The person in charge of the agricultural department at that time was Duncan Wellner. The spare parts manager was his son, Rob Wellner (of Zenith Tiles) and Gus was the newbie to the team.

After Rob left, Gus was promoted to spare parts manager and enjoyed nine years working at Ansett Agricultural and with everyone from the different departments of the business.

Kevin Phillips was a mechanic in the workshop at the time and just happened to live a few doors down the street from Gus and his wife Glenyce, so they got to be friends at work and socially.

Kevin then left Ansett and ventured into his own business - Phillips Farm Machinery.

After discussions between Gus, Kevin and their wives, Glenyce and Christine, the decision was made for the Phillips to become silent partners with the Kuilboers, thus, Hamilton PK Bearings was borne. 

Many people over the years have asked where the ‘PK’ came from.

Well, it was the combination of Phillips and Kuilboer! 

PK chewing gum has even been sold over the counter as a popular gimmick.

Gus is not a superstitious person but when the shop was ready to be opened it just happened that the Monday of that week was April Fools’ Day. 

Gus was anxious to open the doors but decided to wait until the Tuesday, so no one thought they were joking!

The first PK Bearing shop was in Brown Street, behind where the current Commonwealth Bank is and where Len Presser used to have his bike shop. The buildings are long gone now, and Bendigo Bank is in a newer building on that site.

Gus remembers sitting quietly in the Brown Street shop, eating lunch, six months after first opening and wondering if he had done the right thing by going into business and worrying about all the things business owners worry about. 

Everything was recorded manually on cards in filing systems. No computers and no internet.

There was a lot of work - but it was also very rewarding knowing it was yours.

They did not employ any staff for the first five and a half years, but Gus’ father-in-law, Trevor Winsall, helped in the shop on a daily basis. They were very grateful for all the assistance he gave to the business in the early years.

They spent four years in the Brown Street shop before they started running out of space and in 1988 moved to 106 French Street, where Aldi is now. 

Their new neighbours in French Street were Noel’s Machinery, AJW Fraser and Hamilton Hiring Service.  

They shared the building half and half with Hamilton Hiring that belonged to Andrew Fraser from AJW Fraser.

Kevin Loats decided to move the hire business and Gus asked Andrew if he could expand into the whole building. 

Andrew knocked down the wall between the two and PK Bearings doubled in size overnight.

A further expansion to the building some months later saw a new extension being built to the back of the shop which was half the size again of the footprint on the block at the time.

Gus and Glenyce eventually went on to buy Kevin and Christine’s share of the business as Kevin wanted to expand Phillips Farm Machinery.

Gus and his ever-evolving business outgrew itself over and over. 

Each expansion and Gus’ broad local knowledge of the industries in the area and our seasons enabled him to cater better to customer requests.

Gus’ son, Steven, joined his dad and his father-in-law, Trevor in the business after he left school in 1999 and they were great days.

PK Bearings had been in the French Street building for 18 years from 1988 to 2006 when they heard that Aldi was planning to open a supermarket in Hamilton. 

Gus now needed to find another premises in town fairly quickly when there was precious little available. 

Fortunately, he found out there was a building across the road for sale (former Newell Plumbing building) and, after a brief period of negotiation, was lucky enough to be offered the opportunity to buy their own premises and never have to worry about packing up and moving again.  

PK Bearings now had a ‘new home’.

Large renovations had to be done to accommodate all the stock from their great big building on the Aldi site and on April 2, 2006 (still avoiding April Fools’!) they opened in their current building after moving EVERYTHING over in just one weekend - and opened the doors on the 2nd at the regular opening time without missing a beat - thanks to a lot of family and friends.

Finding things afterwards was another story but they were in and open for business!

Gus grew up in Hamilton and attended St Mary’s Primary School and Monivae College.

He left secondary school in Year 11 to start life as a grown up.

He and Glenyce were married at the Uniting Church in Hamilton and enjoyed a honeymoon in Adelaide.

They have a son, Steven, and a daughter, Fiona. The family was raised on PK Bearings.

Glenyce has always done the books, even when she was also working at the Hamilton Medical Group clinic and looking after the kids. 

Steven was three years old, and Fiona was six months old when their dad first opened the doors to PK.

Gus has now been there for 39 years and has worked in spare parts for 50 years.

Over the years there have been other good ‘spare-parts’ people who were very experienced including Peter Humphries, Ron Tait (Repco), Ray Soawyer (Slorach Autos), Col Russell (AJW Fraser), Rob Wellner (Ansett Motors), John Hunt (Autopro) and Peter Barker (Brandt). They were all very good spare-parts people, but John Walter (first boss at Ansett Motors) would have been the most knowledgeable.

If you ask Gus about any funny stories, he will tell you there are so many he doesn’t know where to start. 

He feels like it is good manners not to mention any names but could easily write a pretty funny book!

A man rang one day wanting a bearing but didn’t know the shaft size. 

Gus sent him away to check the size and he came back to say it’s 1 ½ thumbnails wide! Gus’ reply was “who’s thumbnail? - yours or mine?!”

Another guy came in wanting a belt.

Well, there is a formula that helps you work out the belt size you need, and Gus sent him away to measure. 

But the maths proved a little hard out in the paddock and the guy came back to PK with a nice long canola stalk.

“This is the length I need,” he announced, and Gus sent away another happy customer.

Gus has spent 50 years being on call 24/7, including one morning, at about 3am, when the phone rang, and it was a local factory.

One of the machines had blown a hydraulic hose and sprayed the whole area - including the workers - with oil. 

A sleepy but good-natured Gus said, “I’ll meet you at the shop,” and he was greeted by a couple of the lads who were covered from head to toe in oil.

He gave them three drums to get the machinery running so there wasn’t too much down time. Needless to say, they had some cleaning to do in the following days.

PK has enjoyed having a close-knit group of staff members over the years and currently has Stuart Wilson and Blake Moritz behind the counter. These boys have the local knowledge and Gus has been training them for quite a while now.

Gus has always said that the South West of the state is God’s country and we have some of the best farming people and local businesses and he has appreciated their support over the years.

After 50 years the time has come to think about retiring.

Gus and Glenyce have family spread across a few states and only ever catch up with them at weddings and funerals.

They now like to travel and sit back and smell the roses without needing to rush back to work. 

It will be a sad moment when Gus finally walks out the door, but he is happy in the knowledge that Stuart and Blake know their products and their customers. 

Gus hopes for a local person with local knowledge to come along and buy the business and carry on the great service that Hamilton PK Bearings has become so well known for.  He knows he can’t choose who takes over in his place, but he knows that, with the support of these two boys they will do well.

If you think you would like to be the next owner of this 39-year-old, well respected business, Dion McFarlane at Elders can help you. 

As one chapter closes, another is about to open.