non-fictionFor 25 years of his working life he worked as a Shire Engineer in West Gippsland and developed a reputation for competence and efficiency. Passionate about both trees and golf, he was a careful and measured man with an entrepreneurial spirit who worked behind the scenes He was seen by many as aloof and a hard man and by the very few who became close to him, as warm and fun loving and fond of children. Ross formed a business association with Wally Lawson in Warragul and together they embarked on a number of projects to advance the town and the district. As a young man, Ross had studied geology and working with quarries was familiar to him in his role as a Shire Engineer. In 1959 he established Bayview Quarries in partnership with Wally Lawson. When, in 1968, Bayview Quarries was taken over by Boral Ltd., Ross approached Tom Maw who had an operational quarry at Dromana on the Mornington Peninsula. Ross and Maw became partners in what became Hillview Quarries. Ross also became the largest individual shareholder in Western Mining. Those shares formed the major part of the legacy he left to establish The R. E. Ross Trust and The Trust now operates on its income from assets acquired following the disposal of the Western Mining shares and from the earnings of Hilhnew Quarries. It is the only trust in Australia which owns a quarry as one of its investments.engineering, philanthropy, quarryman, investor, r.e. ross trust, hillview quarries, wally lawson, roy everard ross