Generations of Childers’ family employed at the Isis Central Sugar Mill

A Qld sugar mill is such an integral part of the community it has employed multiple members and generations of the same same family since the 1960s, and still has eight on the payroll.

Isis Central Sugar Mill workers (from left) Tony Lunn, Nicholas Lunn, Helen Lunn, Chris Lunn and Ben Lunn.

The average Australian stays in a job for 3.3 years and very few businesses have intergenerational employment now, so having eight family members spread over four generations working for the same company is rare and yet that’s what members of the Lunn family have done at Isis Central Sugar Mill.

Isis Mill CEO Craig Wood said the relatives of the McDonald/Lunn family had worked, trained and progressed through the mill with a grandfather, father, brothers, wife, sons, siblings and in-laws all at some stage being on the payroll.

“Isis Mill workers are the strength of our mill with their skills and dedication enabling us to support growers and shareholders over more than 100 years,” Mr Wood said.

“This is illustrated by the generations of some local families who have been part of the mill’s fabric, like the Lunn family now.”

Isis Central Sugar Mill family workers (from left) Tony Lunn, Nicholas Lunn, Helen Lunn, Chris Lunn and Ben Lunn.

Tony Lunn, mill engineering coordinator operations, has been at Isis Mill for 35 years and proudly recounts the employment of his grandfather, father, brother, wife, sons and in-laws in the long line of mill employees.

“My grandfather, Fred McDonald, started working at the mill in the 1960s. Then, my father Col Lunn was the fitting shop forman for 44 years,” Mr Lunn said.

“My brother John did his apprenticeship here as a fitter and turner then progressed to Cad draftsman and then I started in 1989 as an apprentice.

“I was given the opportunity as a shift officer, then from 1992, I was a power house attendant, milling train console operator, shift fitter, shift supervisor, assistant chief engineer and now engineering coordinator operations,” Mr Lunn said.

But that’s just the start of the Lunn family’s employment history, with his wife Helen working in the Mill labs before moving into weighbridge operations then now fulfilling her long held dream of being a worker on the mill locos as an offsider.

The average Australian stays in a job for 3.3 years and very few businesses have intergenerational employment now, so having eight family members spread over four generations working for the same company is incredibly rare and yet that’s what members of the Lunn family have done at Isis Central Sugar Mill.

Tony and Helen’s eldest son, Nicholas, is a diesel mechanic at the mill with their middle son, Chris, working in warehouse management and their youngest son Ben starting as a storeperson in April.

It is not just the Lunns, but Helen’s side of the family that also have worked at the mill with her father Ian Haaksma and her brother also employed as a labourer and apprentice boiler maker respectively.

“The mill has always been a major employer in the Childers community,” Mr Wood said.

“We support local staff and are keen to see staff trained, employed, upskilled, promoted and part of our mill family for the long term.”

The Australian Bureau of Statistics reports that in February 2024, 43 per cent of workers had worked for the same employer for more than five years and 19 per cent of workers had been in their current job for less than one year.

“We are grateful that Tony and Helen Lunn and their extended family have been such a loyal and hard working part of the Isis Central Sugar Mill story over so many decades and so many generations,” Mr Wood said.