There’s an old adage (from the Ancient Mariner) that describes an old friend: “Both man and bird and beast. He made andloveth all”.
Well-known timber treatment authority Mike Brown, who died in Brisbane last week aged 74, was a personal and professional friend for more than 50 years.
An Englishman, he came to Australia as a ‘Ten-pound Pom” in the late 1960s, opening a career in the Northern Territory mining industry at Gove in the northeastern corner of Arnhem Land where he took up a position as an assay chemist.
Completing his term at one of the bigger mines, he set off around Australia in his trusty Volkswagen Beetle and spent many months checking out various places along the way.
As a chemical engineer it seemed only natural that he would move to New Zealand, at the time a leader in timber preservation. He joined Rentokil based in Auckland as sales manager for timber treatment products.
I met Mike in 1974 when I was running a plant at Senton Timber Treatments, the largest such plant in the southern hemisphere at the time. Mike could see the profits to be made in the industry, establishing his own supply company Chemica.
Mike was soon involved in an exciting business that was all the rage in New Zealand at the time – ‘wood hardening’ that turned wood pine species into a value-added timber product with a wider range of uses.
At this time, Mike struck up a friendship with Ron Eddy who was managing director of Hickson’s Timber Impregnation NZ Ltd and over the years they kept in touch.
Some years later, while Mike and Ron were playing a round of golf, they decided to form a new treatment company TimTech and after a slow start I was employed “as their man in Australia” with the new firm controlled by a board in New Zealand including staff of paint company Chemcolour.
Then the road transport laws changed in New Zealand and trucks could no longer use Senton as a half-way point on their trips north, so I left for other fields and Mike continued with Chemica for some time. He later established other businesses in Australia including crafting tables and chairs out of recycled timber. It was about then that his poor health became troublesome. He made one last visit to England to meet up with two sons by his first marriage.
In Australia he is survived by his second wife Ruth and their son Nathan aged 27.
Editor’s note: Ron Eddy and Mike Brown were the driving force behind TimTech from 2001 to 2020, opening new horizons in the marketing, science research and application of wood treatment technologies. TimTechChem International Ltd was an Australasian company formed to market and supply quality wood preservatives, fire retardants, patented technology, treatment plants and world class technical services to the timber protection industry.
TimTech was launched in 2001 in New Zealand and a year later in Australia and was a major player in these markets on both sides of the Tasman against competition from two major global companies.
