Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I want to acknowledge a sandstone milestone. It's the centenary of that great local business Gosford Quarries. In some ways, every Australian knows the work of Gosford Quarries. The sandstone extracted from those quarries adorns everything from the local ANZAC RSL memorial at Glenorie to the Sydney Town Hall, St Mary's Cathedral and the Australian War Memorial here in Canberra. In our cities and suburbs, Australian sandstone reflects something of the timeless majesty of our land. So it's fitting that a business such as Gosford Quarries has also lived through time and is the largest sandstone quarry and supplier in Australia.

Ownership of Gosford Quarries has evolved over time, and today it's a family business. Sarkis Bros was established in Sydney in 1993 by brothers George, John, Issa and Kozhaya. They followed their father Antonio's success. Antonio founded a limestone quarry in Lebanon in the 1970s. Alongside the brothers are their wonderful spouses, who all play a role: Rita, Nadine, Olivia and Antoinette. Antoinette gave an absolutely magnificent speech at the centenary. The Sarkis family don't call themselves 'owners'; they call themselves 'business custodians'. They treat their customers as partners. It's been said some of their sandstone work for the War Memorial was a follow-up after service work done for the memorial in the 1940s. What a wonderful ethos. The Sarkis family are a testament to Australia's great multicultural character. They pride themselves on their community participation and through their decisions they live out their deep faith. I congratulate the custodians and staff of Gosforth quarry and the Sarkis family on this remarkable milestone.