A photograph of Ken and Shirley Craig at their Gyprock Plasterboard factory in Aikman Crt, Drouin.
Ken started work as an apprentice plasterer in 1957 with Drouin Fibrous Plaster Works. The business started in 1948 and was owned by Alan and Dorothy Wilson who employed about 14 tradesmen.
Ken remembers one of his earliest jobs plastering the extremely high ceiling of the new Drouin Presbyterian Church. Of course, the young apprentice was given the job of climbing up to the highest point.
Making plaster sheets was an art, not just an off the shelf product as it is today. There were three big benches about seven metres by two metres with a 10mm lip around the sides.
The benches were greased with a mixture of melted kerosene and mutton fat, with the plaster mix poured on to the top. This was then packed with teased out hemp fibre before being screeded off.
It was important to use mutton fat as it was white and not beef fat which was brown.
Once the plaster sheets had dried, they were removed from the table by boards slid underneath, then cut to size and set on racks to dry. Cornice was made in the same way but using a mould rather than a flat table.
Years later, when hemp became too expensive, fibreglass strands were added to the plaster and this became known as "plasterglass".
Ken progressed to company manager in 1970 and then owner until he retired in 2005.
Many more apprentices were trained but Ken says in his story that the old ways of plastering were a dying art with the advent of paper covered plasterboard. Ken laughingly referred to himself as a "gypsumologist".
Ken met his wife Shirley in 1981 who assisted in running the business. In 1992, they built the factory in Aikman Crt, Drouin.
Photograph and information courtesy Stories of Drouin, a cooperative oral history project between The Committee for Drouin, Drouin History Group and 3BBR FM to preserve local stories.
Hear more of Ken Craig's story at www.storiesofdrouin.com.au