Last Month, our Midalia Steel team in Wagin donated $2,000 to their local Community Resource Centre (CRC). The CRC connects the local community to a range of services including technology support services for seniors, training and skill development classes, crafting classes for kids as well as educational events and seminars for teenagers.
Our donation will contribute to the cost of building repairs and maintenance so the CRC can continue to safely provide services to the Wagin community.
When brothers Roy and Leon Midalia first started collecting scrap metal in 1951, little did they know their family business would grow into one of WA’s largest steel suppliers.
Launched with one truck, a 6 m x 12 m shed and only £92, the brothers started scouring the South West – buying scrap metal, collecting copper and brass and removing scrap machinery from old mine sites.
Most notably, they removed more than 1,000 km (42,000 tonnes) of wheat rail in the South West and two navy guns from Garden Island, weighing more than 500 tonnes. But they didn’t stop there, as in 1971, the company first started exporting steel pipe and tube to mainland China.
Mark Novel, OMC Regional and Midalia Steel Manager, said that Midalia was a true local success story.
“Being part of the local community and investing in bricks and mortar has been an important part of our long history,” he said.
“We have always employed local people from each of our regional locations and strongly believe the business is made up of many small businesses who know their customers and know where to deliver.”
“We are proud to be able to support projects big and small – whether it’s posts, gutters, roofing and paint for backyard patios, or large infrastructure on mine sites.”
Not only has Midalia Steel been involved in the construction of DIY projects and critical infrastructure in WA, but we have also been active in the local community.
Midalia Steel have been supporting Landcare in their efforts to reverse the decline of the endangered Carnaby’s black cockatoo. With the loss of breeding habitat, Landcare developed artificial nesting boxed called Cockatubes. Midalia donated mesh for ladders used by the birds to climb in and out of the Cockatubes.
Midalia has also been helping Men’s Shed – a not-for-profit organisation that provides a safe space where men can work on meaningful projects at their own pace and forge new friendships. Midalia donated steel to the Subiaco Med’s Shed to build a mezzanine level and double its floor space.
Midalia also teamed up with Station Street Men’s Shed by donating steel for a volunteer project to build Buddy Benches. The schoolyard benches provide a safe place for students when they are experiencing bullying or a feeling isolated.
In 2017, Midalia became part of InfraBuild – Australia’s largest vertically integrated steel manufacturing, distribution and recycling business, providing solutions for commercial and residential construction, large scale and nation-building infrastructure, and the rural and mining industry.
With 100 years of continuous operation, InfraBuild is also Australia’s largest processor and distributor of steel long products, including reinforcing bar, reinforcing mesh, tubular and hollow sections, merchant bar and wire products.
Some of InfraBuild’s most iconic contributions include supplying weathering steel for the Kalbarri Skywalk, reinforcing steel for the Forrestfield Airport Link, and structural steel for Perth Stadium.
The history of Midalia Steel starting as a family business remains one of our core values, along with our commitment to customers and safety.
Black Cockatoos are a feature of the diversity in bird and animal species found in Australia. Yet, like around the world, bird species are in decline with many becoming endangered or extinct. One such species is the Carnaby’s Cockatoo (Calyptorhychus latirostris), one of three species of Western Australian (WA) Forest Black Cockatoos. Carnaby’s Cockatoos stand around 55cm, weighing between 500-800 grams, with brownish black feathers and a distinctive large white band on tail feathers.
The main factor in declining Carnaby’s Cockatoos populations over the last 50 years has been the loss of breeding habitat – natural tree hollows which take between 150 and 230 years to form. Landcare SJ, and environmental community organisation based in Serpentine-Jarrahdale, WA has been working to reverse the decline in species since 2005, by building artificial nesting boxes with volunteers, known as the COCKATUBE®. Landcare SJ is part of a wider network of organisations aiming to protect and increase species numbers.
Cockatubes are fitted with a solid base incorporating holes for drainage, wood chips to create a dry egg mat, and a galvanised mesh ladder, for climbing in and out of the hollow. A sacrificial hardwood post was inserted for the birds to chew. Horizontal installation in suitable trees at nesting height, opposite to prevailing weather mimic ‘chimney stack’ type natural hollows.
Midalia Steel Welshpool assisted Landcare SJ’s 100+ Cockatubes for bushfire recovery project by donating mesh for the ladders for over 100 Cockatubes sent to the east coast. Other suppliers chipped in with donations of pipe and hardware, over 40 volunteers contributed their time to make the Cockatoo tubes, and the Australian Defence Force Joint Logistics Unit arranged deliveries to South-East Queensland, Victoria, and to Kangaroo Island. COVID-19 has slowed progress of installation during 2020, but plans are well under way to support breeding habitat of the Glossy Black Cockatoo species.
Founded in 1998, Men’s Sheds is a non-profit organisation that’s dedicated to providing a space for retired men. Throughout its more than 1000 locations, the organisation provides a place where older men can engage in woodwork, metalwork, painting and music, or even just an environment to talk and relax in. The group also contributes to a number of other charities, schools, hospitals and parks by offering free metalwork and woodwork.
Midalia Steel sought to aid the good work Men’s Sheds were doing in WA. For this reason, we provided free steel to its Subiaco branch. With the materials that we gave, and with the help of Garry Mills and the Steelweld team who did the fabrication work, and with Azar transport who delivered it to the site, the branch was able to build an entire mezzanine floor in its shed, thereby virtually doubling its space. Men’s Sheds made the most of this new space, using it to build both a quiet room and a metalwork room.
Doug Stewart – the president of Men’s Sheds – had nothing but praise for Midalia Steel. He lauded our work as both “generous” and “impressive”. We were thrilled to work with Doug and grateful to be a part of such a good cause.
