Corkhill’s Engineering Celebrates 30 Years of Innovation
From L-R, Trent Robinson, Steven Linderman, Hamish Stokehill, Matthew Corkhill, Gillian Walsh, Malcolm Humphreys, Thomas Suthern-Brown, Damien Crozier and Josh Kerr.
In the heart of rural New South Wales, the small town of Boorowa is home to a true Australian success story: Corkhill’s Engineering. This year marks a significant milestone for the family-owned business as it celebrates its 30th anniversary, a testament to its ingenuity, adaptability, and unwavering commitment to quality.
Founded in July 1995 by Matt Corkhill, a former front-rower with a passion for engineering, Corkhill’s Engineering began as a humble farm machining and engineering venture.
What started in a small workshop on the family farm quickly expanded to commercial premises, laying the groundwork for a remarkably diverse and resilient enterprise. While Corkhill’s Engineering is now globally renowned for its “Enforcer” Rugby scrum machines, their journey has been anything but one-dimensional.
Matt Corkhill, driven by a desire to “drought-proof” his business – a common and essential strategy in rural Australia – skilfully diversified his operations.
Beyond precision machining, hydraulics, and fabrication, the company has maintained a nearly two-decade-long contract supplying steel-framed glass screens and shop fixtures for Harvey Norman shop fit-outs.
Furthermore, under the name “South West Shooting Supplies,” they’ve been supplying and repairing firearms for farmers and clay target shooters for over 20 years, showcasing their remarkable versatility.
The pivotal moment for Corkhill’s Engineering’s global recognition came with the serendipitous development of the Enforcer Rugby machine.
Born from a friend’s simple request for a scrum machine, Matthew, leveraging his own rugby experience, designed a product that accurately replicated the forces and dynamics of a live scrum. Its effectiveness quickly caught the attention of the rugby elite, most notably former Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie, whose endorsement and subsequent order for the Brumbies propelled the Enforcer onto the international stage.
Today, these Australian-made machines are trusted training tools for professional teams worldwide, including the Wallabies and Australian Super Rugby teams, a remarkable achievement for a business based in a country town.
Matt Corkhill’s dedication to local manufacturing is a cornerstone of Corkhill’s Engineering. He focuses predominantly on producing most components in-house in Boorowa, with only highly specialised parts like upholstery sourced from nearby regional towns. This commitment not only ensures quality control but also provides vital employment opportunities in the local community, with around 12 staff, including apprentices, contributing to the firm’s success.
As Corkhill’s Engineering marks three decades in business, their story stands as a powerful ex-ample of Australian ingenuity. From a rural workshop, they’ve built a reputation for excellence in diverse fields, with their Enforcer Rugby machines becoming synonymous with high-performance rugby training globally. Their ability to innovate, adapt, and remain deeply connected to their local roots is a true testament to their enduring success.
Matt shared with the Times the history of his business, right back to when it all began.
“We opened on the 7th of July 1995, which was coincidentally the night that Boorowa Hospital burnt down, which makes it a bit easier to remember.
“I had been down getting the shop all ready to go on Thursday, right through till about mid-night Friday, to open later that morning on Friday the 7th and I was driving back up to the house where I was staying and I could see a glow on the other end of town, I had my brother with me and I thought that doesn’t look right, so we went up to the hospital and it was alight, we went in and dragged bed ridden people out on their mattresses, a lot of older people, we dragged them out onto the lawn out the front as fast as we could.
“You could imagine how cold it was in July. It was pretty funny, we were getting abused by the oldies for waking them up, we were lifting people, waking people up and pulling them on their mattresses. Anyway, we got them all out, and somehow no one was killed, it was beyond me, we stayed there all night. Then we were mopping up and assisting the local brigades, then went back to the house, had a shower, went straight to work and opened the shop for the first time.
“We started down in Marsden Street, in the Main Street in Boorowa in a smaller shop and have grown since then. We love being in Boorowa. I come from a long line of farmers here and have lived here all my life.
“I went to St Gregory’s boarding school in Campbelltown and went into Sydney and did my trade after that and then decided to come home.
“I stayed down in the Main Street shop till we outgrew that in 2007 and then we moved up here to the industrial area at Boorowa and have been up here ever since.
“It (the business) seems to be doing well. I wouldn’t have been able to grow the business the way I could just with the domestic climate relying on a small town like Boorowa, as it doesn’t have a lot of industry, so I’ve had to look outside Boorowa.
“For the last 25 years, we’ve had contracts with Harvey Norman, manufacturing shop fittings and fixtures. There’s not a Harvey Norman store around the world that doesn’t have our fixtures and fittings in it that were produced here in Boorowa. That’s been a big thing for us.
“The Enforcer scrum machines and just the general rugby side of things have also been huge. I developed the first machine back in about 1997 with the help of the Brumbies.
“Enforcer is still one of the longest-standing partners of the Brumbies. We still sponsor them today.
“A lot is happening with rugby at the moment, with the Lions touring and International sides that are playing the Wallabies. Enforcer supplies all visiting nations with a scrum machine as part of the contractual agreement with the ARU.
“It’s up to them whether or not they use it, at least they have the option. A lot of International sides around the world use our machines as well. Demand for our product is growing annually.
“Then there’s the firearm side of it as well, South West Shooting Supplies, which is also an expanding part of the business. Firearms are used in the farming community as well as recreational and hunting purposes.
“I am fortunate enough to have a terrific staff. We also have the Engineering retail side of the business with all the engineering equipment, typically welding equipment, bearings, V belts, pulleys, High tensile bolts and anything to do with engineering General supplies to assist the farming community.
“There will be a lot of products we stock here that they will be popping in the coffin with me when I go, I don’t know that I’ll ever sell it all, but you need it because we are predominantly a breakdown industry, and things typically don’t break unless you’re using them. Also if we don’t have what’s needed in stock the customer will head to another town to source it and perhaps do some other shopping while they are there which results in money being lost to our town.
“We do a lot for the Graymont Mine out at Galong. We have found the staff along with the company very good to deal with. “A few customers like that, along with the farmers and others, all tend to help you expand.
“The secret to a successful company is good staff. Employers quite often get the employees they deserve.”
-Tully Potts
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