Our History
First Nation Engineering is an incorporated private company established by the Carey Group and CPC Engineering, who have a common vision for sustainable business and Indigenous participation.
With 75 years of combined experience in mining, engineering and project delivery to Tier 1 miners in Australia, we pride ourselves on establishing and managing strong alliances with clients, employees and suppliers.
The Carey group is recognised as Australia’s leading Aboriginal commercial enterprise, with over 27 years of project delivery excellence in the mining, civil and training industries. It is a company that can be relied upon, and as a result of this reputation it had been approached numerous times by tier 1 clients to provide SMP and E&I services. An area that is currently serviced by only a small number of Aboriginal companies. Carey already had a strong and longstanding relationship with CPC Engineering and the two companies had successfully worked together in the past. Carey saw an opportunity to develop this relationship even further and approached CPC with a vision to develop a truly exceptional service provider. Following discussions over a number of months, and as a result of a shared vision for business and Indigenous participation; First Nation Engineering was born.
First Nation Engineering is the product of enduring friendships, mutual trust, and respect.
It has been driven by Carey founder Daniel Tucker, CPC Engineering Chief Executive Officer Glen Weir, and non-executive director Ian Fletcher, reflecting long-standing business and personal relationships between the three which has ensured strong connections across the senior levels of both organisations.
Mr Tucker and Mr Weir met more than 40 years ago at the Mt Windarra Nickel Project in the Goldfields near Laverton.
After several unsuccessful applications for an apprenticeship at WNP, Mr Tucker was offered the position of Trainee Engine Driver in the power station.
Mr Weir had been transferred from Kalgoorlie Mining Associate’s Fimiston Operations to Windarra in February 1981 and among other duties, assumed responsibility for the power station.
From the outset Mr Weir was impressed with Mr Tucker’s work ethic and desire to learn and as a result actively supported his progress through the WMC system.
After WMC, Mr Tucker and Mr Weir forged separate but similar careers in the contracting industry.
They crossed paths again about 10 years ago following the appointment of Ian Fletcher to the CPC Engineering Board, and their relationship has developed and strengthened since then.
Mr Fletcher’s friendship with Mr Tucker began in the early 2000s when Mr Fletcher was Chief Executive Officer of the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder.
He established a Council Reconciliation Committee and later initiated a National Reconciliation Forum in the city, which was an opportunity for Aboriginal people, the community, employers, and policy makers to showcase what was being done as well as what could be done.
Mr Tucker addressed the forum, outlining his success and that of Carey Mining.
The pair met there and became good friends, with Mr Fletcher providing input to Mr Tucker’s business ventures, including the creation of the Australian Aboriginal Mining Corporation and the Australian Aboriginal Mining Academy.
It was logical for these strong friendships to result firstly in a close working relationship between the Carey Group and CPC Engineering, and ultimately to evolve into the creation of First Nation Engineering.
Underpinning our vision is a strong set of corporate values lived by our employees and reinforced throughout all levels of the organisation.
Vision
Mission
Our mission Is to provide fully integrated engineering design, construction and maintenance services to deliver exceptional outcomes for our stakeholders.
We will achieve this by:
- Providing opportunities and a career path for First Nations people
- Inspiring and empowering all our people to succeed
- Exceeding our client's expectations
- Meeting or exceeding our environmental, social, and governance obligations
Values
- Family; The safety, wellbeing and personal growth of our people is our foundation
- Integrity; Do what is right, honest and fair
- Respect; Respect each other, the environment, culture & country
- Courage; We challenge ourselves to achieve new horizons
- Teamwork; We collaborate to achieve quality outcomes
