The mill veteran had worked at the mill for almost 40 years and finally retired to spend time travelling around Australia with his wife, Emma.

Jim was born and bred in Collie, attending Amaroo Primary School and briefly at Collie Senior High School before getting a job in the bush at Bowelling at the age of 14.

His job was to deliver logs to the mill, earning three pounds each week and sometimes working from 5am to 9pm each day. After 18 months he left home and moved to Newdegate to work as a farmhand.

He did this for almost five years before moving back home to Collie, where he worked as a mill hand at Worsley Alumina.

Six years later Jim thought things were winding down there and he got a job at Saunders Sawmill, which is where he stayed for the next 39-and-a-half years.

He said things at the mill had changed a lot over the years.

As time went on the company went from having a manual bench to the new mill, which was all automatic.

“It was a big cry from the early days,” he said.

However, Jim said everything was still the same, but on a bigger scale.

He is lucky to have all his fingers still attached because he never worked on the smaller saws, instead working on the less dangerous but bigger ‘Twin Sawyer’.

One of his other roles at the mill was delivering firewood to locals on his way home from work.

He said it was something he always enjoyed and he would miss the people he delivered to.

“They would always bring me out a cold drink on a hot day and have a chat,” he said.

Jim said he always enjoyed working with long-time employer George Saunders.

“He kept us on our toes but still helped out when needed,” he said.

One thing he had noticed over the years was the change in attitude of younger people entering the workforce.

He said when he started working he did his best to make sure he kept his job, whereas these days younger people did not care as much about their work.

“I always taught my kids to have the right attitude,” he said.

Jim remembered his first ever sick day.

His first son Bradley was born two weeks after he started the job and he said he was too sick to go to work the next day.

Jim and Emma have three children in total, Karen, Lee and Graham.

He said it was a big decision to retire, but at 65 if he did not do what he wanted to do now, he would not get to do it at all.

“It still hasn’t really sunk in,” he said.

Before they travel, Jim and Emma must sell their home and move closer to the bowling club, which is one of Jim’s favourite pastimes.