Border pre-press operator Neville Oliver retires after 40 years printing newspapers

The pre-press operator will finish up with Newsprinters at the end of October after four decades in a rapidly changing industry.

Mr Oliver completed his apprenticeship at The Northern Star at Lismore, which was widely regarded for its print capabilities.

Whenever he and his wife travelled, Mr Oliver would take the time to explore other print centres around the country.

"When I walked into The Border Mail in Albury to have a look through, the production manager came down and asked if I was there for a job interview," he said.

"While I was there he got a call from one of his guys who had hit the drink a bit too much and he'd missed a few nights, so he asked me if I wanted to come and work.

"I did three nights while we stayed here in Albury-Wodonga and that was my taste at The Border Mail.

"He said I had a job if I wanted it, but I had a house to sell in Lismore first.

"It was an unfinished place and was only half built, but we went home, sold it within a week, packed up and moved down here."

Mr Oliver was able to bring some of those key skills from The Northern Star and apply these on the Border.

"Back in those days there wasn't too many of us who could do four-colour combining," he said.

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"I taught myself how to do it when I came here.

"It was very labour-intensive and expensive, but eventually we put our own scanner in here Albury and then at Wodonga and did our own combing here before computers came along.

"When I first started here I think there was six or seven of us in the pre-press department making plates, but that's basically a one-man show now and there's a lot more plates being made than we did back in those days."

Mr Oliver recalled the death of Princess Diana in 1997 as one of the more memorable moments of his career after he was called in early to set up the front page.

He did so under duress after his hands were burnt trying to extinguish a fire at his hobby farm in the early hours of the morning.

"We spent three or four hours at Culcairn hospital in an emergency getting all this carpet picked off our feet and hands," he said.

"When they wrapped me up I said they couldn't wrap my pinky finger up because I used that for the mouse."

ACM general manager of printing Jon Clarke said Mr Oliver would be a big loss.

"He's been with the company for a long time and seen a lot of change," Mr Clarke said.

"Neville is a good guy and well respected by others in the industry."

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