By Greg Peel

The owner of a vast sheep station west of the Darling River in outback New South Wales would not permit prospecting on his land despite rumours of gold discoveries in other parts of the Barrier Ranges and the first strikes of silver being reported not far away. Prospectors, the station owner knew, liked to steal sheep for their meals. The prospecting ban extended to the stubborn farmer's own employees.

That is until 1883 when, as legend has it, a German by the name of Charles Rasp wandered onto the property and quietly chipped away a few rock samples. Rasp had reputedly passed by that way before while working as a drover, and his attention had been drawn to an unusual outcrop forming part of the Ranges which those in the area referred to as “the broken hill”. The hill reminded Rasp of the tin mines in his native Saxony.

It took some convincing, but finally the station owner capitulated. And thus the seeds were sown for the formation of the Broken Hill Proprietary Company.

It was 32 years before Rasp's discovery that, ironically, six Dutchmen stepped onto the shores of a remote island off the coast of Sumatra also in search of tin. On the larger nearby Banka Island copious quantities had been found, and the explorers suspected that this tiny island neighbour might also be hiding similar riches. The locals called it the island Belitung, but the Dutch pronounced it Billiton.

It would be over a century later that BHP and Billiton agreed to merge to form the largest mining company the world had ever seen. BHP had subsequently grown from its humble beginnings to become a national powerhouse known as “The Big Australian”. In merging with Billiton, BHP was able to cast off the perceived constraints of being merely a provincial aspirant and become a truly global enterprise. It had become simply, “The Big Fella”.

Authors Peter Thompson and Robert Macklin provide in The Big Fella - The Rise and Rise of BHP Billiton (Random House, 2009) a rollicking tale of corporate expansion, maneuvering, aspiration, ego, failure and success. From the dusty mines of Australasia, Indonesia, South Africa, the Americas and beyond to the stuffy boardrooms of Melbourne and London, from angry battles with steelworker unions to bold posturings with successive incumbents in Canberra, it is a fascinating narrative that keeps the reader wanting to know what happens next, irrespective of the history.

While the The Big Fella offers an insight into the role of mining in a world which must balance resultant rewards, risks and ramifications, the book also provides an intimate appreciation of the characters throughout the company's history who have shaped its destiny, fought off its attackers, skirmished for power within its concrete towers and made significant decisions which have on the one hand ensured dominance but on the other have almost brought about bankruptcy.

For anyone wishing to appreciate just why Australia's fortunes in the twenty-first century rest so emphatically upon a colossus evolved from a strange looking rock formation deep in Australia's outback, The Big Fella is a must read. For anyone who just enjoys a good story, The Big Fella does more than satisfy.

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