Queensland-born Earle Embrey at first followed his father’s footsteps into coal mining.
But then he began a success story of creating industrial estates with a suite of factories and storage facilities in Pakenham.
An entrepreneur at heart, Earle settled in Melbourne and tried his hand at farming potatoes, fruits, nuts and ostriches as well as two caravan parks in Port Fairy and Cann River and demolitions.
In 1987, Earle and wife Ann bought 11 acres between Mary Street, Mulcahy Street and Purton Road in Pakenham.
The site became home for an old Malcolm Moore crane factory relocated from South Melbourne and the Robert Gordon pottery factory.
The repurposed crane factory comprised of 44 semi-trailer loads of steel frame structures that were wire brushed and repainted before reassembly into four separate buildings and 72,000 square feet of factory space.
It became home to LaBounty Manufacturing Australia, before it was sold to Bruce Littlejohn who renamed it Littlejohn Heavy Manufacturing.
It was later bought back by Earle and renamed LJ Embrey Engineering. In 2020 it amalgamated with Embrey Attachments with offices at the original 25 Mary Street site that employs about 30 people.
In 1994, Earle and Ann bought industrial land off Bald Hill Road. It became Embrey Court and is today filled with factories.
They also bought land, which turned into residential estate in Ahearn Road. The streets Breyleigh Drive and Earle Close are a nod to the two owners – Breyleigh being an anagram of Embrey and Ann’s maiden name Leigh.
The last developed land off Peet Street has recently been subdivided with new roads and has mostly been sold off.
The family business history is still continuing on now with the opening of the new storage facility, Store it Safe, in Hill Street Pakenham, which runs off Bald Hill Road.
Store it Safe is at 30 Hill Street, Pakenham. Contact: Scott Embrey, 0473 331 117.
