The Australian Arbor Age magazine features Active Tree Services' Director Mark Willcocks in Industry Legends this August/September issue, with an article on climbing trees.
For most of us, the world of climbing trees is relegated firmly to childhood - along with a view from the top branches. Not so for Mark Willcocks, executive chairman and founder of the hugely successful Active Tree Services (ATS) – Australia’s largest vegetation management company. Through hard work, commitment and a lot of thought, he’s been climbing his tree for 36 years. This month we took time to speak with Mark and got to know the man, and the story, behind the home-grown company that now supports more than 600 staff and their families.
With a doctor for a father and a physiotherapist for a mother, Mark’s parents could not have imagined their son would make a living out of climbing trees. His exceptional academic record led them to believe he would pursue a more formal occupation however the pull of the outdoors was too strong. Growing up in Sydney, Mark would spend a significant part of his summer holidays building stone walls with his father at their beach house – his father’s idea of relaxation. He would then escape to his uncle’s farm in Scone to run around and do what boys do. Showing a keen head for business even then, he would trap rabbits and turn a small income.
As they say, the apple never falls far from the tree and perhaps some of Mark’s business acumen comes from his great grandfather who worked as a contractor in Queensland and South Africa during the 1900s, building many of the railroads north from Brisbane at a time when this was essentially a manual process.
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