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Dino marks a milestone

Glenn CordingleyBroome Advertiser
Kamarudin Bin Lusimoen is celebrating 45 years with the KPA.
Camera IconKamarudin Bin Lusimoen is celebrating 45 years with the KPA. Credit: Glenn Cordingley

Broome jetty boom gate operator “Dino” Kamarudin Bin Lusimoen had every reason to enjoy a beer with his workmates after notching up 45 years with the Kimberley Ports Authority.

Dino was presented with a plaque recognising his achievement by colleagues and KPA chief executive Craig Faulkner on Saturday — six days after celebrating his 74th birthday.

He works in the portable building known as the security gatehouse, but his life has been anything but boring.

Dino first arrived in Broome from Singapore in 1965 and worked as a deckhand in the pearling industry for Streeter and Male before becoming a diver and joining the company now known as Woodside.

That kept him employed until he started his long career in 1974 with what evolved into the KPA.

Dino recalled working for the Public Works Department on $1.15 an hour before the PWD split into two groups in 1980.

He opted to go with Marine and Harbours and took on a variety of work, including sandblasting, painting and repairing the timber wharf fender system.

It was about this time he started playing golf, a passion he has maintained.

In 1990, Dino and his team officially became wharfies when Marine and Harbours merged with the stevedores and they worked with cattle boats, former State ships and vessels connected to the once thriving pearling industry.

The 30-tonne port crane he operated at the time was knows as Daisy and stayed in service until the early 2000s. Dino became a supervisor in 2000 and oversaw shipping and maintenance of the wooden jetty fenders before retiring for two weeks in 2006 and starting at the gatehouse as a marine security officer, where he remains today.

The spring was put back in his step after two knee replacements allowed him to continue with his work and golf.

“The bonus for my dodgy knees was that I was given approval by the Broome Golf Club to purchase my own golf cart, which allowed me to continue playing,” he said.

Dino said he was grateful for his continuing time at the port and appreciated all the town had given him and wife Jan, whom he married in 1970. He has two children still in Broome and six grandchildren. Dino looks after the grandkids on a regular basis to make sure the family ties remain strong.

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