General News
4 January, 2024
Jesse Wright retires from white goods business after almost five decades on the job
“I probably fixed a lawnmower when I was about 12 and put a piston in my motorbike as a teenager so I’ve always been mechanically minded.” Fixing a washing machine on the other hand was likely the last thing Jesse Wright thought he’d end up...
“I probably fixed a lawnmower when I was about 12 and put a piston in my motorbike as a teenager so I’ve always been mechanically minded.”
Fixing a washing machine on the other hand was likely the last thing Jesse Wright thought he’d end up doing but now, nearly 50 years later, he reckons it’s up there with the best things he’s done and you could almost say it was fated to happen.
It all started at the end of 1975 when Jesse, who was studying an electrical engineering degree, applied for a job at Retravision in Maryborough.
While the door to the job he applied for might have closed, it opened countless others for him.
“I didn’t get the job I went for but Stan Trengove and Max Brown liked my resumé, they called me back in and asked me to do a bit of work for them around the time colour televisions came out,” he said.
“I was doing a bit of everything then, there were some repairs with TV antennas which branched into actual repairs of TVs and whatnot.
“That was the start of my career and in January 1981 I started to work for myself.
“I was in my early 20s at that point and I also worked at Three Square service station and as a projectionist at the Drive Inn until it closed and my business got established.”
It didn’t take long for the white goods business to become its own, with Jesse taking on local jobs in Maryborough, Talbot, Dunolly, Carisbrook, Avoca and Clunes all the way out to Ballarat, Bendigo, Boort and St Arnaud.
Working in the industry for close to 50 years and for himself for more than 40, Jesse is now a household name for many in the district.
While much has changed in that time as technology became more complex, Jesse said the one thing that hasn’t changed and has always been a personal highlight is helping others.
“The best part of the job has always been helping people and getting good results,” he said.
“It’s never really been about the money for me, I’ve always just wanted to achieve a result and get something fixed for someone — the money’s nice of course but I’ve never looked at jobs with a dollar figure in mind.
“The customers that have been really nice to you, that certainly stays with you — the people who send you Christmas cards and consider you their friend, it means a great deal.”
It’s that attitude of giving back and supporting others that saw Jesse named as Citizen of the Year during local Australia Day celebrations in 2021 for his efforts with the local SES unit, of which he is a founding member.
Marking his retirement on January 1, Jesse said he will continue giving back to the community, but also start doing some things for himself.
“There are a few warranty companies I still have some jobs with and I’ll do the odd bit of work on a case-by-case basis to keep myself busy,” he said.
“I’ve never taken any long service leave or anything like that in all my years of work so it’ll be nice for things to be a bit quieter.
“I’ve got a vintage motorbike I want to work on in my spare time and I’ll still be busy with the SES, that’s something I’ll continue to do for as long as I can.”