Drilling for liquid gold and angels

Orange-based CBJ Drilling owners Donna and Bryan Jones are this year’s proud sponsors of the Angel of the Year award.

“I like that Central West Mums hosts a constant dialogue of questions and advice and nobody ever gets on the site and says ‘that’s a dumb question’,” Donna said. “I see women there that have done really well in life giving really solid advice to someone who hasn’t done so well. I think that’s funny in some ways, because in real life they probably wouldn’t meet or talk, yet here they are having a dialogue.”

Water bore experts

Their 3rd generation company employs their son and highly skilled, licensed staff and is renowned for sourcing aquifer-fed water for stock, domestic and commercial bores in ways that respect the surrounding environment and the resource. Obligation free water bore construction, relining and bore maintenance throughout NSW is their game.

Donna and Bryan have also raised three daughters and share their views of lifting up women wherever possible. First-hand experience has taught them that if you’re struggling you need to get help from someone else.

A helping hand when needed

“I’m generally not a Facebook person, but I do find myself gravitating to CWM there because for a lot of topics being discussed I’ve been in that situation and I feel that if they don’t know that there is something better, and are unlikely to hear it from their circles in life, they won’t know.”

The reverse happens here too, she said, where higher profile women also receive great advice for their situation(s). “I think that is incredible; this back and forth between people who don’t know each other, whatever stage they’re at,” she said. “The quality of the replies on the site blows me away, and it’s not necessarily the sort of advice that your mums and dads would give you.”

Personal attention is key

CBJ Drilling is family operated and boasts that 100% of their drillers are licensed. Bryan attends every initial consultation of where to site the bore, and is involved through the entire process to handing over the paperwork for the completed bore.

“It’s been a very unregulated industry,” Donna said. “But, it’s not just a job for us. We look at it quite differently. We see ourselves as guardians of the aquifers and we would never want to contaminate them with iron, for example, or risk its life-time or drill downhill from a septic or through underground services etc.”

While they are kept busy at farms and in town blocks, CBJ also do a lot of schools, airfields, railways, vineyards, golf courses and orchards. “We are also finding that the newer five-acre blocks popping up often do not have a town water supply, so we are doing bores there so people can have green lawns but importantly flush their toilets, too.”

Donna and Bryan have their own land and beautiful garden out of town and are on tank water. They have access to large quantities of water through their bore but use it judiciously to prolong the life of their aquifer.

“Ten-minute showers for us just don’t happen,” she laughed, “and people around us on these small rural blocks people are the same position and are calling us because it takes a big adjustment to look after the water you’ve got.”

As drillers, CBJ understands that there are many small aquifers in this region and that any three neighbors might have three different sources to their bores. They know the risks and pay particular attention to explaining the process and costs of each job, and as a result have accumulated a very strong client base and reputation.

Drilling deep guarantees finding nature’s liquid gold

There are many parallels with Donna and Bryan’s business and family approach to that of the CWM group, who lift one another and take responsibility for their community.

This is why they are the ideal couple to sponsor the 2023 Angel of the Year award. “We have always been interested in anything that will turn a girl into an incredible young lady – as shown with our daughters. And we both feel that if you are lucky in life, you really do need to keep passing it on. We’re all about lifting up women!”

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