2021 Honorary Fellow – Steve Ellis

This year we recognised Steve Ellis with an Honorary Fellowship, presented in recognition of long-standing service to the IOQNZ.

Steve was brought up in a family that owned quarries in Christchurch and in his own words “a family of pebble gatherers”.

He began working with his dad after the family business was awarded a contract in Gisborne, dredging and widening the Waipoa River shifting a million m3. He worked on a dredge and halfway through the job they purchased 3 dumpers.
When this job finished, he moved to Auckland with the 3 dumpers.

Between 1973 and 1979 he worked at the Kopuka coal mine on hire for Stevenson operating the dumpers, and then went to Drury for 6 months as well as completing some time at Mt Smart Quarry both in dumpers and on the crushers.

In 1980 he went to Greenmount and East Tamaki Quarries driving a dumper and after 12 months Jack Stevenson offered Steve a role as a supervisor at the Quarry. He was then appointed as the Quarry Manager of Green Mount and East Tamaki quarries and 1986.

In 1991 he was transferred to Drury Quarry as the Quarry Manager and later he was then given the role of Operations Manager for East Tamaki – Green Mount – Huntly, Kaiaua and Drury.

In 2005 he was promoted to General Manager of Quarries for Stevensons.

In 1989 he joined as a member of Institute of Quarrying, and in 1990 became a committee member of the IOQ Auckland Branch for several years including two years as the branch chairman. He was also member of IOQNZ Quarry Conference organising committee in Auckland 2001 and in the same year was awarded the Viking Conveyor Paykel Shield for “outstanding service to Auckland Branch over the years” .

In 2005 he was elected President of The Institute of Quarrying for a period of two years.

He and his Stevenson Drury Quarry’s team were proud recipients of the Worksafe Chief Inspectors Award in 2017, and in 2020 he was awarded the Auckland Branch Mimico Quarry Mentor award.

In addition to this, Steve has offered up a lot of his time on many representative groups supporting the quarrying industry including the New Zealand Board of Examiners.

Jayden Ellis accepted the Honorary Fellow award on his father’s behalf.