Celebrating 50 years of Monadelphous

This year, Monadelphous celebrates its 50th birthday so we are taking a trip down memory lane, finding out where our name originated from, what it represents and who exactly ‘Susie’ was. 

Read along to find out the answers to these questions. 

The Monadelphous name

The Monadelphous name is inspired by the botanical term, where plant stamens and filaments unite to form a single bundle. The hibiscus is a great example of this. 

Our name signifies the coming together of many to a single point for strength and unity of purpose. It was chosen because Monadelphous represented the creation of a diversified professional organisation servicing the requirements of the resource industry in the Australasian region.

Who was Susie?

Susie was our first and largest crawler crane rated at 150 tonnes. Susie was big, red and, to the people of Monadelphous, a symbol of the business’ growth. 

Susie was purchased in the late 90s for $1.5 million, making it the biggest crane and investment we had made up until that point.  

The investment paid off as it enabled work to be completed more efficiently on site. The advantage of crawler cranes is that they can travel with a load to move around on site and perform lifts with little set-up.  

Today, our modern heavy lift fleet consists of: 

• Heavy-lift crawler cranes, from 110 tonnes to 750 tonnes capacity 
• Mobile all-terrain hydraulic cranes, from 25 tonnes to 450 tonnes 
• Self-propelled modular trailers (SPMT) up to 4,000 tonnes 
• Modular hydraulic jacking system, with 1,100 tonne capacity 
• An extensive range of ancillary lifting and rigging equipment
• Lifting and rigging studies

As we reflect on 50 years of operations, the purchase of Susie was a defining moment for Monadelphous and the start of many innovations to improve efficiency for our customers. 

If you have any photographs, memorabilia, merchandise or pieces of history from the last 50 years relating to working at Monadelphous, please reach out to Marketing and Communications via communications@monadel.com.au