Ararat-based AF Gason acquires caravan business Trakmaster

The heating and machinery manufacturer has announced the purchase of the Trakmaster caravan business.

Trakmaster specialises in building off-road caravans designed to handle the unique rigours of the Australian outback. 

The acquisition might seem an unlikely takeover target for a company well-known for producing wood heaters and farming equipment.

However, Gason managing director Terry Pye said the business actually had a history of caravan building dating right back to the 1940s.

He said founding father Frank Gason built his first caravan for personal use in 1949 and then in the 1950s and 60s manufactured them for both state authorities and recreational users.

At that stage, Gason’s core business was producing tractor cabins, which back then did not come standard on tractors but were retrofitted.

“There came a point where we had to make a decision whether we expanded the tractor cab business or went with caravans and a decision was made to go with the cabs,” Mr Pye said. “But tractor cabs eventually became an integral part of the production by the (tractor) manufacturers, so it disappeared.

“We then chose to supply other agricultural products like planting and seeding products, which remains a big part of our business today.”

Mr Pye said while Trakmaster would continue to run as a separate entity in Bayswater, there would be benefits for Ararat community, where Gason employs 130 people.

“This acquisition will enable us to continue to grow our business in a market to which we have historical connections and at a time when the baby boomers are taking a keen interest in outback travel,” he said.

“It certainly gives our people in Ararat the feeling that we’re progressive and not frightened of entering markets which we’ve been in in the past.”

In fact, Gason has a track record of making a return to manufacturing products from its past, with the 2010 acquisition of Chris Grow mowers and slashers.

“That was a ‘back to the future’ moment because we’d been in mowers but got out because the timing wasn’t right,” Mr Pye said.

“But many, many years later we decided that Chris Grow’s got a good product and it fits in with our agriculture, so weren’t frightened to go back into a market – and it’s been very successful for us.”

Since AF Gason was founded in 1946, Mr Pye said it had been an integral part of Ararat as both a major employer and supporter of community organisations.

“Our workforce is very stable and 70 per cent are skilled people – skilled painters, welders, engineers – which is different from having a large casual workforce,” he said.