Andrew McPhee

Epitome Andrew McPhee

A recommended read for young architects, young engineers and students. A story about two country boys who, through their own efforts and determination, drag themselves out of their narrow, small-town, limiting country lives and build a better future for themselves and their families. And the strong, intelligent and independent women who influenced their lives. Ken McKenzie, whose life was destined to be mentally disabled because he was sexually abused at the age of four. The reactions of adults around him caused greater trauma to his developing mind as a child than did the actual abuse. Through his own intelligence and determination, he was able to eventually overcome this emotional damage. The story follows the type of problems that an architect will often meet during their working life and how innovative they have to be when working in remote areas. Max Hillman, using a country boy's ability to solve problems, thinking from first principles, enabled himself to build a successful developing business against all of the difficulties that a city could throw at him. He organises his projects with precision but his careful planning is sometimes thrown into chaos by the actions of Bazza Murphy, a union site representative.