If you were a coal miner enjoying the economic boom on the east coast of Queensland, Australia, the must-have trophy was a Harley-Davidson.
When, in 2007, Scott Gralow bought Mackay Motorcycles in the town of Mackay, he sold 150 of the beasts, not bad for a place of just over 100,000 people. The following year, sales were even better, reaching 210, turning the company into one of the biggest regional Harley dealers Down Under.
“They were basically miners,” Gralow says of the customers who drove his record sales. “The price was not an issue, they just wanted them.”
The global financial crisis barely registered as resource prices rose, investment flooded in and fortunes were made. Cooks and construction workers, truck drivers and mechanics, there were stories of high-school drop-outs making up to $200,000 (?128,000) a year.
It’s a different story today. Falling resource prices have seen thousands of workers laid off in Australia. In Queensland, more than 8000 coal mining jobs have gone in the past 18 months.
Towns like Mackay have suffered more than most. “Boom boom” has gone from Mackay, where Harley sales are down 15 per cent from their peak.
There is one bright spot, however – the local second-hand classified magazine. “There are lots of bikes in there,” Gralow says, “probably twice as many pages as before.
“It was a surprise that it happened that quickly,” says Gralow, who must be hoping the good times roll again, and soon.
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