In the 1880’s they moved to the small town of Broken Hill, 5 years before BHP was formed in 1885. It was here that they honed their skills as workers in the fast evolving quarrying and mining industry. After nearly 2 decades in Broken Hill they took this knowledge back to South Australia where in the early 1900’s they began to look for opportunities for themselves.

With a solid background in mining and quarrying it was not long before they established themselves carting for a local quarry. The second generation of O’Neils were keen to follow on in the industry and before long JJ O’Neil and Sons were carting full time for a number of quarries.

In 1927 the depression hit South Australia earlier than in the other states and had a serious effect on the O’Neils. Horricks Pass was nearly complete and with no other opportunities in Adelaide the O’Neils decided to move to Perth with a number of their workers who had hitched their future with the O’Neils. In addition to the people who moved with the O’Neils to Western Australia there was all the equipment including a small crusher, trucks, horses and dray and all of the household furniture- all the equipment they would need for Western Australia and which would have been impossible to sell in Adelaide because of the depressed condition.

The quarry for sale was “Gosnells” about 25 km out of Perth. “Gosnells” almost bought about their ruin due to the particularly abrasive rock that took its toll on the equipment. Perseverance and the discovery of a better deposit on the other side of the hill turned the quarry around and ultimately Gosnells became one of Australia’s most significant quarries.

In the 1950’s ABM expanded into Darwin and Canberra and by the late 1950’s the group was the largest quarrying company in Australia. The 50’s also was the start of this generations move into the concrete industry. By the end of the decade 5 concrete plants had been established in the Sydney Area.

By this time, the third generation of O’Neils had gained a foothold into the highly competitive Long Distance Transport industry in the Northern Territory. This gave them the skills and desire to expand further and with their love of trucks it was not long before moved back into the transport of quarry material in their own right.

Hymix Australia was formed, which had quarries in Victoria NSW and Queensland. Concrete Batch Plants soon followed, and Hymix established a presence along the east coast of Australia as one of countries premier independent concrete suppliers.