Mannion Drilling is the only exploration and water drilling contractor based in the Gunnedah and Mudgee area. Holding ongoing long standing contracts with both major mining contractors in the Gunnedah area through excellent safety performance, environmental awareness and production levels, we have cemented ourselves as the contractor of choice for drilling services.
Mannion Drilling is a family business which has been operating over 100 years in the area, developing an unmatched experience and knowledge of the drilling conditions encountered and the underground aquifers in the area.
With an extensive fleet of fully MDG15 compliant Drill rigs and ancillary equipment, Mannion Drilling are fully equipped to complete any drilling program required.
Our Gunnedah and Mudgee operations are equipped with modern administration and training facilities, fully functional workshop, extensive parts and consumables inventory. We have the infrastructure on hand to ensure our field operations are fully backed and supported for all projects.
Our Staff are all fully qualified and experienced operators with knowledge of the drilling conditions in our area of operations, which is only attainable with local experience, and several of them being fully licenced water bore drillers.
While an exact date cannot be traced as to when Charles Cox first started drilling, it is estimated to be just after his discharge from the First World War Charles married Rosina Rettke and they had four sons and three daughters and at one stage all four sons and three son-in-laws were drilling in Queensland and Northern NSW.
Daughter Ivy (Mannion) recalled from her early childhood that Charles had a thrashing machine which was driven by a steam-traction engine, and this was taken from property to property helping the farmers with their harvest. Her first memories of a drilling rig were in the early 1920s when Charles operated his rig in the Morven area, but it could well have been earlier.
Charles had the distinction of owning the first T-model Ford in the Freestone area, on Queensland’s Darling Downs. Charles and Rosina’s eldest son Albert (Jack) was a drilling contractor at Moree and sons Ray and Greg were also drillers for a time. Their second son, Charles (Bill) Cox drilled around the Warwick area. Mervyn (Snow) worked with his father in Queensland and northern NSW and eventually settled at Quirindi. The youngest son Ron was at Boggabri and one of his sons, Malcolm was also drilling for a while.
Charles and Rosina’s eldest daughter Daisy married Arthur (Larl) Shelley and they settled at Goondiwindi and their four sons Ken, Keith, Arthur and Ian were also driller’s. The second daughter, Ivy married J.W. George Mannion and he was a driller and four of their six sons at one staged worked on the rigs. Sons Mervyn (Curly) and Leonard (George) worked with Snow Cox, eventually taking over his business.
Ivy and George’s second son, Neville, based himself in Delungra, where Neville taught Jason from a very young age the in’s and out of drilling. The youngest daughter, Myrtle, married John Shelley and they too settled at Goondiwindi and their two sons Lionel and Arthur were drillers, whilst Lionel’s two sons Bob and Kevin were also drilling in Queensland.
Jason Mannion purchased the business from his parents, Dorothy and Neville Mannion in 2000, Four years later, Jason and Jacinta married and built the workshop at Inverell that same year. In 2005, Jason and Jacinta welcomed the 5th Generation of Mannion Drilling, their son, Mitchell Mannion. The next year, they celebrated the safe arrival of identical twin daughters Grace and Zara and purchased a brand-new rig, a THD25 Bourne drill.
The family relocated to Gunnedah in 2011 to expand operations, three years prior to Neville’s passing, and moved into the Mannion Drilling purpose-built office and workshop in 2017, while 2020 proved to be a huge year with the purchase of a MD65 Hands Free Drill Rig, and just a few months after that, the acquisition of Gricks Drilling, where they expanded operations throughout the region of Mudgee. Extensions to the office were completed to accommodate the expansion of the business.
While textbooks can be written about drilling techniques and advances made to rigs by modern technology, many interesting stories can be told by the Cox family members about drilling – from the deep holes in the Great Artesian Basin, to the Gulf and down into the thick gravel beds producing irrigation water in the Namoi Valley, and now coal exploration is the “buzz” word.
Jason Mannion
Jason is the Managing Director of Mannion Drilling who oversees all aspects of the business and is also often out drilling on the Mannion Water Bore Rigs.
After leaving school, Jason worked within the family business as a driller’s assistant and worked up to being a driller under the direction of his father, Neville Mannion, which led him to his current position of Managing Director from 2000.
Jason enjoys fishing, outdoor adventures with Jacinta and their 3 kids, and browsing online auction sites for his next piece of machinery.
Jacinta Mannion
Jacinta is the General Manager of Mannion Drilling and covers operations, financial relations, and business development and marketing.
Jacinta has been involved with the family business since meeting Jason back in 1999. She enjoys entertaining her friends and family in her spare time, whether its whipping up the Gunnedah Show prize-winning sponge cake or camp oven to share with friends.
