WHEN Dan Piacun was just a young child living on the Gold Coast his mother found him one day talking to an imaginary friend.
Asked who he was chatting with he said “it’s my mate from the mountain.”
He was referring to a young lad he had met years before who hailed from Canungra.
Now almost 40 years that imaginary friend is now one of Dan’s many mates.
He talked about the incident as he was explaining his close affiliation to Canungra, an area he has been in love with since he moved here as a teenager in the late 90’s.
When he arrived in town he was still midway through his fitter and turner’s apprenticeship so he boosted his few weekly dollars by helping local fencer Mick Corcoran and also working behind the bar at the Canungra Hotel.
He remembers those early jobs fondly saying how he learnt a lot from MIck and also how the publican told him he was more suited to being out in front of the bar than behind it.
While he had a young friend to look up when he decided to move to Canungra he also had another lure to call the area home.
He had met Janine McKay the daughter of a local family and he was keen to develop that relationship.
He was successful in that pursuit marrying Janine a few years later and they now have three children, Jack, Mitchell and Madelyn.
Their first home was just a small cottage which they bought from Janine’s father Stuart .
“I’m sure he gave it to us at a good price because I was talking about moving Janine to Tenterfield,” Dan said.
“Part of the arrangement was that I could run cattle on the adjacent land and that got me started as a farmer .”
Dan and Janine now own a 250acre property at Double Crossing and he combines running his business, Nationwide Engineering Services, with cattle farming.
His engineering company has established an excellent reputation over the past 20 years servicing the waste, meat processing and agricultural industries as well as undertaking general engineering, fabrication and installation projects.
In his early years Dan tried his luck as a bull rider but after earning just one cheque for $140 and almost destroying his body in a “bad buster” at Rathdowney he put away the spurs and settled down to family life.
“We have loved our life here in this beautiful area and we have made many life-time friends, it’s how it goes here in Canungra people care about each other,” he said.
“The kids work at the local shops, the business is going well and we are dedicated to our farm and the cattle.
“I would like one day to have a big property, but that’s in the future.”
Dan is heavily involved with the Canungra Show and has been the Fat Cattle Steward for the past few years after he was handed the role by local graziers – Doug Bradfield and Derek Finch.
As in everything he does Dan committed himself to that role and the Fat Cattle section of the show continues to be strong.
As if running a farm, raising a family and maintaining a profitable business isn’t enough Dan is also the President of the Canungra Sports and Recreation Ground.
