Back in 1974, after missing out on a carpentry job he had his eyes on, Kevin Swain jumped on-board working at the council working odd jobs in what he called a "temporary job".
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Forty-five years later, he's still there - despite the amalgamation of councils, the rapid rate of change of Orange and life becoming a whole lot different - and he acknowledges employees into their fifth decade of service are now few and far between.
"I never planned to stay here but it's a good job and the weeks turned into months and it went on from there," Mr Swain said.
"There were a lot of employees 10-15 years ago who had those [45] years up but they've obviously retired, nowadays there are a lot of jobs and people put in resumes and duck here and duck there so you probably won't get a lot of big numbers any more."
Mr Swain started on traffic control, labour duties and patching roads, which included helping complete the first crossing at Ophir Road in 1977, when he was still with Canobolas Council.
He moved across to Orange City Council in the same year when councils changed, and since then has jumped on-board rollers, graders, backhoes, trucks and everything in between working all around town.
I never planned to stay here but it's a good job and the weeks turned into months and it went on from there.
- Kevin Swain
In the late 1990s and early 2000s he moved into technical courses for surveying, including working with the stormwater harvesting, but now - while spending more time at a desk - still has a hand in nearly everything down at the McLachlan Street depot.
The biggest changes in his work have been around the increase in professionalism, with the "cowboy antics" he saw in his 20s completely removed from the job and health and safety taking control - which while Mr Swain said were needed he questions as to how far with "big brother watching".
"It's a very sterile environment and if there was fun in working with your mates, and it needed to be straightened up but it's a very straight-laced environment," he said.
"You need paperwork but everything is down to the nth degree to be documented. It's black and white, there's no grey."
The work has given him and his family reason to stay in Orange, too, with a regular paycheck landing each week enough to ground him in the region and giving him the chance to watch it change before his eyes.
"We think we're not doing too bad. We're too lazy for change," he joked.
"I grew up just out of Orange, family ties and work commitments for me and my wife kept us here. You get settled with kids growing up and going to school. The council was good to me and I didn't see the urge to try and switch."
He's been behind helping Orange's infrastructure - and consequently boundaries - grow far beyond where it was in the 70s, up into North Orange, as well as past the old quarry on Phillip Street and when the city ended at Racecourse Road.
With two sons - now adults - living in Orange and another in Canberra, Mr Swain is looking forward to putting his feet up in the coming few years in a well-earned retirement.
"We brought a caravan two years ago, there's a lot of Australia we haven't seen," he said.
"I like doing work at home and a bit of a handyman so made a rod for my own back with the kids, them asking if I can do this or if I can do that ... I need to have a project."
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