Half-century: Angela and Joe Di Conza have sold Pat and Tina’s BP in Shepparton North. The sale ends the family’s 50-year association with the business. Photo credit: Rodd Young
“It was funny today because the storms were happening, and we slept in, and we heard a big clap of thunder, and Ange looks up and goes, ‘Ahh, it’s half past eight, and we’re still in bed, this is no good’.”
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The sleep-ins might be something Joe and Angela Di Conza eventually get used to, but after decades of 12-hour days running Pat and Tina’s BP petrol station in Shepparton North, it might take some time.
The family’s association with the business was bookended by floods in 1974 and 2022. It has been sold to a company with sites across the country, although it has pledged to maintain the driveway service.
The ‘Pat’ in Pat and Tina’s was Joe’s dad, who started the business way back in 1973 and wasn’t thinking of a short-term commitment when he did.
“My dad, before he passed, he always said, ‘I want you to try to achieve your 50 if you can’. We did our 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years. He wanted to do that half-century,” Joe said.
Downtime: Joe and Angela Di Conza are looking forward to more sleep-ins after decades of 12-hour days and seven-day working weeks.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
Joe and Angela have done that. They’ve notched up the 50 years, but not without a lot of sacrifices.
Their last holiday together was their honeymoon in 1997. Any others involved one parent taking the children while the other parent watched over the business.
There have been financial challenges as the David taking on the corporate Goliaths, but good relationships with the banks, BP and their customers got them through.
“BP have been very good, they’ve extended a bit of credit for us to help us go through the periods of difficulty,” Joe said.
“The bank managers have been terrific. We’ve been very fortunate.
“There’s been a couple of times over the years we really thought that we might have gone under, but the community stood by us, and they supported us.”
The story of Pat and Tina’s has similarities with many in the Goulburn Valley. It started with migrants arriving from Italy with very little before building a long-lasting, far-reaching family enterprise.
“Like all other Italian and Greek and Albanian migrants who hit Australia in the early ’50s and early ’60s. All they had was on their backs,” Joe said.
“All they had was their clothes and their little suitcase, and they built — I may be a bit biased — but they built this community.
“The Goulburn Valley was based on the migrants that came out of Europe after the war, and they worked hard, but my dad said, ‘When I turn 70, Joe, I’m gonna buy an RV. I’m gonna travel this country because this country was good to us, and it was good to me, and I love being Australian’, and he was proud.”
Full circle: The Di Conza family’s 50-year association with Pat and Tina’s BP in Shepparton North was bookended by floods in 1974 and 2022.
Cheers all round: A diehard Melbourne supporter, Joe Di Conza delivered on his promise to give out free beer to customers when the Demons won the 2021 AFL premiership.
Photo by
Rodney Braithwaite
Pat and Tina built the business, after which Joe and Angela reinforced the legacy with a simple philosophy.
“My dad had the philosophy that we don’t have customers,” Joe said.
“You have friends and family, and you treat your friends and your family like that.
“Always smile, always be polite and respect each other.”
That has included driveway service for customers, including a fill-up, a check of the water and tyres, as well as a lengthy dissection of the Melbourne Football Club’s fortunes, if you had time.
“Without bragging, I probably know 95 per cent of my customers,” Joe said.
“I know them by name. I know who their kids are. I know who their grandchildren are. I know what footy team they follow.
“I’ve got old customers who have been there since I was five. They call me Joey. To them, I’ll always be the little Joey who used to be always running around.
“They were my mum and dad’s foundation customers.
“Things like that I’m going to sadly miss, but life’s got to move on, and we’ve achieved our 50 years.”
Joe and Angela say they are too young to retire, but will take some time before deciding their next move, although that will definitely include making their ageing mums greater priorities and some more sleep-ins — storms permitting.
Lifetime of memories: Joe and Angela Di Conza with some of their treasured memories from the decades involved with Pat and Tina’s BP.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
