Without a moment’s hesitation, Richard jumped on the phone to call the company’s head office, and began an interrogation of the man on the other end – Ken Fletcher: ‘could the Dotrix run wallpaper?’ he asked, and ‘did they have capacity for a trial? How soon could he and his brother come down to see it in action?’

Ken was more than willing to entertain Richard’s questions, and they settled on a time to meet.

All that was left was for Richard to place a quick call to Bryce – “on your way back from Paris, meet me in Sydney – we’re looking at a printer.”

So, bleary-eyed and jet-lagged, Bryce met Richard and Dad in Sydney, and they went to look at the Dotrix. They brought with them the last 984 feet of their $7,000 European wallpaper base. It was placed on the Dotrix, and they all watched in stunned silence as it went whizzing through the machine. With the last meters of paper running through the machine, this was their last, best hope at turning the tide in their favor.

“This,” the brothers said to each other, “is either going to be the start of us, or the end.”

Thankfully, the trial was a undeniable success and Milton & King was now printing wallpaper at up to 104 feet per minute, propelling their production capabilities to new heights.