David Haymes has opened up about his adoption for the project, done to mark the end of the company’s 80^th year. 

A chapter in the book – ‘I was chosen’ – looks at his birth father’s death in the Second World War and how he wasn’t just invited in to the family business by his adoptive father Henry Haymes. 

Mr Haymes said it was just part of who he was. 

“It’s never been an issue for me. I knew from day one I was adopted: I was chosen,” he said. 

Local historian Phil Roberts wrote the book, called Paint Running through the Veins. 

It will be launched on June 4, with copies to go to family and current and former workers at the paint company. 

Mr Haymes said their continued focus on keeping the company in the family made them an outlier.  “We’ve been very fortunate I think, 80 years on we are still a family-owned manufcaturing business here in Australia.”