Transmission October 2014 - National Road Transport Hall of Fame

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ReUnion
2015
Issue No # 26: OCTOBER 2014
The
Annual
Australia’s biggest truckie’s reunion
* Alice Springs
25 August - 31 August 2015
ReUnion 2014 a great
success, now for 2015!
New
New in
in the
the Collection
Collection
This Bedford was
donated by Mark
Robinson. He
took a holiday and
delivered it from
Melbourne.
Any thoughts about ReUnion 2014, being
‘the one before the big one’ being smaller
than usual were ousted when nearly 750
guests attended to see 97 pioneers inducted.
CEO Liz Martin said she was again astounded
at the calibre of the inductees, “ This is such a
diverse industry and we see people here from
all sectors and eras of the industry”.
Well known on the
Hume Highway and
in the eastern states
is Graham Tomkins’ (Mouse) ‘pop
up toaster’ Volvo.
Mouse drove the
truck up himself.
Liz also paid tribute to the sponsors without
whom the event could not happen.
“Shell Rimula , now Viva Energy, have been
amazing sponsors for 15 years. They are a
company that truly appreciates not only the
historical significance of our industry but its
very real contribution to Australias economy”.
Special thanks
to Kingsley
Foreman from
Adelaide who
donated this
International
tow truck
This Scania
113 bus was
donated and
delivered by
David Kent
from Port
Pirie Bus
Services
Cummins
Thank You David
Kent for bringing
our vehicles to Alice
Thanks to
Gary Radford
of Broken
Hill who
donated this
Toyota bus.
There was much
excitement all
round when the
Kenworth Dealer
Council arrived
with this T909
Directors Special
which is no#48
in the series.
Thanks to Neil
Bright for donating
his fathers Fordson
tractor and 1927
International tipper
Thanks to GST Tspt,
ABC Tspt and Buddy
Holland Transport for
getting them here
Other major sponsors of the ReUnion events
were Kenworth, Cummins, NC2 (CAT), NTI,
Mack Trucks, Roadtrains of Australia, The
Cooper Family, A&F Transport, the NT Govt
and Owner Driver magazine.
Special thanks
to Cummins for
again sponsoring the race day.
Simon Pratt is
here with Jill
and Ray Scott
Amazing Find Great Memories: Buntine RTA
The Buntine/RTA
reunion was a
huge success with
people coming in
from all over the
country to celebrate. Gulf RTA’s
Jim Cooper is
pictured here with
Patty
Buntine.
Both are legends
in their own right!
Thirty five years
ago Keith Mardon
took the sword off
the Rotinoff thinking the truck would
be scrapped and the
sword lost forever.
He has now donated
the Sword to the Hall
of Fame. You can
read about his story
on Page #6.
Thanks to
Mack Trucks
Australia for
sending John
Flynn up to
attend the
Buntine RTA
ReUnion.
See Inside on Page #5
for more
details.
$750 - SPECIAL
REUNION 2015
LIFE MEMBERSHIP
2015 Membership fees are NOW due.
Pure Kenworth Magic
Transmission
Recent visitors to the National
Road Transport Hall of Fame
were these T904’s belonging to
NT Hauliers. They looked just
as immaculate close up
REUNION 2014
From Darwin to Adelaide and from Perth to
Cairns they came from all over the country to
enjoy ReUnion 2014 and Pre-dinner drinks
and nibbles in the Kenworth Museum
Notice
Board 2015
REUNION
courtesy of
Put it in your diary
25-31 August
2015 in
Alice Springs
BOOK NOW
Ph 08 89527161
Kenworth Dealer Hall of Fame extension starts
Correspondence To:
The Editor, Liz Martin OAM
PO Box 8099, Alice Springs, 0871
The much anticipated extension
to the Kenworth Dealer Hall of
Fame has begun with the concrete
slab being poured. The huge 2000
square metre extension is due to be
completed in March 2015, ready for
the National Transport Hall of Fame
20th Reunion in August.
The project contractors, Mildura
Civil Constructions, advise the steel
structure has been designed with
insulated panelling to help keep the
building cool without the use of air
conditioning.
Kenworth
celebrates
50 years
in New
Zealand
with 300
Kenworths
turning up
to the
festivities
On Saturday, 13 September 2014, New Zealand celebrated 50 years of Kenworth trucks
being imported into the country with a remarkable display at the ASB Arena, Baypark,
Tauranga, where 300 Kenworth trucks from across New Zealand were on show to mark
the milestone.
300 Kenworth Trucks on display at ASB Arena, Baypark, Tauranga New Zealand. Despite
the heavy rain the event attracted over 6000 attendees from all over the country, with trucks
on display spanning over 5 decades. Classic and contemporary models were exhibited
including one of the first Kenworth trucks imported into New Zealand in 1964, a model
848 owned by Hayden Hardgrave and one of the first two trucks to be assembled at the
Bayswater facility in Melbourne Australia, a K125CR chassis number 40002, shipped to
New Zealand in 1971 for the Shell Oil Co. Ltd.
Southpac Trucks organisers of the event based the theme of the celebrations around Steptoe
a L924, due to the mass of historical data available on this truck. Steptoe, chassis number
82363 was built and shipped in 1965 to work for Howard Brothers of Kotemaori and is believed to be one of the longest-working Kenworth trucks in the country. Truck award prizes
were presented on the day with Steptoe owner Ian Storey receiving best Classic Truck as
voted by the people. The celebrations ended with a gala dinner attended by over 600 VIP
customers, Kenworth operators, Southpac and PACCAR representatives.
Phone Contacts
Truck Museum Train Museum CEO’s Office
Caretakers Res
Caretaskers Residence (2)
08 8952 7161
08 8952 7161
08 8953 8940
0429 201 549
0421 771 412
Chairperson
David Kent
0429 201 549
Chief Executive
Liz Martin OAM 0429 201 549
[email protected]
Editorial and Advertising
Liz Martin
0429 201 549
[email protected]
Contributions This Issue
Liz Martin
Sherrill Ives
Photographs
John O’Brien
Sherrill Ives
Shell Company
David Kent
Editorial
Enquiries to the Editor. Liz Martin
Annual Subscription
$25.00 per annum for three consecutive
issues. NOTE: Transmission Newsletter is
included in Membership Fees.
*****************************************
All members and friends
are invited to contribute
*****************************************
Disclaimer
The statements in this publication, while
based on information believed to be true
at the time of print, are not in any way
guaranteed or endorsed. No liability will
be accepted by the Road Transport Historical Society Inc. for accuracy or correctness
of content of any article or member contributions. Likewise, all photographs are
believed to have been credited correctly.
Transmission
3
Board of Management 2014
Acting C.E.O. PATRON Chairperson Vice Chair (IT and Vols)
Vice Chair (Business)
Secretary Treasurer
Past Chair
Grounds
Workshop
Kenworth Jim
Old Ghan Railway South Australia
Victoria
Queensland
West Australia New South Wales Tasmania Liz Martin OAM
Lew Couper
Liz Martin OAM
Sherrill Ives
Steve Radford
Penny Smith
Graham Holmes
David Kent
Kelvin Davis
Joe Patten
(JJ) Hurley
Kelvin Davis
Ray Scott
*VACANT*
Louie Deen
Frank Marley
Steve Radford
*VACANT*
Road Transport Historical
Society Incorporated
The Road Transport Historical Society Inc. is a
community based volunteer organisation dedicated to the preservation and presentation of
our unique transport history.
The National Road Transport Hall of Fame
in Alice Springs is the primary project of the
Society. It is a collection of old trucks, vintage
and veteran cars and collection of photographs
and memorabilia representing the very diverse
operation of road transport in Australia. The
display includes a workshop and maintenance
facility and the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame.
It also includes the magnificent Kenworth
Dealer Hall of Fame where the history of this
fine company is exhibited in a state-of-the-art
museum that is constantly being upgraded. It
has recently been expanded by another 2000 sq
metres and does the industry proud.
The Society is also responsible for the Old
Ghan Train Museum which is an integral part
of Central Australia’s heritage. This division
boasts a tea-room, museum and most recently,
miniature rail train rides. The newest part of the
Museum is the Camel display in the museum
and the Garden of Games where you can play
garden sized chess, dominoes and draughts.
The affairs of the Society and all its divisions
are managed by a Board of Management duly
elected by the membership. All members of
this Board work in a voluntary capacity. Once
they set direction and policy the task of day to
day operational management is contracted to a
Chief Executive Officer or General Manager.
Roving Ambassadors
Sandra Sauer
Frank Whiting and Lee Davidson
Dianne and Kevin Shay
Greg Whitford and Annette Bateson
Yvonne Ball and Keith Holden
Len and Helen Gardner
Margaret Leese
Road Transport, Carrying Australia
Yesterday, Today and Tommorrow
Chairpersons
Report
with
Liz Martin
Reunion 2014 was a great success
achieved only by the dedication of the
people involved. Congratulations to the
97 inductees, families and friends who
made this event happen. There are many
people the Board of Management need
to thank - Sherrill Ives, Dallas Baldock,
David Kent and Kel Davis who are my
‘hands on’ team members on the ground.
I also acknowledge my Wall of Fame
team Greg Whitford, Annette Bateson,
David Kent, Sherrill Ives, Kevin and Di
Shay, Joanne Scott and Margaret Leese
who return every year to assist with the
reunion. They literally put in thousands
of hours collating and publishing the stories of the inductees, arranging events,
managing volunteers and co-ordinating
sponsors and handling bookings. This
also involves collating, publishing and
media releases but preparing the stories
to go on our website and our induction
powerpoint presentation.
Thanks must also go to “the boys” in
the yard who look after everything
from feeding birds, driving the mini
train to washing trucks and building
exhibits. There are too many names to
mention here but likewise for the girls
(and blokes) who man reception and
assist in the Ghan Tea Rooms. As one
sponsor said, We are a fine tuned wheel
with many spokes keeping us turning!
It was also great to see Ray Scott, the
Radfords, Buddy Holland, and others
who brought in their trucks for the day.
A special mention must go to the Kenworth Dealer Council who delivered a
truly spectacular T909 Directors Special
which will go on permanent display, to
Mack Trucks Australia who transported
John Flynn, my second favourite Mack
Bi-centennial (I so love that truck). By
the way.......my first favourite is Henry
Lawson but he lives in the Alice anyway!
The Board of Management also extends
its appreciation to our sponsors. There
is no way we could run an event like
this without their support and they just
keep on delivering for us. Thanks to
Viva Energy (Shell Rimula), Kenworth
Trucks, Cummins Engines, NC2 Global
(Cat), Big Rigs and Owner Driver, Eaton
Transmission, Jost, NTI, A&F Transport,
GST Transport, Port Pirie Bus Service,
G&S Transport, ABC Transport, Buddy
Holland Transport, Tanami Transport and
the many others who assist us in a whole
raft of ways. In closing, DRIVE SAFE
and we’ll see all
you next year at
“the big one”.
Liz Martin OAM
Transmission
4
Congratulations to James; our 1000th Inductee
James Ashley has been profoundly deaf
since the day he was born. For his whole
life he has never heard a sound or spoken a word. Until he was 17 he attended
a school for the deaf.
His work in the transport industry began
when he was just 14 years of age. After
school and on weekends, young James
cleaned trucks for 50 cents a vehicle at
Toll’s Chadwick depot in Canterbury, New
South Wales. He loved the industry. By the
time he was 15 he was driving the trucks
around the yard. James was fairly short in
stature and needed to strap blocks under
his feet so he could reach the pedals.
On his leaving school James was offered
a full time job on the road with Toll Chadwick carrying general including brewery
supplies for the Kent and Waverly Breweries. For the first three years he drove a
Leyland Comet bogey and a Ford bogey.
He then drove for Lindsay Bros Transport hauling general, refrigerated vans
and fork truck deliveries. James was the
first deaf person to obtain a B-double licence in Sydney. His first semi was a
B-model Mack. For the next 20 years he
drove many B-doubles behind all kinds
of trucks including Kenworth, Mack and
Ford Louisvilles for Lindsay Brothers. He
later found employment with Johnston’s
Transport Industries and for the next eight
years carried out big machinery movements including operating heavy forklifts
and cranes, and doing low- loaders work
as well as carrying general freight. James
then spent the next four years with Booth
Transport where he drove B-doubles, tankers and forklifts.
After that James spent eight years driving
buses for Veolia Transport where he did
school runs, charters, and rail runs. One
of the highlights of James’ bus driving career was when he drove buses for the full
eight weeks of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. James has always had a keen interest
in sports and has dedicated much of his
life to deaf sports. He is recognised as the
founder of the N.S.W. Deaf Sports Association and has played basketball and rugby
league for N.S.W. and Australia.
A Trust for the Hall
Ray Scott with his wife Jill pictured at the
Cummins Cup during ReUnion 2014
Thanks to the efforts of Board members
Ray Scott and Steve Radford a foundation
has been established to give the National
Road Transport Hall of Fame a financial
backbone and economic stability as we
move into the future. This is a crucial part
of our succession planning as we move
into a new era. The trustees are Ray Scott,
Steve Radford and Liz Martin all of whom
have kickstarted the fund with a $5000
donation. Any-one who is interested in
contributing can buy in with a $5000 Gold
Life Membership. Call Liz 0429 201 549
Transmission
Our Volunteers hard at Work, Rest and Play
Triple trouble; Hall of Fame board members
Steve Radford, Frank Marley, Graham Holmes
Nobody wants to plumb the toilets and
fix the septics - all except Jeff - who
has done a marvelous job of looking
after our every plumbing requirement!
Sandra did a great
job in the tea rooms
Ray Scott also brought his immaculately
restored Autocar up from Mt Gambier for
the ReUnion where it attracted plenty of
attention from fellow trucking enthusiasts
Every Year we award a Life Membership to a worthy volunteer who goes above and
beyond the call of duty. This year it goes to a man who has endeared himself to the
hearts of all involved with the Hall of Fame. We only have to yell “Where’s Wally?”
and he responds with an “I am over here”. Our sincere congratulations go to Wally!
He is always ready to lend a hand with
turning the sausages, washing up, serving meals, sweeping and cleaning etc. It
doesnt matter if its early in the morning,
middle of the day or late at night Wally is
always there helping.
Everybody looks out for Wally and in
turn Wally looks out for everybody else.
“Where’s Wally?” is a frequent cry heard
around the grounds at all times of day and
night. Wally was also inducted into the
Wall of Fame in 2007. He started driving
trucks at just 18 years of age and went on
to drive for many including Tuits, Frank
O’Connell, Kortum Bros and Jack Grace.
Special thanks to Glen Sharman (above)
and the team at NC2 Global who sponsored the AllTruck Parts Big Rig Convoy
for 2014. They are also sponsoring the big
parade in 2015 which means we will be
able to keep the costs down for entries.
Whew..thats another lot fed! Bette, Irene B,
Sherrill and Irene S at the Cummins Cup
Smoko - David Kent & Wally Wathen
Shaun Thompsen and Marg Leese
had fun at the Volunteer barbeque
Sherrill offers a drag to the Shannon’s
Mercedes Actros when it came to visit
Long term volunteers Kev and Di
Shay did a great job helping with the
Wall of Fame stories and miniatures
He is generous in nature and loves the social life of our event and is known to kick
up his heels on the dance floor with those
much younger than he is!
Double trouble is our CEO Liz
Martin with Secretary Penny Smith
Board member Kel Davis has responsibility for looking after the grounds
NC2 Global (CAT)
in for the Long Haul to
Sponsor 2015 Parade
Come hell or high water, accidents and
breakdowns Wally always turns up to help
at our annual ReUnions. He is now 84
years of age. Some years ago his accommodation during the reunion was a canvas covered trailer. Now he hires a small
A-Van for some comfort he so deserves.
Well known tour coach operator Laurie McBeth
showing his photo/ scrap book to Sherrill Ives
Sherrill Ives giving Bob
McMillan an earful of advise
James became the first and only deaf driving instructor to teach the deaf to drive,
not only cars, but trucks. Over a period of
many years he has driven extended tours
for the deaf all over Australia and New
Zealand including outback safaris to the
top end of West Australia and far north
Queensland. For the last three years James
has been driving for Bankstown Coaches
Wally Wathen; our Volunteer of the Year 2014
Volunteers enjoying a welled earned coffee
break; Tim, Monty, Shaun David and Henry
Trevor Grenda and Joanne Scott
worked hard in many areas of the event
LEFT:
Not sure what these
two are up to Penny Smith and
Marg Leese
RIGHT:
Win Atkinson and
Dallas Baldock
having some fun
LEFT:
Volunteers Kevin
and Lorna assist
at reception and
where-ever needed
Some-ones got to do the everyday
typing - in this case it was Sofie!
RIGHT:
It’s no mean feat to
feed 600. It meant
all 50 volunteers
were on duty
Lynn Lieshout takes a
coffee break at the Ghan
Julie’s Sword Found
Our museum’s
25 year hunt
for a rare truck
ornament has
finally come to
an end after it
was found in a
north Queensland shed.
Retired mechanic Keith Mardon was
working in the Northern Territory in 1979
when he took a hood ornament shaped like
a sword off an old Rotinoff Viscount truck
sitting in a grave yard.
"I was looking for Hastings Deering brass
plaques because I collected them but I saw
that sword and thought bugger it, I'll have
that... so I chopped it off with an axle."
Little did Mr Mardon know the truck
would soon end up in Alice Springs under
restoration at the National Road Transport
Hall of Fame. There were only two made.
CEO Liz Martin says the two Rotinoffs,
although they had their problems, were regarded as the Rolls Royce of trucks in their
time. The Viscounts were designed by
English company Rotinoff Motors specifically to use as cattle hauling road trains
in Australia. They were both sold to Lord
Vestey in 1957 for use on his vast cattle
properties in the Northern Territory.
"We honestly thought, because it's such a
historic truck, and it's so significant also to
British road transport history, we thought
someone had souvenired the sword and
taken it back to London and it was in
someone's bar and we'd never see it again,"
said Ms Martin.
“We gave up the hunt four years ago and
decided to have replicas made. We tracked
down a mould and had two replicas made
which were personally carried out from
London to Alice Springs. I was speechless
when the original turned up" she said.
It didn't occur to Mr Mardon that the sword
could be so valuable until a friend travelled
to Alice Springs and mentioned he'd seen
the fully restored truck at the Hall of Fame.
It had been used as both an ornament and a
toy during its 30 years in his home.
"I used to keep it by the door, I had a big
brass shell case I brought back from New
Guinea and it used to stand in there with
an umbrella".
Transmission
Transmission
If you are going to induct some-one get it in early as possible. We can
not guarantee that we will be able to extend numbers. There will
definately be NO late entries accepted. Call Sherrill 0418 525 056
There are FOUR options for booking functions starting at $25.00 for
regsitration (which includes membership and entry) and ending with
$335 which includes entry and participation in all functions over the
four main days. Noting bar, food and entertainment is available all
week long. The requirement to book is for organised functions only.
Contact Liz Martin on email [email protected]
Sunny Warby’s Mack
Sunny Warby, a legend in his own time,
bought his B model Mack in 1965, when
he was just 23 years of age. He has had
the truck contiunuously since then
clocking up an amazing 50 years. The
truck is a regular feature at the Putty
Road Truck Drivers Memorial and will
be in Alice Springs for ReUnion 2015.
Sunny worked the Mack for Fridgemobile,
pulling their trailers for Streets until he
eventually bought his own trailer and went
into business doing general work. After a
few years, both Sunny and the Mack went
back to work for Fridgemobile for a while.
After deciding he wanted to work for himself again, he left the company and carted
produce and general loads Australia wide.
VALE: Dean McBride - 1933-2014
Territory Roadtrain Legend
So well known and well respected were
Sunny and his cherry-red Mack that everyone always recognised him and the truck.
‘Sunny Warby & Sons’ was scrolled on the
side. Sunny was known for his cheery big
smile and firm handshake with his usual
greeting, “G’day cobber, how the bloody
hell are ya?”
He drove their agitators, earth moving
gear, powder tankers and roadtrains to
Darwin, Cairns and Perth for many companies
including Blue Circle and Boral
but still, Sunny never forgot his beloved
B model and couldn’t bare to part with it.
It still plays an integral part at the annual
Putty Road Truck Drivers Memorial.
The old Mack and Sunny worked hard for
23 years up and down the highways until
the day Sunny reluctantly decided to give
the ‘old girl’ a much-deserved rest and retired her to his shed. Sunny, went on to
work for other companies.
You can often catch Sunny patting the ‘old
girl’ affectionately, remembering the good
old days when he and his Mack dazzled the
world clipping through the gears in the old
quad box. Sunny is considered to be one of
the best ‘Twin Stickers’ in Australia.
Recently Spotted along the Stuart Highway
"There's nothing like the real thing so we're
thrilled. I'd hate to put a dollar amount on
it, it's absolutely priceless to us and I know
it would be worth a lot to a collector”.
"There's still another one out there somewhere so who knows, another 35 years and
the other sword might turn up," she said.
Inductry legend Mr James John Hurley (JJ) was born at Kyogle in NSW on the 30th
August, 1942. He began school at The Risk, where his parents, Jack and Thelma, were
living with Thelma’s parents before moving to Kyogle. After completing his intermediate certificate at high school, JJ began to work at the family business, Brown
and Hurley, as an apprentice motor mechanic. In 1963 Jim Hurley moved to Brisbane to
appraise vehicles and arrange repairs on used trucks being traded at the used truck outlet.
JJ also carried out warranty work and re- JJ has been an innovator for the transport
pairs. He moved back to Kyogle in 1965 industry in Australia. Following on from his
after being married to Clare Donaghy legendary father, JD Hurley he went on to
from Mullumbimby, NSW, to take up a jointly manage the Brown and Hurley Group
position in sales as Mr Jack Hurley (JD) which accounts for around 30% of Kenworth’s
became more involved with the Brisbane total Australian sales. The group employs
operation. In 1986 James Hurley took more than 400 staff throughout Queensland
over the role of Kyogle Dealer Principal and New South Wales and has annual sales
and Group General Manager of Sales.
in excess of $450 million. JJ continued as the
Managing Director – Sales taking truck sales
JJ is renowned for his passion for the to all time records.
truck industry and his commitment to
customers and the community. Through JJ clocked up 54 years of service with Brown
JJ’s generosity the Brown and Hurley and Hurley on 8 August 2012 and retired a
group have raised donations for many couple of weeks later on his 70th birthday on
worthy causes. These donations tally in 30 August. Though JJ has retired he is still a
excess of $400 000.
keen advocate for the industry and remains an
active member of the Board of Management
Today JJ’s two sons, Paul and Tony, both of the National Road Transport Hall of Fame
carry senior positions in the company. where he is the main driver of the Kenworth
JJ has been active over the years work- Dealer Hall of Fame here in Alice Springs.
ing with both customers and Kenworth
engineers in developing a range of The Board of Management, RTHS staff and
purpose-built Kenworth models from volunteers and our membership all join in
prime movers to road trains down to saying Congratulations Jim Hurley on being
small construction trucks.
awarded the Icon of the Industry award for
2014. It is an award that is truly deserved!
Any member who wishes to attend ReUnion 2015 MUST we suggest
you book NOW! We have embargoed bookings to members only for
the next six weeks. After that it will still be open to you - but also to
the public and from that point on it will be on a strictly first in basis!
Mr Mardon decided it was better off in the
museum with the rest of the truck so he
called to say he would be by soon to drop
it off. Liz Martin literally couldn't believe
what she was hearing.
The Hall of Fame hopes to one day restore
the second truck to display the pair together.
It would ultimately mean tracking down
the second hood ornament.
2014 Icon of Industry: Mr James John (JJ) Hurley
REUNION 2015 - IMPORTANT NOTICE
Bundy Bannerman was spotted fueling up
in Port Augusta in this very mach looking Marmon truck. Based in Pimba (SA)
Bannerman’s Transport specialises in livestock transportation services.
At Coober Pedy we found the gorgeous
Krystle Goodwin, driver and total Mack
truck enthusiast. Krystle often co-drives
with her partner Ben Martin on the Alice to
Adelaide run as well as further afeild.
There’s a saying that real truckies are people who love engines and can tell by the
throb of it what size and make it is. Dean McBride, by that criteria alone, was
a real truckie. He knew each and every one of his trucks by the sound it made.
Dean was involved in trucking his whole The McBride fleet grew to include 21
life. As a youngster he practised driving prime-movers, 100 flat-tops and over
his dad's Chev four before starting work 32 dollies. It was a family business in
driving an old Ford for a road gang. He every sense of the word being well and
lasted at this job for three years and end- truly a full time job for Dean, Carleen
ed up driving tippers before he bought his and their two sons Darren and Tim.
own truck in 1962 to run interstate. Dean
initially ran Adelaide - Brisbane and later McBride Transport’s core business was
took on the Sydney - Perth run when the unloading general freight from the railNullarbor was little more than a rough, head in Alice Springs and carrying it in
dusty, corrugated dirt track.
their roadtrains to Darwin, usually as a
sub-contractor for TNT. Dean’s trucks
After a few trips up the old South road had the enviable reputation of being the
between Adelaide and Darwin Dean and best looking and best maintained on the
wife Carleen threw tradition to the wind road. Drivers put their names down for
when they moved to Alice Springs and jobs and usually had to wait for somebuilt a roadtrain business with Ford trucks. one to retire before they got it.
Dean had his first taste of the Territory in
1972 in a 160 Cummins powered Inter
carting cars for Gulf Transport. He went
on to run the "old South Road" between
Adelaide and Darwin for ten years including as a subby for McDonalds Transport.
Dean McBride played an active role for
industry in both SA and NT. He is a life
member of the Northern Territory Road
Transport Association and has always
been an avid supporter of the National
Road Transport Hall of Fame.
VOLUME #3 in the
Stories from the Road
series by Liz Martin
Read all about the achievements
and the trials and tribulations of
some of Australia’s most well
known trucking identities.
$40 including Postage
OR Purchase all three in the series
for just $100 including Post
[email protected]
or phone 08 8952 7161
Transmission
The Alexandra Truck, Ute and Rod Show 2014
Over the past eighteen years the annual Alexandra Truck Ute & Rod Show has
created a record as arguably one of the best truck shows in the country Victoria
and the biggest community event in Murrindindi Shire. This year it was held on
the Sunday 8 June on the Queen’s Birthday Long Weekend. Grant Street and
surrounding areas of the town filled with one of the most comprehensive truck,
equipment and public interest events that brought nearly fifteen thousand people
to the small township of Alexandra.
Liz Martin and David Kent attended on
bgehalf of the Hall of Fame and had a
fantastic time. The genuine hospitality of
country people is always amazing. It is a
public event and there is no admission fee.
“Even though the show itself is huge there
is still that small country feel about it. It
is certainly one of the best events I attend
every year” Liz said.
Truck Show Committee member Andrew
Embling says that it is always important to
present a number of new features and to
see that existing features are expanded for
each year for the Show.
Congratulations to Anthony Latorre, the
owner driver of this stunning 2013 K200
Kenworth. Anthony was a popular and
worthy winner. Congratulations!
“Alexandra has increasingly been selected
by the major truck manufacturers as the
place to release and show their new trucks.
That reflects the status of our Alexandra
Show as a place to present the latest in the
trucking and transport sectors”.
The show this year featured the opening of
the Victorian Truck Driver’s memorial and
this year’s Woodchop Competition, again
sponsored by VicForests, included two
Victorian Championship events.
All the usual Truck Ute and Rod Show
events were staged from the major displays
of all types of vehicles to the traditional
auction on Sunday afternoon, and there
was continuous live music.
Well known identity Craig Membrey was
there with his immaculate T909 Directors
Special and Franna crane.
Scania L111-1
Its a new life for an old workhorse. An
example of a Scania L111-1, on which
the company established its reputation
in Australia, has been restored to its former glory and was proudly on show at
the 2014 Alexandra Truck Show.
The 1976 L 111 bonneted Scania 4×2 has
been brought back to life thanks to some
dedicated effort by Scania’s parts team and
local truck restorers. The truck has been
repainted in its original colour scheme, as
specified by its first owner, Bill Larsen,
who used it for logging in the foothills of
the Great Dividing Range, around Mount
Bogong and Lightning Creek, Victoria.
“I liked the style of the truck, that’s what
drew me to it” he says. “Scania appealed
to me with its European looks and also it
had cross diff locks, which were essential
for the terrain I had to drive through. It was
very manoeuvrable, and the single-drive
was good on tyres, which was important in
the bush. The gearing was very well suited to the task and it had excellent brakes.
The springs were strong enough to take a
heavy load, as well,” he recalls.“
I used the L 111 in the softwood logging
industry for 10 years,” Bill says. “We
switched to softwood when you couldn’t
access the hardwood forest anymore.
Much of that area is National Park now.
Complementing the Truck Show were the
traditional Alexandra Quilters display, a
model truck display and all sorts of trade
displays, stalls and refreshments.
Bill had previously owned an L110 and
later bought a stream of Scanias including
to an early V8 142H, using them all in his
logging transport business in the 1980s.
There was something for every-one from
the very young to the ‘slightly’ older!
Nick Radford was there with Li’l Ripper,
the 50th Anniversary Mack named after
his Dad, Gary Redford from Broken Hill.
“They had a good steering lock and they
were much quieter in the cab than mopst
others. It was unusual to see a Scania in
the logging industry at the time,” he says,
Scania enjoyed a strong reputation over
many decades in Europe in the logging
industry, as it does today. In northern Europe, Scania is a popular choice in the
snow-covered logging routes that demand
excellent grip, reliability and strength.
“The truck was painted in Hamersley
Brown and Caterpillar Yellow and it had
my name on the doors. For much of my
career I ran 4 to 5 trucks. After I traded the
L 111 I lost track of it. I recall someone
saying it was painted red and blue,”
The truck was painted in those colours
when Scania acquired it in West Australia
a few years ago.
Transmission
The Victorian Truck Drivers Memorial Launch
The official opening of the Victorian Truck Drivers Memorial in Rotary Park, Alexandra was held on Saturday 7 June 2014 as part of the Alexandra Truck Rod and
Ute show. The opening featured a non denominational service and several speakers including Bette Philips as Co-ordinator, Liz Martin as Patron and Barbra Van
Schaik who represented the families.
The memorial has been constructed by
local volunteer trades with most of the
construction materials donated and with
active support by the Murrindindi Shire
Council with the Creative Ministries Network of United Care.
Transport industry and corporate support
continues to be received by the Alexandra
Truck Ute & Rod Show. The latest support has come by way of a donation from
the CMV Foundation which has provided
a cheque for $5,000 to the project. The
CMV Foundation’s charter “ is to make
donations and provide support to worthy
causes in the broader community”.
Since it was founded in 1953 by the late
Sidney Crawford substantial funds have
been donated to developing social responsibility and awareness while assisting
those less fortunate.
Another supporter is the Hallam Truck
Centre which with its associated business
Bayswater Truck Centre is a major Victorian distributor of Kenworth, DAF and Fuso
trucks of all sizes and types. The Hallam
Truck Centre group also an exhibitor at the
Truck Show has contributed $3,000 to the
Victorian Truck Drivers Memorial project.
Additional support has also come in the
form of a $1,000 donation from Western
Truck Towing & Repairs a major transport
industry and vehicle towing and repair
business based in the Melbourne suburb of
Newport.
Driving forces behind the Alexandra Truck
Rod and Ute Show and the memorial are
Andrew Embling and Gordon Simpson
Barbra Van
Schaik with
VDTM organiser Bette. To
put a name on
the memorial
please call
Bette Phillips
0409 768 883.
Victorian truck
driver Mick
Law, who has
several mates
on the wall,
helped with the
candle lighting ceremony
which was an
emotional part
of the service.
Committee
member of the
VTDM Tess
Bollington
from Euroa
(right) and
her daughter
Michele came
to Alexandra
for the service.
The Alexandra Truck Rod & Ute Show
President Matt Ellis said the financial
support from industry is highly valued and
appreciated by the organising committee.
“While we have received significant
donations of materials and plenty of
volunteer labour help from local trades
persons in building the memorial, the
funds are nevertheless highly appreciated.
The Victorian Truck Drivers Memorial
in Rotary Park, Alexandra, is designed
to provide a permanent place of memory
and reflection for the partners and families
of those who may have lost their lives in
transport related accidents.
Among the
300 strongcrowd were
Marie & Bill
Fitzpatrick
pictured here
with Greg
Whitford
and Annette
Bateson
Address
by
Liz
Martin
OAM
I pay tribute today, firstly to the families of our
fallen and deceased truck drivers who have
gone to considerable effort to be in attendance
here today to both mourn the loss of their loved
ones and to celebrate their lives. The men and
women who are out there on our roads, literally carrying our country, are the social and
economic backbone of our country, but they are
also someone’s father, brother, son, mother or
sister. The road transport industry is also a family itself – and each loss is a loss of another sibling. I am yet to see another industry where the
cameraderie and mateship is as strong as it is in
our trucking industry. The amazing outpouring
of support for the building of this memorial is
indicative of that.
I also pay tribute to Creative Ministries and the
Alexandra Truck Ute and Rod Show, but particularly to Bette Phillips, Andrew Embling
and Gordon Simpson, whom are just three of
the many dedicated people who work on the
peripheral of the road transport industry - supporting the significance of the industry and the
families of those who work within it.
For 15 years Bette has co-ordinated a work-related grief support program travelling around
800 kilometres each week across Victoria assisting clients. She first connected with the
trucking industry in 2006 when the first truck
related fatality was referred to her. Bette realised the importance of providing somewhere
of significance for families to mourn and seek
comfort in the company of other affected families.
The very nature of the road transport industry
means that work places, friendships and place
of death are usually remotely located, often significant distances from home and family. This
is unique to transport based and mining type
industries and often causes unresolved grief
for families and friends as they cannot connect
locally. Bette and a small group of bereaved
families approached the Alexandra truck show
committee to explore the concept of building
a memorial here. Obviously the service would
combine with the Alexandra Truck, Ute and
Rod Show, arguably the best truck show in
country Victoria. ATURS Committee members
Andrew Embling and Gordon Simpson along
with the Shire of Murrindindi were immediately supportive of the concept and have worked
tirelessly since in ensuring this magnificent
memorial came to fruition.
While the construction of a permanent memorial has been underway an honour Board was
placed in Essence Coffee Lounge in Alexandra
so that family and friends could visit. We have
all been touched by such loss, some of us more
than others. We know for many grieving families closure and comfort comes from a permanent place of remembrance.
Having lost a family member, and far too many
friends in this industry over the years, I have
been proud and honoured to have been patron
of this memorial during this phase. Sadly, it
will also continue to grow and continue to be a
significant place of rememberance for too many
ABSALOM: Nick
Nick first started
driving trucks in
his fathers F600 and
in 1974 he began to
cart cattle and fuel
on Ucharonidge Stn.
With wife Lynette
they later formed
A&F Transport in
Alice Springs.
They now operate a fleet of eight Mack
trucks each clocking up millions of klms
a year. His special truck is the well known
‘Henry Lawson’ a 1988 Bicentennial Mack
Super Liner. Henry continues to run out
the dusty old Tanami Highway and doesn’t
miss a beat! Whether driving trucks or servicing the fleet, he says will keep going as
long as “his body allows”.
Transmission
BLAKEBOROUGH:
Shane
At just 16 Shane
went to work for
a crane hire depot
and by the time
he had turned 22
he had started his
own business and
was operating truck
mounted cranes all
around Victoria.
Shane and wife Debra went on to establish
the Journey Management Group delivering
training to Road Transport, Logistics, and
Civil Construction. Journey Management
has gone on to become one of the largest
privately owned truck training facilities in
Australia. Today Shane operates a fleet of
over fifty trucks.
BRIGHT: Roy
Roy Bright was a prominent South Gippsland
business man who was
involved in trucking
and contracting work
for over 60 years. He
started in the business
with two old Ford Blitz
trucks in 1952 carting
milk and cream in cans.
Most of his work in the early years was for
the for the Dumbalk Milk Depot & Butter
Factory. Roy also did general haulage and
farm work. He was known as a hard working old fashion truckie and al all round
good bloke.Today, his son Neil operates
the business carting throughout Victoria.
BLOMFIELD: George
Transferred to 2015
BORG: Vincent
BROWN: Robert
ASHLEY: James
James washed trucks after school and was
soon driving them around the yards. When
he left school he was offered a job driving a Leyland Comet bogey. James was
the first deaf person to obtain a B-double
license and over the next 20 years drove
many B-doubles behind all kinds of
trucks. In later years James was kept busy
driving buses and in training deaf drivers.
James was instrumental in establishing
deaf sports associations in Australia. He is
our 1000th inductee in the Wall of Fame.
ASTBURY: Peter
Despite being caught
in a flood for two days
and numerous other
misadventures,
Peter has never lost his
love of the industry he
joined more than 35
years ago. He started
off carting timber between SA and Vic.
Peter then spent 13 years hauling steel
along the east coast driving the first imported Ant Eater 2600. He has driven
roadtrains, carted heavy mining plant and
delivered gas around Brisbane. Peter now
carts concrete rail sleepers locally and
spends time with his family.
Carting the first drive-in movie screen to
Alice Springs in 1954 was one of Vince’s
first jobs. Vince bought his first truck in
1958 and transported a variety of goods
across the country on dirt roads.
Robert (Brownie) has dedicated his life to
improving road transport for cranes and
heavy equipment. As a fitter and turner,
his knowledge of heavy equipment encouraged a move to Consolidated Crane
Hire. Robert was involved in the company’s fleet expansion and numerous projects
including the Port Adelaide lighthouse relocation.
By 1963 he had three trucks including a
Leyland Super Beaver that was among the
first to pull a roadtrain from Adelaide fully laden to Darwin. By his retirement in
1982, Vince had been involved in designing trailers, introducing Bandag retreads
to the industry and pioneering fleet truck
sales which earned him national awards.
He was president of the South Australia
Crane Association, served on the executive committee of the Crane Industry
Council and attended industry forums to
improve travel patterns for oversize cranes
and transport. When McAleese Transport Group bought Consolidated, Robert
worked with McAleese until his recent retirement.
BOURKE: Alan
BROWN: Ronald
Alan Bourke first
started his driving
career with Wilson
Transport collecting
and delivering papers between Melbourne and Benalla.
For the next 46 years
he worked for many
different companies
and employees.
Over the years he went on to drive a variety of makes and models of trucks both locally and interstate. Today, Alan is retired
and travels in his motor home.
Like other drivers of
the era, Ron began
driving before he had a
license. He started off
carting sawn timber
and later carried stock,
fuel and fertilisers for
a variety of operators
including Tahmax.
In 2004 Ron started at Intercentre Transport which was Arnott’s Biscuits transport
company. Ron has just semi retired after
58 years in the transport industry
BURGESS: Tasman
Tasman (Jack) Burgess was born in
Augathella, Qld, and moved to Charleville with his parents when he was 14 years
of age where he started driving taxis. He
soon progressed to driving trucks throughout western Queensland and later Northern
Territory. Over the years he worked for
Phelans, Bob Fitzgerald, Rileys Transport
and Blackall Freighters. In recent years he
had been synonymous with the Mack truck
he drove carting fuel. Mr Burgess is survived by his wife, two daughters, six sons,
two brothers and one sister.
BURKINSHAW: Phil
Transmission
BYWATERS: Barry
Barry grew up around agriculture and
trucks in the Jennacubine area in WA. It
was inevitable as he got older his future
would be in the transport industry. Today,
at 72 Barry still runs the fleet as well as
driving roadtrains when the opportunity
arises. Barry is old school and has always
cleaned, repaired and maintained his own
prime movers and trailers.
CARTER: Edwin
Learning the ropes of trucking came early
to Philip, the son of Ray Burkinshaw who
started Burkinshaw Transport in 1942. Phil
gained a special farm licence at 15 which
allowed him to drive to the nearest railway
station which, in times of need, “somehow
included Sydney and Melbourne”.
By the age of 21, Phil had bought his first
truck and was hauling a variety of goods,
including beer into Queensland during the
1970s beer strike. Phil spent the remainder of his career in fuel haulage except
for a brief time hauling long loads. Now
semi-retired, he takes the odd transport job
to stay connected to the industry that has
been his life’s work.
BUSHBY: Ted
As an eight yearold Ted, known as
Bushy, knew life on
the road travelling
with his brother David, a truck driver.
It cemented his goal
to be a truck-driver
and he later had his
first ‘drive’ on a trip
to Shark Bay with
his brother.
Ted bought his first truck in 1976 and
hauled many products including potatoes.
On one trip he hit a train near Jerilderie and
wrote the truck off. Luckily he had no real
injuries - just a wounded pride. The truck
was replaced but Ted decided to get out of
owning a truck and sold up. He moved to
Adelaide in 1987 and worked with several
companies before joining Cootes driving
road trains. At 64 Bushy still works for
Cootes carting jet fuel.
Edwin Carter was working at a Meatworks
when he found himself hauling hanging meat and hides to Melbourne. Now,
56 years later he is still driving trucks.
Edwin has carried just about everything
from general to chocolates and tyres. His
wife Virginia and dog, Jake, travelled with
him for many years. His love for driving
trucks and belonging to the wider trucking
community has not waned in all that time.
CHAPMAN
Paul and
Robyn
(Coonalpyn)
CLEELAND: Bill
William (Bill) wanted to be a truckdriver
and found a job driving bull dozers to save
money to buy his first truck. When he had
enough money he purchased a J6 Bedford
for £2300 cash. Bill went on to cart logs
for the next 18 years ungrading to various trucks as need including Internationals. Mack, Kenworth and Mercedes Benz.
Now retired after 45 years in the trucking
industry Bill still takes a great interest in
the industry and those who work in it
CURTIS: Robert
Robert Curtis was born
at Unley in South Australia where his parents
were market gardeners at
Brown Hill Creek. At 12
years old he was assisting
with grocery deliveries,
by truck, for IGA.
After some years with IGA he moved to
Mount Gambier and began driving for
JJ Ward Transport, Lake City Freighters
and then for Telford and Hood. In 1975
he commenced work with Allan Scott,
the enterprising businessman who built
an empire from one truck. At this time
Robert, Bob to most people, was driving
a Kenworth on fridge van work. It was
while he was at Scotts Transport that Bob
became better known as Jack.
Some months later the opportunity arose
to cart carbon dioxide. Jack carted gas
for more than 30 years from the Caroline
carbon dioxide plant just outside Mount
Gambier. Initially the gas was carted to
Adelaide and Melbourne but later it went
to Darwin and on occasions to Sydney
and Perth. This work included thousands
of kilometres of rail travel as the vehicles
on route to Darwin were railed from Port
Augusta to Alice Springs.
Husband and wife Paul and Robyn Chapman’s passion for road transport has taken
them a long way. Paul started driving at
age 19, carting livestock and farm supplies. Robyn obtained her licence when
they bought their first truck in 1972. In
1976 they moved to Coonalpyn and established a livestock transport business.
The couple’s commitment encouraged
Robyn to write a submission to a transport
inquiry in 1983. Paul and Robyn were
instrumental in forming the Livestock
Transport Association of South Australia
(LTASA) in 1983. Paul served seven years
with LTASA as president and several years
with the Australian Livestock Transport
Association (ALTA). Paul and Robyn both
received life membership with LTASA for
their contribution and Paul received life
membership from ALTA.
for full details on any inductee check out
www.roadtransporthall.com
DANIEL: John
Arthur John Daniel (Lofty)
spent 32 years in the road
transport industry. He started at 19 carting coal to Port
Kembla. Lofty bought his
first in 1962 and ran between
Sydney and Brisbane.
He first drove for Clintons, of Burragong
Valley and later for Sam Fox Coal. In 1962
he operated his own International truck
subcontracting to IPEC and in 1970 became a company driver for them. One of
Lofty’s well known traits was arriving in
Brisbane in pristine white overalls while
the other drivers looked like they had been
dragged through the exhaust pipe with
hardly a white patch to be found.
In 1987 John
retired and
he and wife
Zandra then
moved
to
the Sunshine
Coast.
DINAN: John
As a 15 year-old John was
just 15 years old when
he took his first job as a
dozer driver at Mt Buller
but he soon moved into
trucks carting hardwood
to Mansfield sawmill.
Being a bit of a journeyman John had
stints with many companies around the
Albury area. One of his memorable trips
was carting a load of paper to Darwin on
roads that were not as good as today’s. The
early arrival of the wet season found him
stranded by flood waters and it took over
three weeks to return home. John retired in
2011, aged 73, to spend time with family
DOUGLAS: Roddam
Determination
and
good bush survival
skills under pinned
the years that Roddam Douglas (known
as Snowy) logged in
Victoria. He started
trucking at age 16
chopping and delivering it in a 1926 Albion
Snowy married Janet whose father Wally
Legge was a bullocky hauling logs out of
the bush with a bullock team. Snowy and
Janet had four daughters and a son Lindsay (deceased). He later progressed to
later ex-army Ford and Chev Blitz which
he used to cart logs to Fishermans Bend
for use as power poles – a fair trip with a
Blitz. He now lives at Bunyip and loves
tinkering in the shed with old stationary
engines and whatever else needs repairing.
Transmission
DOWNES: Rod
EKMAN: Norman
Rod Downes was born in Nambour, Qld in
1948. Filled with a sense of adventure, he
set off to the Northern Territory at the age
of 15 and found work as a ringer on Rosewood Station. Rod came to admire the road
trains that carted the cattle and promised
himself that one day he too would own his
own road train.
Norman, known as Croc, has earned
the respect and admiration of his many
employers during his lengthy driving career. He first started driving in 1968 and
worked for a variety of companies around
the Dubbo and Mudgee areas before he
moved to Rod Pilon Transport in 1985.
He carted bricks from Dubbo and Albury
where he always loaded 22,000 bricks on a
single (big weights even for the day).
One wet season while in Jandowae Rod
took a job with Baldwin’s Livestock and
General Carriers where Ken Baldwin
taught him to drive semi-trailers. After
a few years of station, mining and road
works Rod worked for Buntine Roadways
and purchased a grader off Max Nelson. In
1970 he married Gloria Hansen (deceased)
in Katherine, where their two daughters
were born. In 1971 he bought his first
truck, a B model V8 Thermodyne. Later,
Noel Buntine helped him purchase a V8
Maxidyne R700, and he subbied back to
the Buntine’s. In 1979 Downes Construction was formed in a partnership between
Rod and his brother Terry. Rod’s true passion though, was always driving trucks so
in 1980 he purchased a Kenworth cab over
(GM 92T) and started Downes Transport.
Des Turner bought the truck and the business became Turner Transport.
Rod opened the Bridgestone Tyre Centre
in Katherine in 1993 and to this day is still
changing truck tyres. He misses the open
road and catching up with all his friends
and fellow drivers along the way.
EARLE: Dean
Following Geoff’s death in 2010 Dean’s
grandchildren, Luke, Nick and Thomas are
continuing in the family footsteps. Today
Dean’s interests include playing bowls and
supporting the Crows.
Ian was just 14 years old when he first
drove the family’s 1937 Maple Leaf truck
to the Tarranginnie silos. By the time he
was 17 he was working for Mavis Rethus
carting sheep in the Wimmera. In 1966 he
settled near Beaudesert and worked carting
stockfeed from Nhill during the 1967-69
drought. He later expanded into livestock
transport carting from local saleyards to
Tancred’s Meatworks in Beaudesert.
Croc started working for Parry Logistics
in 2010 where he still drives today. At the
age of 70 Norm still does the same miles
and is incident free and without complaint
still driving B-Doubles with drivers half
In 1972 he set up Farmers Transport and
opened a 500t grain storage facility and
weighbridge. Ian still operates the business
and continues to drive his pride and joy,
his own T650 Kenworth.
EVANS: Colin
GERRISH: Kevin
As a young man Colin worked in Noel
Buntine's yard changing tyres, loading and
unloading road trains and washing cattle
crates. If no-one was looking he would
sneaking a drive around the yard. By the
time he was 19 Colin had bought his first
truck and was hauling Cubico trailers out
of Melbourne in a Mercedes Benz 1418.
Diesel runs throughout the Evans family
veins with 100 years of experiences between them all. Col’s father Norm has over
60 years of trucking history, his youngest
brother Gary has over 30 years of road
train experience and Col’s son Simon has
his own transport business in Melbourne.
EVANS: Michael
Dean and his father Frank, started a fuel
delivery business in 1955 and soon after
formed his own company with Maxine.
Dean worked long hours and Maxine
helped with office work while raising their
five children. Unfortunately Dean had an
accident in 1993 and was unable to continue driving. Geoff, Rodney and Michael
took over the business.
FARMERS: Ian
Known as More Revs Evs, Michael has
worked in road transport for 30 years. He
started with the Victorian Country Roads
Board as an apprentice gardener but soon
ended up driving trucks. Initially he drove
a tipper and dog carting volcanic rocks
but soon changed to a pantech when the
opportunity to cart interstate came. He
bought a Mercedes Benz 2624 and a float
and hauled earthmoving machinery. The
Benz gave good service for four years and
was replaced by an S-Line International
which he is still operating today
Kevin purchased his first truck in 1953
and carted logs in the Warburton district.
He sold the truck in 1955 and went into
partnership with his father in a garage and
taxi service. Kevin and wife Betty then
moved to Kingslake where he drove for
Ken Heaney and Lewis’s for a while before purchasing his own bulldozers.
Over the years Kevin operated many
makes of trucks and bulldozers doing
every thing from logging, widening roads,
digging dams and clearing land. Returning
to trucks Kevin continued logging in summer and on interstate work in winter until
he downsized driving the last truck himself at 74 years of age. Kevin died in 2006
from injuries received in an accident while
carting logs. R I P.
Transmission
GOUGH: Carl
In 1948, at just 17, Carl
Gough climbed behind
the wheel of an ex-army 6 wheel Austin
and started driving for
VO Whiting and Sons
Transport. He ended
up staying with them
all his working life and
became a partner in the
company in1965.
For almost 50 years
Carl, drove trucks
across the length and
breadth of Australia.
He carted stock, wool
and general and mining plant right up until
he retired in 1994. He
lives in Wilmington.
Albert had his first experience of driving a
truck at the age of 16
before he even had a
license. He had to load
and unload cement
bags by hand. It was
hard physical work in
transport industry in
the early 1950s.
On a trip when his grandson travelled
with him they ended up bogged to the fuel
tanks. The 10 year-old had to operate the
brakes on the tow truck as its grille pointed skyward pulling with all its might. The
truck was later written off. Years later he
lost a trailer which caught fire while transporting pumpkins but he managed to unhook the prime mover before it too was
engulfed. Albie reluctantly retired in 2008
at the age of 70
GOULTHORPE:Vincent
Vincent started carting general freight and
swinging meat at 19 years of age When he
moved on six years later his boss Trevor
Matthew, said: “If you are going to be a
truck driver do it quietly and do it well”.
He made this his mantra throughout his
lenghty driving career which included
carting bulk petroleum and fresh food interstate and locally.
Vincent now owns Sunbury Airfield, and
works part time with his International
T-line crane truck.
HARRIS: Robert (Bob)
GLENN: Robert
Berrima Bob, as Robert Glenn was known,
started driving in 1963 at the age of 17,
when he helped his brother by driving his
small truck carting freight around the area.
Bob says he has been hooked on the truck
industry ever since. He has always been an
owner operator, and with wife Sue, has run
Berrima Transport for 51 years. Bob’s love
of trucks has taken him across Australia.
He is well known and respected for his
commitment, loyalty and mateship within
the industry he loves. His most memorable
truck was his 1982 Mack Cruiseliner and
Bob’s favourite was his 2003 Kenworth
K104 which is still being worked.
HAYSOM: Albert
The community hospitality and spirit of
the outback in Charleville has ruled Bob’s
upbringing; his generosity becoming his
trademark during his life on the road. Bob
started work as a drover and later went on
to cutting wood. It was when Bob decided
he needed something reliable to cart his
wood he purchased his first truck. From
there Bob ventured into mail runs and later
into general haulage. As the business grew,
Bob expanded into livestock cartage. Bob
is known as a great bloke, always willing
to help everyone along the road. Bob has
been the Depot Manager of Followmont
Transport, Longreach for the past 18 years.
HAYWOOD: Wilfred
By the time he was 15 Wilfred had started
working on a dairy farm. He then joined a
Yarra Glen cartage contractor which had
him driving around unlicenced. After he
got his licence Wilf progressed to driving a
tipper, then a bus, and finally got a job as a
driver for Manufacturers Bottle Company
of Victoria and Carlton United Breweries.
When CUB decided to service Darwin by
road they turned to Wilf and his wide experience. It was tough going to Darwin via
Mt Isa from Brisbane and roadside break
downs and repairs became all too common. Eventually the decision was made
to run to Darwin ‘through the centre’ and
Wilf went on to become a legendary south
road runner; he was the man who brought
the beer! In his later years Wilf turned his
skills to gold prospecting. Wilf retired in
1989 and passed away March 2014.
Check out the full stories of the inductees
www.roadtransporthall.com
HEINRICH
Stanley
Stan began his affiliation
with road transport in the
early 50s as a young lad
helping his parents on
their milk run. In 1954
he bought his first truck
and started a business
that still operates today.
No stranger to manual labour, Stan could
be found picking grapes while waiting for
loads, or hoisting wheat bags and loading
and unloading sand by shovel. He also
carted cattle from Queensland often travelling with uncle-in-law, legendary outback
mailman, Tom Kruse.
The 1956 Marree and Coopers Creek
floods meant Stan was regularly bogged
whilst carting through the outback. The
solution was to partly unload the truck,
pull everything over the Coopers Creek on
a punt and transfer the load to Tom’s truck.
Stan would then pull his truck out of the
creek with his D6 dozer. As time passed
and machinery evolved Stan moved with
the times and as demand for his services
grew so did his fleet. At the time of his
death in 2010 the company had 18 permanent employees, nine trucks and 50 pieces
of earthmoving equipment.
Stan was a pillar of the community devoting many personal and machinery hours
to community projects and being an active board member of many committees,
including various South Australian road
transport associations. He was awarded
Australia Day Citizen of the Year in 2000
by his local council for his contributions.
HEMLEY: Greg & Bron
Transmission
HEMPHILL: Barry
For 56 continuous years Barry's dedicated
service to both his industry and community have been exemplary. At 74 he is still
running his own transport business and
driving on a full time basis. Barry would
cart everything and anything from grain,
wool, sheep and cattle, gypsum, to gravel.
In 1966 Barry married a local girl, Frances
Fox, who has been by his side for the past
48 years running the financial side of the
business single handed. Although he has
changed trucks and trailers often, his outstanding reputation is one thing which has
never changed. Barry Hemphill is a legend
in his community, and in the wider road
transport community.
HEMPHILL: Bernard
Over the years
Bernard Hemphill
earned several nick
names: Bundaberg
Bernie, Skin and
Fearless
Leader.
He started driving
at 14 carting bulk
fuels around Urana
Over the years since Bernie has owned fuel
depots as well as carting wool and bagged
grain, drum fuel, domestic gas cylinders,
bagged cement, beer kegs and packaged
beer and stock around most of southern
Australia. Later he commenced carting
bulk fertilizer, grain, clinkers and general
produce. By 2006 he had sold the remaining fuel depot and had set up a truck depot
in Mulwala with a single tipping trailer
carting pig feed, fertilizer and grain.
HOILES: Leslie
When Greg was 14, delivering gravel to
local farmers, it was clear he was going
to be a truck driver. At 17, still with no licence, Greg was carting grain to the silos.
He began carted drums of fuel and general
freight. Over the next 20 years Greg covered many miles carting timber for modular homes and other freight interstate. He
also carted locally between long runs.
When Greg met Bronwyn they started their
own business. With Greg driving and Bron
managing administration the business
boomed. Before long they were operating
five trucks. After 43 years in the industry
Greg still does local trips in his Ford LTL.
Occasionally he and Bron still hit the road,
only now it is for recreation purposes.
Les Hoiles first got a taste for driving
trucks with his father and decided that
would be his future. He started driving in a
J6 Bedford before graduating to a 180 International which he drove for eight years.
He drove the first diesel AB 184 powered
by a GM471.
Les then started driving for Corridan’s
Transport in an R190 carting produce and
general, then a MAN and eventually a
K125 Kenworth. Les decided to purchase
it keeping it for 15 years. Les drove for 39
years mainly on interstate work. He was a
gentleman of the highway and served as
mentor to many drivers.
HORNBY: Robert
Communications
were of more interest
to Robert (Bob) than
truck driving. However when he saw his
father-in-law’s passion
for transport when he
married in 1976 he
decided to take to the
road himself.
Two years later bought his first truck to
cart steel from Port Kembla to Sydney.
The business expanded and soon became
a company with over 36 trucks, 20 sub
contractors and around 50 employees. Bob
still drives but focuses on the safety and
technology side of the business earning
him many awards including ‘One Steel
Safety Excellence Award 2011’.
HUNT: Robert
Transmission
JONES: William (Dan) LATHAM: Leslie James
William Denzil Jones (Dan) first started
driving in a J6 Bedford and later a 7 Series
Dodge tray body truck carting fuel from
Wodonga to Leeton. Dan was a natural
with mechanics and a self taught detailer.
On weekends he would do the cleaning,
polishing, servicing and maintaining of his
truck and trailer.
As the businesses Dan worked for changed
hands he usually went along with the sale
too, staying based in the Leeton area. The
freight varied and Dan would often do
drops to local customers with the majority
of full loads going to Melbourne, Sydney
or Adelaide. Danny’s driving ability and
his dedication and friendship to the people
he works with is exemplary.
JONGSMA: John
Robert (Bob) Hunt’s first foray into the
trucking industry was as a 19 year old,
carting firewood in a Bedford fitted with
a Hansa Lloyd diesel engine. He back
loaded with fertilizer and supplies for local firms. Over the years Bob had several
trucks including an Austin, several Commers including a ‘knocker’ and later a
1418 Mercedes Benz to pull a semi-trailer
carting hay, tomatoes and general freight.
Later they pulled a pan from Ipec before
returning to tippers carting garden supplies in and around the Bendigo. After 50
years Bob had come a long way since the
Bedford with a Hansa-Lloyd diesel engine.
These days he is undertaking a Commer
knocker restoration.
HUTCHINS: Max
Max Hutchins started out
as a young man of 18 and is
now approaching 55 years
of truck driving. During this
time Max has had 20 years
as an owner driver and has
worked in just about every
sector of industry
His life’s work included carrying livestock,
operating tippers and hauling general and
refrigerated freight. These days he carries
bulk AdBlue delivering product through
Queensland, New South Wales, South
Australia and Victoria. For Max driving
trucks has been a life-long commitment.
“Driving trucks is more of a hobby than
a job. There has been good times and bad
times on the road and I have lost a few
mates along the way but made many too.”
Born in Holland in
1945, John first drove
trucks on a dairy farm
in South Australia later moving to TNT as a
dockhand before transferring to Broken Hill
as a driver.
He and wife Robbie
moved to Brisbane
in 1982 and bought a
truck and RONDON
Transport; this earned
John the nickname, Big
John RonDon. John
owned various trucks
but eventually returned
to company driving
due to ill health after
one of his trucks was
stolen and burned.
In 1997 the Jongsmas’
returned to Adelaide to
be closer to family
KNOWLES: Wayne
Wayne Knowles began his career in a
Ford 8000 driving for
Rupe Julian Transport in Geelong.
Wayne purchased a
1418 Mercedes Benz
for $8000 when
he was 28 years
old and went on to
drive many different
makes of truck.
These included including Internationals,
Whites, Bedfords, Commers, Kenworth
K100 and SAR, ERF and Mercedes Benz.
He was as owner driver for 13 years and
company driver for 38 years, Wayne has
driven for many of Australia’s most iconic
companies carting general, market goods
and produce, oversize-heavy haulage and
dump trucks driving usually on interstate
haulage. Wayne says his life in trucking
was generally rewarding and fulfilling.
Leslie James Latham (Les) was born to be a truck-driver and has
never done any other job. Les started driving for Whites Transport
in Killarney, Queensland and later driving for Wickhams for many
years. In 1982, Les decided to go into business for himself and
started LRL Haulage. Purchasing a new Kenworth W-model the
small family business thrived with Ros looking after administration
and Les on the road negotiating contracts and driving. In 2012,
LRL Haulage sold its last truck and ceased operation after many
long years and many roads travelled. Not ready to put the air brakes
on, Les’s career turned full circle as he returned to Wickhams.
The LEECH Family
Jack Leech worked 16 hour days on a dredge in Castlemaine to buy
his first truck. He carted 40 tons of wood daily to meet demands
during World War II. Jack’s first ‘new’ truck, was a K8 Inter used to
clear red gum cutting 900 million super feet in two years. Jack was
the first to take a load of apples to Brisbane taking a fortnight to
do the run. Fuel had to be carried in 44 gallon drums as there were
no truck stops along the way. Jack proved that determination, hard
work and willpower does pay off. He married the love of his life,
Dot, and had three boys, Jeffrey, Graham and Owen. Today Leech
Transport is proud to have provided local and interstate transport
services for over 70 years in a business spanning three generations.
Dorothy (Dot) Leech is proof that behind every good man there
is a good woman. Her first experience with transport was going
down Keilor Hill to Melbourne and the wheel came off the truck.
Dot supported Jack when they purchased their first truck in 1944
and she travelled with him whenever she could. She accompanied
Jack with their three year old son to Brisbane with the first load of
apples out of the Harcourt orchards. It took two weeks to complete
and they enjoyed the new experience and a different way of life.
Today Dot watches with pride as the next generations of Leeches
work hard at continuing their dream.
Graham Leech began driving at 15 in an AA180 with his father
before driving two up from Bendigo to Canberra with loads of
Stramit board with a mate. He remembers pumping fuel from 44
gallon drums on the hungry board so they could make it up and
back. At 18 Graham drove solo to Coonamble in New South Wales
with a load of Stramit and decided this was the career for him. He
has since delivered just about everything from bricks, groceries,
granite, pumps, rail, steel to general freight in a variety of trucks
that included ACCOs, Internationals, Diamond T, Mercedes Benz,
MANs, Dodges, Macks, Kenworths and Western stars. Graham
spends his time working in the yard of the family business.
Aged 18, Jeffrey Leech began interstate driving in an AA 180
International with a 34 ft bogie trailer. He loved it and later bought
a new AB-184 V8 International taking on sub-contracting for
Express Freight. Jeff drove for some time operating from Sydney
terminal before returning to the family business. In 1981 Jeff began
driving his pride and joy, a brand new W model Kenworth with an
8V92 Detroit with a Spicer gearbox. He drove this on all the highways of Australia including his favourite leg across the Nullarbor.
Jeff transported general freight until 1993 when he went back to the
office after 31 years of accident free driving. As Jeff is approaching
retirement he knows his love of trucks will never retire.
Owen Leech left school at 15 to pump petrol at his father’s service
station. When he was old enough to get his license Owen began
driving a Dodge tray truck for the family business carting huge
lumps of granite for tombstones. Soon after he went to work in a ‘7’
series Dodge running interstate with Stramit to Canberra, Sydney
and Adelaide. These loads were 14ft high and were restrained with
ropes and tarps. In 1972 Owen drove a single drive S2 Kenworth
later upgrading to a new bogie drive S2 Kenworth which the Leech
business still uses today for local deliveries. Owen began driving
the mobile crane after Jack fractured his back. Just as his brothers
did, Owen taught his son to drive trucks too.
NOMINATIONS FOR 2015 OPEN.
BE EARLY AND DONT MISS OUT.
LIDDLE: Anthony
Anthony (Tony) Liddle was born at the
remote Hatches Creek
settlement in Central
Australia in September 1940. He moved
with his parents and
brother Bob to Alice
Springs in 1942 where
his father was from.
He and his brother became borders at the
convent school and in 1951 they were sent
to St Marys hostel to attend the Hartley
St public school in 1952. He went on to
spend most of his life around the Alice
Springs area. After leaving school in 1956
he worked in a stock camp on nearby
Alcoota Station. In 1957 Tony got his
truck driver’s license in his father (Milton
Liddle)’s old Morris Commercial.
In 1958 he worked for his father in his
wood cutting/carrying business delivering
rations and fuel to aboriginal government
settlements throughout Central Australia.
After leaving there he drove for Rosewall
Construction extending the old Alice
Springs airstrip in late 1959. Towards the
end of 1960 Tony drove an old blitz chev
for Lent Tuit out to the Tuit chalets at Palm
Valley and Serpentine Gorge. Tony then
went on to operate trucks and machinery
for Ingkerreke on Aboriginal outstations
around central Australia for a further 13
years before retiring at age 65.
Over his 47 years of driving trucks Tony
had seen many changes. Such as two
wheel tracks turn to bitumen roads. Tony’s
family was a proud truck driving family.
His father Milton Liddle owned and drove
trucks to support his business. Tony’s two
brothers Bob and Mick also drove for their
father and Tony’s Sons Colin and Anthony
(Jnr) also drove trucks while working at
the Granites Mine.
Tony’s memorable achievement would
have been to see and be a part of the
development of Central Australia.
Transmission
LLOYD: Ian
MARDESIC: Andrija
MAZZA: Raymond
Ian, nicknamed Curly, continued a Lloyd
family tradition when he started driving
his father’s 48 Chevrolet tabletop doing
town deliveries. He soon turned to interstate work subcontracting to Cromack &
Tranter for 31 years.
Andrija Mardesic first
started in business with
construction of the West
Gate Bridge and the
Tullamarine Freeway
Andy, as he was known, bought his first
truck, a tipper, for specifically for this job.
In 1966 after that job was completed Andy
purchased a Bedford and commenced
interstate work. He later upgraded to an
Isuzu which, althought it was blue, he
called the Pink Panther as he went hauling
pink batts. The next vehicle for Andy was
a Kenworth carting for Smorgon Steel.
Andy currently hauls from Newcastle to
Melbourne every week.
Raymond Mazza drove buses in Kalgoorlie
before buying a tipper truck. Ray eventually bought his first semi-trailer to cart
general. Within two years, he was contracted to deliver Coca-Cola to the remote
north. His big red rig became known as the
‘Coke Train’. In 1979, Ray downsized and
worked for Schweppes, Cottees and carted
general. In 1986, Ray was excited to be offered a second chance to drive for Coke. In
1996, Ray and his son Colin flew to Brisbane and bought a new Mack Elite truck.
It was Ray’s last truck. He sold the Coca
Cola contract in 1998 and retired in 1999.
Ray died in May 2012 aged 75.
At 63, Ian stopped interstate driving and
retired at 70, although he continues doing odd jobs as the opportunity arises.
His youngest son Rodney has followed in
his father’s footsteps making it the third
generation in the trucking industry. Ian is
well known as a hard worker who never
hesitates to help anyone.
LOCKHART: Scott
As a teenager Scott spent
his spare time with truck
drivers learning the trade
of the highways. Ever
since he was a young
child he wanted to drive
trucks and go to rodeos.
By the time he was 18
he was carting bucking
bulls to rodeos.
Over the years the rigs have become bigger
and the miles further but Scott was in his
element. By 1998 he had married Leanne
and they bought themselves a home in
Warwick. After a couple of years on line
haul Scott decided that livestock was for
him. In the past 32 years Scott has moved
a lot of cattle down many highways and he
is still chasing the white line to any saleyard, feedlot or abattoir on the east coast.
MATTHEWS: David
Michael David Matthews (Claw) started his driving career
with Buntine Roadways. His first truck
was an International
Transtar carting produce from the Riverina to Sydney and
Melbourne.
After a long stint
carting
livestock
Claw purchased an
R700 Mack carting
all around the outback regions of NSW,
Qld and NT. Later
upgrading to a second hand Superliner
called ‘Charisma’.
MANN: Raymond
Known simply as ‘the Mexican’ Raymond
John Mann's first driving experience was
when he was hitching and a Ford tipper
pulled up; the driver said he was very
tired, if he wanted a lift he would have
to drive. Ray was just 16 at the time and
hasn’t stopped driving since!
After carting a variety of loads over the
years Ray bought an extendable to cart
steel. While working for TNT Ray was
awarded for his driving excellence and
professional driving. Today Ray is now
enjoying retirement with his family.
Claw’s son Jim
accepted the award
on his behalf.
Claw moved to Western Australia and
found work carrying
heavy earth moving
equipment around the
outback. His last trip
was with his eldest
son Jim here to the
Road Transport Hall
of Fame where his
‘Charisma’ is proudly displayed in his
memory. He lost his
battle with Cancer
just six months later.
McANALLEY: Reg
Even though young
Reginald completed
his apprentice-ship
as butcher he longed
to drive trucks. On
weekends he used to
“borrow” a truck to
and do some driver
training for himself!
As soon as he obtained his heavy vehicle
license he started as a casual driver for
Dairy Farmers. In the years following he
worked as a local driver and as removalist. On returning to Sydney he again drove
all types of vehicles on the express runs.
The most memorable part of those days
for Reg was as one of the original drivers
of the famous slim line Kenworth K125
rigids. In 1991 he changed direction and
drove buses and coaches.
McBAIN: Allan
Allan McBain knew that
when he “grew up” he
would have something
to do with trucking. .
He liked the Kenworth
marque and purchased
an SAR Kenworth as his
first truck.
He has been in the game for more than
40 years and has driven a wide variety of
trucks and carted just about every type of
freight. Today Allan works for Golding
Transport Industries based in Adelaide,
driving a Kenworth he loves.
Transmission
MIDDLETON: Sharon MINERS: Herbert
Herbert (Jim) Miners was
a typical truckie. All his
life he carted loads up
and down the east coast
and hauled coal and other
long and wide loads right
across Australia.
His passion for transport encouraged his
son Rob to join the industry and later
branch out on his own. Jim passed away
from a stroke in 2000 but his legacy lives
on through son Rob, daughter-in-law
Leanne, also a truck driver, and many
grandchildren who aspire to be just as
successful in the industry as he was.
From starting as a receptionist to running a
successful transport company and driving
trucks, Whiteline Transport Director Sharon Middleton is one of the few women in
the industry who can say she literally does
it all. Together with her husband Bob, she
runs freight to Perth from their Adelaide
headquarters. Sharon has run Whiteline’s
office and administration for the 30 years
overseeing the company’s 25 drivers. She
holds a road train/b-double licence and
occasionally drives up to Monarto to do
delivery’s and help out in the depot. Hauling freight into West Australia has always
been the mainstay of the business.
When Sharon met Robert thirty years ago
he was operating three trucks from a single filing cabinet. Sharon immediately set
to work looking after administration but
was always at the ready to help out loading
trucks and driving the forklift when necessary. Sharon’s entrepreneurial skills soon
became evident and coupled with Robert’s
extensive transport and logistics knowledge the business grew rapidly. Whiteline
Transport is one of Australia’s real road
transport success stories. Today it turns
over in excess on $16 million per annum.
Their philosophy and success is built on
“hiring good people to do things the right
way”, Sharon says.
Robert and Sharon are both very community minded. Sharon is very passionate
about the industry and has been on the
board of the SA Road Transport Association (SARTA) for over a decade. She is
currently serving as its President. Sharon also supports Robert’s motor racing
through Whiteline Racing Promotions and
is co-founder of Foundation Shine which
raises funds and promotes awareness of
mental illness.
Sharon was awarded the prestigious ATA
Transport Woman of the Year title in 2013.
On top of all this Sharon is a sought after
public speaker and singer at corporate and
community events all over the country.
She also has released several CD’s of her
own and recently wrote the theme songs
for Super Trucks and the SA Road Transport Association. Over the years the Middletons have been strong supporters of numerous charities and clubs. In their spare
time they enjoy water activities.
MOSS: Terry
Terry bought his first truck in his 20s and
used it for local deliveries. He spent the
next 16 years travelling to remote sites such
as Moomba. During the drought Terry
carted water to roadhouses on the Nullarbor. After finishing interstate work, Terry
drove around Victoria.
Even in retirement Terry enjoys touring
Australia and while visiting us here at the
National Road Transport Hall of Fame in
Alice Springs, he was thrilled to see a large
photo of a Kenworth ‘Rig of the Year’ that
he once drove.
NIDDRIE: Gary
Gary Niddrie (Beans) was an ‘old school’
driver whose patience and skill in the outback meant he was able to handle anything
the bush threw at him. He spent many
years driving from Alice Springs to most
corners of Australia. He drove two-up with
the legendary Pissy Pepperill in a ‘pushpull’ team of B-model trucks hauling the
first locomotive to Darwin and carting huts
to the Ord River Dam site. Beans worked
in Queensland for several years before returning to South Australia to drive trucks.
His favourite saying was “catch ya down
the track”. Beans passed away in 2008.
NORTON: Kenneth
Ken Norton started with the Highways
Department S.A. between 1958 and 1971.
From there Ken and wife Peggy moved
to Wyndham, Western Australia where
he carted Barytes. Ken then returned to
Hawker and continued with the Highways Department. In 1979 Ken and his
wife opened ‘Truckies Tucker’ the Golden
Fleece truck stop at Port Augusta which
they ran until the end of 1984. Ken then
bought a new Ford LTL towing Fadelli
trailers. He also did the occasional trip to
Alice Springs and later took on the long
Brisbane to Perth and back to Melbourne
run. Ken retired to Port Lincoln in 2001.
O’CONNELL: Kerry
Transmission
O’HARA: Mick & Ros
Michael (Mick) and Ros have shown
enormous commitment to improving the
livestock transport industry. They took
over Mick’s family business in 1991 with
Ros in the office and Mick organising the
trucks and business.
Mick became heavily involved in the
Livestock Transporter’s Association of
South Australia serving as state president
for two years. He was elected to the national body and received life memberships
from both organisations.
O’Hara Transport was one of five leading
livestock transport businesses to develop
the nationally-recognised quality assurance system designed solely for livestock
carriers. It was also awarded Winner
NMA Award for Packaging, Transport and
Distribution in the 2000 Balfours Meat Industry Awards for Excellence.
RICHARDSON: Billy
William “Billy” Richardson settled into
his career in the transport industry on
a daily run carrying hanging beef from
the Toowoomba Abattoirs into Brisbane.
A few years later, Billy started his own
company and Richardson’s Refrigerated
Transport, based in Toowoomba, was created. After taking freight to Brisbane the
business grew rapidly with interstate runs.
Billy and his wife Jenny ran their successful business up until 1991 when a large
scale transport company undercut their
prices which forced them into receivership. He continue driving carrying a variety of loads until his retirement in late 2013
ROGERS: Peter
OWENS: Bernie
Kerry (Kenworth or KK) O’Connell started
driving in a rigid Bedford. Later driving for
Hawthorn Overnight, who became TNT
and finally Kwikasair, for nearly 18 years in
all. He drove many trucks including COE,
SAR and W model Kenworths, both R and
F model Macks, Volvo and Scanias. Kerry
was very active in the industry and became
one of the founding members of the Transport Workers Union Interstate Committee. Over the next few years he drove for a
variety of operators and it was during this
era he earned the nickname of ‘Kerry Kenworth’. Most of the Kerry’s work has been
on the MELB-SYD-ADEL run and he has
clocked up around 8 million kilometres.
Alan came to Darwin in 1949 to visit his
brother John and to find work. In 1952
he married his wife Mary; they went on
to have 8 children. His first truck was
an International which he brought from
the Uniting Church. He later had a Leyland comet which he drove from Gove to
Darwin in the 60’s. In the late 1960s Alan
worked for Hannons which he went on to
do for over 15 years before forming his
own business, Alan Ross & Co.
He worked locally delivering bulk fuel for
BP. When the cargo ships would come
to Darwin, he also transported good and
timber to Bunnings and other stores. His
sons (Kevin, Ronald (dec), John, Alan and
Peter(dec)) followed his footsteps in the
trucking industry. His passion for trucks
are still continued today by his sons and
grandson working in the trucking industry.
In 2003 Alan passed away from Parkinson
disease. In 2013 Alan Ross truck parking
bay (near Katherine) was named after him
in honour of his contribution to trucking.
Bernie started driving an old Commer
carting milk at 20 years old but has moved
on through many trucks with many different loads. He has taken time out as foreman and then Operations Manager. In
1998 Bernie and wife Linda formed B &
L Owens Pty Ltd which now consists of
six Kenworths, three K200’s, two 104’s, a
108 and a Western Star. Bernie still does
the occasional trip.
REID: Scott
Peter William Rogers was born in Rockhampton, Qld in 1935. When he was
around 25 he started driving a single drive
petrol Dodge for Harry Watson in the
Hughenden area carting sheep and cattle back around the local area. Peter then
drove a single drive petrol Bedford for
his brother-in-law, Don Brebner. After the
sale of Rogers Transport, Peter went on to
serve 25 years with W Brooks and Sons
which later became Brooks Bros Transport operating out of Charleville. Peter has
retired from driving and is living in Longreach, Qld. His legacy lives on in both his
sons, Lawrence and John.
RONALDSON:Doug
O’CONNOR: Pat
After driving the
Broken Hill to
Tibooburra mail
run then carting
stock and general
freight locally he
moved to Broken
Hill and carted
stock locally. Pat
also took over the
Colane mail run
in and around the
White Cliffs area.
Pat later shifted oil rigs and carted water
in the Moomba area. When the family
moved to Adelaide in 1972, Pat continued
to haul general freight to Moomba, Alice
Springs and Darwin. In 1974 Pat was one
of the drivers who carted goods and materials to rebuild Darwin after Cyclone Tracy.
In 1981 he sold the truck and trailers and
worked for BAM Construction until his
retirement. Pat is a well respected gentleman of the highways.
ROSS: Alan
Scott (Scotty) Reid completed an apprenticeship at Drake Trailers building big tow
loaders. Many relationships were formed
during this time giving him the opportunity to experience a wide variety of things
including operating earthmoving equipment, towing a variety of trailers and
even doing a stint of two up driving with
his father Allan in his 4964 Western Star.
Scotty travelled all over Australia with his
mechanical knowledge but he realized one
ute and one man wasn’t enough to service
the heavy haulage industry satisfactorily, so a workshop was setup to assist the
mobile service. The business is the only
Drake authorized repairer in Australia except Drake Trailers.
Doug has hauled many types of loads during his 48 years in the industry including
operating the first adjustable wide spread
trailer carting sawn timber from Cabbage
Tree to Melbourne. Later he hauled pine
board to Sydney and coke from Wollongong. The Transtar is he drove is now here
in the Hall Of Fame. It was donated a few
years ago by well known Victorian operator Jim Jackson (Deceased) who is also an
inductee on the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame.
Doug earned the nickname Reggie as
workmates said he flew like Reg Ansett.
He eventually turned to driving coaches
taking school excursions and extended
trips to locations such as Ayers Rock.
Transmission
RYAN: Geoffrey
Geoffrey
William
Ryan moved to Quambatook and continued
farming until 1950. He
bought his first truck
at the age of 17 and
added a stock crate
and began hauling live
stock to Melbourne.
He also hauled machinery and drum fuel
in Victoria. During the 1970s and 1980s,
Geoff hauled long distance across most
states of Australia. He ran his trucking
business from 1951 until 1982 when he
decided to get out of the livestock haulage
business to drive fuel tankers from Swan
Hill to Melbourne for the next five years.
He decided to go back to the land to work
on local farms in the Quambatook district.
In 2005 Geoff retired.
SALTER: Kenneth
ROSS: John
John Clarke Ross was born
in Darwin in 1955 the son
of Alan and Mary Ross.
His father Alan had his
own carrying business
After school John would help in the depot
cleaning the trucks and work loading and
unloading and assisting with maintenance.
John went on to drive trucks for over 40
years in the Darwin area.
He would travel on many dirt roads to deliver fuel and supplies all around the Top
End to many communities. He also worked
delivering hay to various Stations and carted to cattle ships for live export. John went
on to operate trucks for most of his work-
Ken Salter began driving in the early
1970's carting wine to Melbourne and
cider to Adelaide. Several years later he
drove a refrigerated van to Melbourne,
Broken Hill and Alice Springs. In 1990
Ken purchased two Macks, one for himself and one for his son. In 1992 he started
doing Express freight for NQX.
ROSS: Peter
Peter Ross, known as
Little Pete or Rossy, was
born in Darwin in 1964,
the younger son of Alan
and Mary Ross. Like his
brothers before him he
became a truckie
In 2000 he purchased a T950 and a new
Freighter trailer and they continued to cart
slate, honey, copper and lead to all cities.
His eldest son could see the revenue in
heavy haulage and oversize loads, so in
2008 he brought a new T608 Kenworth
and asked Ken to drive for him. He is still
doing this today.
After finishing Year 10 at Darwin High
School Peter went to work for his father
initially helping load and unload trucks
but later driving trucks. Peter also worked
for GT Monk delivering soil in the Darwin
area. In later years he worked at NT house
movers. After Peter became ill he worked
at HSS Concrete. He assisted in the office
with administration and sourced parts for
trucks and man¬aged registration of the
HSS fleet. After battling a long illness,
Peter passed away 2 February 2012.
SMITH : Peter
SAUNDERS: Garth
Garth Saunders was born in 1935 in
Tasmania. From the time he was 13 young
Garth was helping out in his father’s trucking business by carting screenings, mostly
at night. After a few years he bought his
own truck and went into logging. He later
relocated to Victoria and sub-contracted
to Macfies Transport, eventually selling up
and becoming a staff driver. He then drove
interstate for the next 15 years. Later Garth
returned to Tasmania to operate bulldozers
before managing several caravan parks.
At the age of 60, Garth retired, and passed
away in 2010 aged 75 years.
SEXTON: Christpoher
Chris Sexton and wife
Janet moved to Alice
Springs where Chris
found work carting
general freight. In 1985
he joined with Northern Territory Fuels, the
local Shell distributors
and stayed for almost
twenty years.
During this time he drove many trucks and
travelled many outback roads delivering
fuel to remote communities and stations.
In 2007 Chris started with A&F Transport driving Alice Springs to Adelaide and
return traveling up to 12,000kms some
weeks. Today Chris still drives trucks doing local fuel deliveries for A&F Transport
in a CH Mack affectionately called ‘The
Pup’. The saying “you can take the man
out of the truck but you can’t take the truck
out of the man” fits Chris to a tee
Born in Donald, Victoria, Peter Smith moved to Box
Hill to do a diesel mechanic apprenticeship but he really wanted to drive a truck. Eventually he moved into the
logging industry. Peter then went on to drive a garbage
truck with early starts and finishes.
Peter went into business for himself and bought his own
truck, working from the wharf delivering containers locally and into the surrounding country areas. After the
birth of his son, Peter drove a street sweeper for the
Sandringham council before returning to Bulkway then
to Brambles. At 66 years of age he still works every day
and has no interest of retiring yet.
SMITH: Robert
Robert Smith (Rob) was born into the
transport industry. He first started driving
interstate in 1975 in a Mack R600. Over the
years Rob has travelled the roads of Australia hauling many loads for many companies. He started on semi trailers progressing to B-doubles and even the odd road
train. Rob has driven all types of trucks
over the years carrying all types of loads.
Since then he has pursued a career within
the industry as NHVR Heavy Vehicle Auditor, teaching and assessing the Victorian
Livestock Loading Scheme, Compliance
Work Diary auditing and mentoring forklift teaching and assessment. Today Robert
lives in Bendigo with his wife Joan.
Transmission
STOCKS: Jimmy and
Yvonne
Jimmy Stocks
is one of five
brothers in the
transport
industry. Jimmy
started off on a
forklift in 1970s
When he turned 22 he landed his first
trucking job with N&T Transport in South
Melbourne carting containers and general freight locally. With his partner of 21
years, Yvonne, Peter formed Wannabee
Transport in 2004. Yvonne, whose main
job is to keep on top of the bookwork and
administration also has her truck licence.
Jimmy is now sub-contracting for Scotts
of Mt Gambier, carting goods for Big W in
his B-Double Argosy Freightliner.
SOLOMON: Bruce
Bruce Solomon (Popeye)
worked on sheep and
cattle properties before
deciding he wanted to
be a driver. In 1977 he
returned to Jamestown to
cart interstate to Sydney,
Brisbane and Perth.
Bruce moved to Alice Springs in 1978 to
take up a bus driving job with Greyhound.
Bruce gave up bus driving to go and work
for MacMahon’s in the road construction
industry at Dunmarra, Ayers Rock (Yulara)
Curtain Springs, Mereenie, the Buchanan
Highway and the rail line at Collinsville in
Queensland. In recent years Bruce has become known as “the grader man”.
STACK: Frank
STOCKS: Margaret
Margaret and Bill’s
wedding
reflected
their love of trucking
with Sartori Transport’s White Road
Commanders being
an official part of the
wedding party. When
she could Margaret
obtained her licence.
With her medium rigid licence she soon
began driving a five to eight ton delivery
van around Melbourne and occasionally
on country trips. Margaret then went on
to drive passenger coaches from depot to
depot for cleaning. Twenty years ago they
got a contract to cart concrete sleepers with
Austrak. They also secured a direct contract with V-line and Metro rail. Margaret
is the receptionist, secretary, accountant as
well, “the voice of logic” in the office!
TAYLOR: John (Jack)
The Admiral
John Maxwell Waldren-Taylor, known as
Jack or Admiral was born in WA in 1930.
He came to the Northern Territory with a
buck jump show in 1946 and fell in love
with the place. He loved the remoteness of
the Top End working and found work in the
cattle industry. He went on to manage several stations including Stirling, Ooratippra,
Roxburgh Downs and Todd River. He later
managed the Aileron pub. In later years
Jack carted cattle for John Fullarton and
Noel Buntine. In later years he was based
at Katherine and then the road train base at
Helen Springs before settling in Katherine.
Jack worked with Buntine Roadways until
it’s closure in 1981. Dennis Buntine started
Victoria River Transport (VRT) soon after
and Jack worked there until Dennis sold
VRT to Roadtrains of Australia in 1987.
Jack then worked for RTA until 1990. One
of the highlights of his career was driving
the bicentennial Mack ‘Ned Kelly’. Jack
saw his time out on the Buntine owned
Landsdowne station. Jack’s time with the
Buntine family was far more than a 25
year working relationship.
Jack was, as many of the drivers were and
still are, considered to be an extended part
of the wider Buntine family. Those who
have driven for Buntine over the years are
considered to be legends in their own right
and few more so than Admiral Jack Taylor.
Jack earned himself the nickname Admiral
by expertly driving his truck into the flooded Ferguson River to avoid a collision with
another truck and several bystanders in his
path. He is also remembered with a trucking parking bay named in his honour. In
his 56 years in the Northern Territory Jack
married twice and had four children. He
passed away in 2002.
VITTORIO: Napoline
Napoline Vittorio, (Paul)
arrived with his family
from Italy into Fremantle
in 1936. In 1963 he married Pam and they had two
daughters. His first job
working for his father on
their greengrocer round.
Young Paul started driving trucks as a 16
year-old on a special licence In 1954 he
landed a job in Bunbury and was employed
by Vacuum Oil. After a few months in the
depot, he was soon delivering fuel drums
to various parts of the southwest. After 53
years driving Paul has received many accident-free safety driving awards from the
National Safety Council of Australia and
in 1997 finally retired.
In 1974 Lester and his brother Raymond started their own livestock business called
Strasburg Bros. Livestock Carriers operating out of Toowoomba and Marburg. In 1987,
with good friend Phil Trussell, they started King Bars which grew into a successful well
known business manufacturing aluminium bull bars for trucks Australia-wide and overseas. They then moved cattle and built bull bars so, in 1997 the brothers decided to start
building their own trailers. In 2006 King Bars was sold to concentrate on the livestock
business. Strasburg Trailers was founded in 2009 to manufacture all types of trailers
including flat-tops, drop-decks, extendables and specialised in stock crates and dollys.
WEEKS: Allan
By1975 Allan Weeks had obtained his
mechanics certificate and was driving
school buses. He won a contract from Kyabram to Echuca Higher Education and in
1982 purchased his first new bus. In 1982
he bought a Bedford van bus and set it
up with four pens to cart deer, emus and
ostriches. It could carry 80 fallow deer
or 40 red deer. Deliveries were made five
times across the Nullarbor taking red deer
to West Australia and carting back fallow deer. Emus and ostriches were carted
around Victoria, NSW and SA.
WHELAN: Rodney
WALFORD Brian
Brian Walford received
his car licence on the
morning of his 18th birthday and that same afternoon got his semi licence.
By nightfall he was driving a truck to Sydney.
In 1960 Brian started work for Frank Burke
driving Melbourne to Perth in a Commer
knocker. Over the next few years Brian
worked on local jobs. In the early 1970s
he bought his own truck, a Bedford, and
did local work around Melbourne. In 1978
Brian suffered a heart attack and decided
to sell the truck. He later drove for Logan
Mackintosh around Melbourne with some
interstate work for 12 years before retiring
to just enjoy life.
WALLACE: Bruce
STRASBURG: Lester
Frank Stack was just 20 when he took his
first driving job delivering butter out of
Crows Nest by day and newspapers by
night. In late 1956 he purchased a V8 petrol Ford F600 truck and single strap trailer
to run general from Sydney to Melbourne,
Brisbane and Adelaide. Frank has driven
many makes and travelled many roads
including delivering new Mercedes Benz
trucks. Frank has stayed active and at 80
years of age still holds his HC licence. He
keeps busy rebuilding engines.
Transmission
At 14 Bruce drove from the family farm
to the silos before getting his licence and
turning to local and interstate runs.
His favourite was and still is a T904 with
B-double taut liners.
Due to injuries sustained in a bad truck
accident in 1993, Bruce made local deliveries for a number of years before returning to interstate work.
known as Day, has
never felt more comfortable than when he
is behind the wheel of
a truck. He has driven
trucks for more than
40 years, starting on
water tankers, and then
carting
ready-built
houses before moving
to interstate work.
WHITTAM: Mac & Lorene
Mac and Lorene Whittam both grew up in
small country towns. Mac bought his first
truck in 1956; a four ton Bedford A. His
first job was to deliver milk to the United
Dairies factory. It was not long before a
second unit with wind-on stock crates was
added, and then a third with an interstate
contract carting ink for the Advertiser.
Lorene and Mac married in 1964 settling
in Strathalbyn where they established
their transport depot. As the business grew
Lorene managed the bookwork and helped
organise loads for their six semi-trailers.
Today Whittams operates Kenworths. Mac
has eased into retirement but Lorene has
continued to be involved.
WIECH: Noel
Rodney Day spent 27 years on the Sydney,
Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide runs. One of
his first trucks did not have a bunk so he
slept across the seats or under the truck it was just part of the adventure. He now
works as a pre-loader working locally to
spend more time with his family.
WHITING: Don
For over 50 years Donald operated VO
Whiting & Sons, the company his father
founded in the 1920s. He married Ruve
Cockburn in 1944. Much of the early work
was carting livestock, wool and general
freight for pastoral companies. Over time,
the company grew to six trucks which operated across Australia. As the mining, oil
and gas industries grew Don branched into
moving transportable buildings and setting
up construction and residential camps.
Over the years Don bought and operated
33 trucks. Don passed away in December
1997 after spending more than 50 years
driving trucks and running the business.
Noel Wiech’s first experience with trucks
was in the early 1950s. He bought his first
truck, a Ford V-8 to cart gravel later carting bagged grain from paddock to railhead.
Later acquiring Yorketown Transport he
carted livestock and general freight. Noel
married Maureen in 1959 and before long
Maureen settled into the role of bookkeeper. The business became involved in
carting livestock and wool in the Flinders
Ranges and in the 1970s they purchased
Hawker Transport. In the 1990s, Noel and
Maureen moved to Esperance, Western
Australia. Eventually the business moved
to Esperance where it continues operating
2015 Nominations Now Open
Get in Early! Dont Miss Out
We can not guarantee
numbers will be extended.
There will most definately be
no late nominations accepted.
Liz Martin:
0429 201 549
Sherrill Ives: 0418 525 056
WILLIAMS
Peter (Lizard)
Transmission
Don’t
miss
out!
*
*******
n
ReUnio5
201
*
*******
25-31August 2014
As you all know, ReUnion 2015 is going
to be huge and its imperative you get
organised as soon as you can. We are
still to meet with our sponsors to tie up
final details which will go out in the next
newsletter in February.
In the meantime, book your accomodation
and flights, do your nominations for the
Wall of Fame, book your truck in for the
parade and order your event package! This
is going to involve huge logistical issues so
we thank you for your understanding.
Peter Williams started out driving trucks
on the Hume Highway in 1965 when he
was just 19 years of age. Peter, or Lizard as
he later became known, drove for some of
Australia’s largest and most iconic transport companies including Arnolds, Marsden’s, Harry Powell, Barney Kerr, Ansetts,
Eastoes and John Nash.
Registration is compulsory at $25 per head.
This will give you a wrist band that will get
you past security. This includes free entry
to all museums for the week, access to all
food and bar areas (not private functions)
a delegates bag and a years membership to
the Hall of Fame. There are no bookings
for individual events and you will need to
choose a package as listed below. Details
of what each package includes is on the
attached booking sheet.
By 1978 Peter was sick of driving the
Hume Highway and moved to Alice
Springs in search of new adventures. He
wanted to drive for Buntine’s, however
they wouldn’t give him a start then as he
had no cattle ‘savvy’ at the time. Never the
less Peter decided to stay on in the Territory working over the next few years for
K&T Transport and then Barry Bail doing
Darwin-Brisbane return.
He then decided to try Buntine again and
started carting lime from Alice Springs to
the Ranger Uranium Mine at Jabiru. When
that contract ended in 1981 manager Peter
Gunner suggested he move up to Katherine and “go into cows”. For the next three
decades Lizard worked under the legendary Buntine / RTA banner for Noel Buntine, Bob Dodds, Dicky David, Jim and
Jamie Cooper and David Jones.
Lizard recalls that cattle carting out in the
bull dust was the best job ever; stiff barring
through rivers and getting towed up jumpups, and lots of time getting yourself in
and out of strife. “It’s very satisfying later
to talk about but very hard when you are
actually doing it” he said. Lizard enjoyed
carting boat cattle for export but for him
the bush, with its mateship and hardships.
Wall of Fame Nominations 2015
Trade Display / Food Stalls
Parade Entry)
Package #1 Registration Only
Package #2 Budget Package
Package #3 Standard Package
Package #4 Premium Package
The early days were the best. It was a real
era of times that will not ever be repeated.
“A pair of Redwing boots and a bottle of
rum would get you through just about anything! The rough and tumble of the job is
what I really loved, you just get up and go
and do it”
Some of the men Lizard drove with were
Legends in the real sense of the word, Men
like Jack Taylor, Noel Tones, Pissy Pepperill, Reg McGinnes, Marty Smith, and
also the blokes who are still in the game
such as Tino Geonacelli, Prickles, Peter
Byrnes and 10 Stud Turner; they have all
been there and done that. So has Lizard!
The 2014
service will be
held on
25 October
in the Tarcutta
Park, NSW.
CONTACTS
Doug McMillan
0407 835 115
Keith Thompson
0428 509 879
$200
$600
$15
$25
$120
$220
$335
Liz Martin
[email protected]
CONVOY
Albury to the Alice
Truckie’s Caper
2015
Australian Truck Drivers Memorial
Chairperson Doug McMillan will be
leading a convoy of vehicles from Albury
to the Alice as part of ReUnion 2015.
Berty Button Books
A great
new
children’s
book series
by author
Marina
Bertolino
Book author Marina Bertolino has been
capturing the imaginations of children
all around the country.
Marina has recently written an engaging
series of books based on a real but small
working truck fleet called Bertie Button
Trucks. Berties adventures bring together
a wonderful blend of reality and fantasy
combining jelly beans and trucks which
brings great joy and excitement to young
children and, of course, it does much to
enhance their perception of the trucking
industry in general.
Marina reads to school groups and explains
where she got her ideas from and why the
trucking industry is such a good industry.
We are excited that Marina will be doing
some childrens events at ReUnion 2015
where you will be able to buy her books.
With the surname Bertolino Marina was
often called Berty in her childhood and
her very good friend Mark Button was the
inspiration for the book. It was ineviteable
the book, and the business, which Mark
owns, would be called Berty Button.
The inspiration for the jelly bean livery
came to mark at 2am one morning when
he couldn’t sleep. Marina bought some
jelly beans and took some photos and gave
them to the painter and the look was born.
Transmission
FREIGHTLINER
25 Years in Australia
1989 was the start of something big.
Freightliner, one of the world’s most trusted and respected trucks brands, was preparing
to launch its first truck Down Under. The muscular FLC112 was the perfect truck for
Australia’s long-haul operators, living up to its reputation of ‘Running Tough’. Whether
it was traveling the tarmac of the Hume Highway or battling the tough conditions of
Australia’s outback, the FLC112 was up to the challenge.
When Freightliner came to Australia in 1989, the company already had 45 years of engineering experience and success behind it. Back in the 1940’s, when conventional trucks
were made of steel, Leyland James started Freightliner and became famous for pioneering aluminium cab-overs. A truck driver himself, Leyland wanted a durable truck that
could carry more payload. With this in mind, the first Freightliner was born.
To celebrate its 25th anniversary in Australia, Freightliner Australia staged the Australian
debut of the Freightliner Revolution Innovation Truck at the 2014 International Truck,
Trailer and Equipment Show in Melbourne. The Revolution concept truck features a host
of innovative technologies which make it exceptionally aerodynamic, lightweight, easy
to manoeuvre and efficient.
“We are delighted to be celebrating 25 years of Freightliner in Australia with our customers and the trucking industry as a whole” said Kristi Walker, General Manager Freightliner Australia. “Each member of the Freightliner team, past and present, should feel a
great sense of pride that they have contributed to Freightliner reaching this milestone.
More than ever, we are dedicated to providing our customers with the highest level of
service and support.”
“Whilst we are certainly celebrating our 25th anniversary, we are also looking forward to
the journey over the next 25 years for Freightliner in Australia.”
Whilst a lot has changed since the first Freightliner FLC112 rolled onto Australian roads
25 years ago, one thing has remained the same. Freightliner’s dedication to producing
tough and durable trucks for Australian operators. Highlighted by the recent introduction
of the Coronado 114, built specifically for the Australian market. To commemorate its
25th anniversary, Freightliner Australia has built 25 unique Coronado 114’s. Each truck
has a number of hand crafted enhancements including stitching on the seats and door
trims.
The purpose of the convoy is to raise funds
for the Australian Truck Drivers Memorial
in Tarcutta. It is proposed that trucks leave
their points of origin in time to arrive in
Albury on 22 August for a welcome dinner
which will be a fundraiser.
With Freightliners working thousands of different jobs across Australia, Freightliner is
no longer the newcomer, it’s become the new standard.
The next morning the convoy will head for
Tarcutta where they will enjoy a look at the
memorial and a bbq lunch before heading
to the Wagga Showgrounds campsites. The
local Lions Club will be providing tea.
Next morning its off to Mildura where the
local Rotary Club will cater for dinner at
the Mildura Showgrounds. After breakfast
the next morning its off to Port Augusta
where it is expected that new trucks will
join the convoy. The next night will be in
Cooberpedy and the final days travel on
Thursday 27th will be to Alice Springs
where you can join in ReUnion festivities.
In the meantime you can purchase the
book, Berty Button gets a Team, from the
National Road Transport Hall of Fame
souvenir shop for $20.00 including post.
Doug McMillan 0407 835 115
[email protected]
Freightliner Australia’s milestones:
1989 – The first Freightliner FLC112 comes off the assembly line in Mulgrave, Victoria
1994 – The medium duty Business Class FL80 series is introduced in Australia
1995 – Freightliner Australia adds the FL106 to its expanding range
1996 – The biggest member of the Business Class family is introduced – the FL112
1998 – The release of the FLB cab over, affectionately known as the ‘Terminator Truck’
1999 – The Century Class S/T makes its Australian debut
2000 – Australia welcomes the unconventional cab-over Argosy
2004 – The Columbia arrives on the scene complementing Freightliner’s range
2010 – The Coronado 122, the CST112 and the CL112 are introduced to the local market
2011 – The new-generation Argosy is launched after extensive local testing
2012 – Designed and engineered for the Australian Market, the Coronado 114 is unveiled
2014 – Freightliner celebrates 25 years in Australia
Transmission
Transmission
Centenary DVD - Outback Mailman Tom Kruse
Western Star - the Australian Time Line
1983 – 1989: The first Australian Western Star was built in March of 1983 at the
current Wacol QLD facility, and went it in to service a few months later. Heritage
models 4864 and 4964 were produced from 1983 to 1989, and were offered with
customised packages that came with names such as Cheyenne, Apache, Comanche,
Chinook, Mohawk, Pawnee and Navajo. They were imported in kit form from the
Western Star factory in Kelowna, Canada. 707 Units were built during this period.
TNT History on show
TNT Express will soon take pride of place
at the National Road Transport Hall of
Fame in Alice Springs, with a dedicated
space set to showcase the history of TNT
Express.
“We already have quite a lot of TNT material on display in different parts of the site
– but we’re now going to devote a whole
room to the story of TNT,” says Hall of
Fame chairperson Liz Martin, OAM. The
TNT display will be the first in a series
showcasing the history of 10 iconic Australian transport companies.
The museum has been actively collecting TNT-related memorabilia to add to
the display. “We’re after pretty much
everything,” Ms Martin says, “promotional material, signage, uniforms, literature,
photographs … we try to cover as many
aspects of the business as we can.” She
adds that the museum already has a good
collection of TNT items, including material sourced directly from the family of its
founder, Ken Thomas.
The centenary of the birth of Australia’s most recognised outback mailman, dam
sinker and carrier Tom Kruse MBE was late last month. Along with his eleven
siblings, Tom was born in the front room of a modest family home at Waterloo, a
hamlet in the mid north of South Australia on August 28th 1914. He died on June
30th 2011 and now rests with his wife Valma at the nearby Carlsruhe cemetery.
On Sunday August 31st the community at
Waterloo paid tribute to their favourite son,
Esmond Gerald (Tom) Kruse MBE. In addition to readings from the successful children’s book Tom the Outback Mailman,
written by Kristin Weidenbach and the
unveiling of a commemorative Tom Kruse
panel, the celebration hosted the premiere
screening of a new feature length television documentary The Mailmen Back of
Beyond. It was produced by Corrugated
Air Productions. The Mailmen Back of
Beyond is a result of 28 years of research
by producers Ian Doyle and Keith Webb
and includes the unveiling of the Tom
Kruse bust at the National Road Transport
Hall of Fame and the 2010 Truck Parade.
Ian and Keith gained unprecedented access
to the significant photographic collections
of the Kruse, Heyer, Ding, Crombie and
Teague families. In addition to the stills
collections (available online at www.tomkruse.com.au), the documentary airs for
the first time elements of movie footage
filmed by filmmaker and adventurer Colin
Wagener. He is now 96 years old and lives
in the Adelaide Hills. He filmed in colour a
trip he took on the Marree to Birdsville run
with driver Monty Scobie in 1953 and the
Cooper Creek in floods in 1956 and 1963.
Tom Kruse was the main figure in the
classic Australian docudrama The Back of
Beyond, directed by the Shell Film Unit’s
John Heyer and released in 1954. Shot
in black and white, The Back of Beyond
remains today, one of the most critically
acclaimed and awarded films to ever have
been produced in Australia. It won the
Grand Prix Assoluto; the best film in all
categories at the Venice Film Festival in
1954, as well as many other awards.
The Mailmen Back of Beyond reveals, in
a letter written to Tom, that John Heyer
believed that if he had been able to show
the film to a paying audience (and then
allowed to be nominated), it would have
won an Oscar in 1954. The documentary
has also unearthed a letter written in 1954
from London by Australian artist Sidney
Nolan to Tom in Marree. The contents
of the letter have sparked a search by the
Kruse family for ‘enclosed’ photographs
and drawings promised by Sidney Nolan.
Sixty years after the release of The Back
of Beyond, the double DVD set The Tom
Kruse Collection includes more than 3.5
hours of material about Tom Kruse, the
rescue, restoration and re-enactment involving his 1936 Leyland Badger mail
truck, the stories behind the making of The
Back of Beyond and 100 years of history
of the mailmen of the Birdsville Track.
“We were delighted members of the Kruse,
Butler and Heyer families including Dr.
Elizabeth Heyer from Alice Springs,
daughter of director John Heyer, were at
Waterloo for the celebrations. It was a
memorable afternoon and a significant
tribute to Tom in his centenary year,” The
Tom Kruse Collection Executive Producer Ian Doyle said. Outback mailman Tom
Kruse was a film star before his Top Gun
Hollywood namesake Tom Cruise was
born. The 1954 Australian film classic The
Back of Beyond introduced Tom Kruse
and his 1936 Leyland Badger mail truck
to a generation of Australians. Most never
forgot the extraordinary images of the man
and his battered trucks doing battle each
fortnight with the sand and isolation along
the Birdsville Track - outback Australia’s
toughest mail run.
Tom was inducted into the National
Road Transport Hall of Fame in 2000.
The Tom Kruse Collection includes The
Mailmen Back of Beyond (Corrugated Air
Productions 2014), Last Mail From Birdsville – the Story of Tom Kruse (Corrugated Air Productions 1999), The Postman
(ABC TV Australian Story 1996) and The
Outback Mailmen (ABC Countrywide).
The Tom Kruse Collection is
available from the National
Road Transport Hall of Fame
for $50.00 including postage.
Proceeds from the sale of the
double DVD The Tom Kruse
Collection support the RFDS.
ABC Landline will broadcast
some of The Mailmen Back of
Beyond in early November.
Thanks to Gary and Nick Radford who turned up with this impressive
looking roadtrain. And what a good looking litter of dogs it was!
Bernie Russell from Bacchus Marsh recently called in to visit us with his Western Star
In February 1990, the first “Cornerstone” Just a couple of years later the Western
Heritage unit was introduced in a project Star Commander 7564F was introduced. It
aimed at reducing the cost and weight of was based on the ERF cabover platform.
the vehicles. Three new models were released; The 4864S with a short bonnet set- By1998 the Constellation series of truck
back front axle suitable for b-double ap- was introduced to Australia. It featured
plications, the 4964SS that had a sloping, a complete new cab and sleeper package
aerodynamic long bonnet, with 1270mm that offered increased interior space and
set-back front axle and 48 degree wheel enhanced comfort options. First models
cut. and the 4864FX with a short sloping introduced were the 4864FXC, 4964FXC
bonnet for enhanced visibility. 840mm set- and 4964EXC (extended bonnet).
back front axle. The Pre-Cornerstone 4964
In 2002 Constellation series models
was produced for heavy-duty operations.
5864SS and 5964SS were introduced.
In 1992 Western Star introduced the 1064 they were aerodynamic, short and long
Series, based on the DAF 95 platform. A bonnet models with set-back front axles.
European cabover design, with American The Constellation Series 6964FXC indriveline. First fully built up Western Star troduced to replace 4964EXC just a year
units arrived from Western Star factory in later. In 2005 Western Star introduced the
Kelowna. In 1993 the last truck was pro- 4864FXB model that complies with the
duced at the Wacol facility and the 3800e recently introduced 26 metre b-double
is introduced. An aerodynamic, short bon- legislation and in 2010 the Western Star
net truck Heritage 6964F was introduced 4964FXT was released. there is no doubt
Western Star will be there into the future.
in 1995 to replace the Heavy Duty 4900.
Special Thanks to Mack
Thank you to Mack Trucks Australia who went to
great effort to get John Flynn to the Reunion.
Thanks also to Don Hoey and Greg McDonald.
The National Road Transport Hall of
Fame is host to about 80,000 visitors each
year, making it the biggest tourist attraction in Alice Springs. Part of its goal is
to not only save our trucking history but
to promote the signifance of trucks to the
broader community/
“The Hall of Fame set in a big complex so
there’s lots to see and explore,” Ms Martin
says. “We find that different things appeal
to different people: one of the most popular displays is our display of unique old
road trains, including one that dates back
to 1934.
“We also have over 300 vehicles of various types on display, a train museum, a
Kenworth museum, a huge photographic
and memorabilia display, a library and resource centre, tea-rooms and theatrettes as
well as a train museum and working miniature railway.
The TNT display will be launched in August as part of the annual August reunion.
The annual truckies reunion is our major
fundraiser and includes several events including a truckies race day, the induction
ceremony for the Wall of Fame and the
launch of any new books and exhibits such
as the TNT Display.
Ms Martin herself has been involved with
the Hall of Fame for 25 years.
T
H
A
N
K
S
“You could say I’ve been involved with
trucks and transport all my life,” she says.
“I grew up on Marrakia Station near Darwin, and part of my first job was to manage the freight in and out of the property.
I also ran a diversified transport business
including refrigerated, general and tipper
haulage as well as operated a heavy vehicle spare parts shop for many years.”
The National Road Transport Hall of
Fame was created in 1995 as a way of
preserving trucks that were rusting away
on rural properties and cattle stations. It
is an initiative of the Alice Springs-based
Road Transport Historical Society Inc, a
community-based volunteer organisation
dedicated to preserving Australia’s unique
road transport heritage.
Transmission
Transmission
Ex Buntine Wall of Fame Inductees 2014
Tall Tales But True - about Cattle Shifts and Gear
Changes at the 2014 Buntine RTA ReUnion.
It was a day full of fun and frivolity catching up with old mates and making new
ones as old mate shifted big mobs of cattle over corrugated dusty roads and flooded black soil plains. The legend of the twin sticker loomed and many a truck was
bogged to the axle as about 200 Buntine RTA past employers, employees and associates converged in Alice Springs for the Buntine RTA Reunion in which three ex-employees were inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame. It was decided to hold
the event in honour of the 20th anniversary of Noel Buntines passing. Noel and Kurt
Johannsen, were the first two financial benefactors of the Road Transport Hall of
Fame and the main pavilions are subsequently named in their honour.
In many ways the story of Australia’s
largest cattle transporting company is
also the story of the development of the
northern cattle industry itself.
REFERENCE: BEEF CENTRAL & LIZ MARTIN
Since the 1800s the potential of the vast
natural grasslands of northern Australia to support a large-scale cattle industry
was obvious. While the droving industry
helped to get the northern industry on its
feet, the need for more efficient road transport always held the key to unlocking full
potential of the north.
Central to the innovations that allowed
that to happen was the invention by Alice
Springs’ Kurt Johanssen of self-tracking
trailers in 1945, which laid the platform for
road trains to negotiate more of the bush
roads throughout the north, and Commonwealth funding from 1949 on to improve
roads to support the cattle industry.
When the first rudimentary road trains
pulled by Commer Knockers, Diamond Ts
and Fodens began venturing farther into
the north, with breakdowns, boggings and
crashes rarely far behind, the traditional
drovers may well have felt they had little
to fear from the new mechanical drovers,
especially when it came to shifting thousands of head of cattle in a single lift.
However as the obstacles to successful
road transport were gradually overcome
with bush engineering skills, resourcefulness and old-fashioned grit and determination by the early road train pioneers
such as Kurt Johanssen and Noel Buntine,
it wasn’t long before road trains began to
overtake droving as the most efficient and
expedient way to deliver cattle to market.
The history of the northern cattle industry is
inextricably linked to that of RTA’s founder Noel Buntine, who first began carrying
general freight, fuel and copper ore for
the Co-Ord Transport Group around Alice
Springs in the 1950s. In 1956 Noel bought
his first B61 Mack, which he named ‘The
High and the Mighty’, the first of many
round-nosed B-Model Macks and later
R-series models that provided the DNA
for Buntine Roadways. In the late 1950s
Noel was carting supplies to Victoria River
Downs (VRD) from Alice Springs via the
famous Murranji Stock Route.
Noel then negotiated a contract with three
Victoria River district stations including
VRD to cart supplies from Wyndham and
their cattle back to the meatworks there.
Kevin ‘Renegade’ Renehan documented
Noel Buntine’s pioneering foray into the
cattle transport industry. He says,
“Noel had some cattle crates built for his
trucks and trailers by East’s Engineering
Works in Alice Springs late 1959. The
crates were bolted on in March 1960,
(with) Noel driving a six wheel Foden 26
foot body truck and one trailer, and Bill
Bromhall driving the High and the Mighty
Mack B61 semi pulling two trailers, and
a knocker Commer and trailer, drove via
the Murranji stock route through VRD to
Timber Creek and onto Wyndham to start
carting freight onto the stations before the
meatworks opened.”
“They then backloaded with cattle. They
had a hectic time with rough dirt roads and
very rough flooded river crossings, and
plenty of work in that first year, which was
completed without any holdups. At the end
of that season once all the wet season supplies were carried out to the stations, they
went back to Alice Springs to rebuild their
trucks and trailers.”
In the following year Noel established
Buntine Roadways. The company grew
from strength to strength as Noel’s skill
and reputation in transporting cattle by
road grew. Other factors helped to fuel
to increasing demand for road transport
in the north including the opening up of
northern beef roads to doubles and triples.
Noel Buntine’s lobbying efforts helped
to achieve the opening of the Katherine
Meatworks in 1963, and the Brucellosis
and Tuberculosis Eradication Campaign
(BTEC) from 1970 onwards.
This drove further demand for road transport over traditional droving. Over the next
20 years Buntine Roadways grew to become the largest road train operator in the
southern hemisphere. Noel always said the
dedication of the company’s hard-working
drivers, or “road bosses” as he described
them, were the backbone of his operation.
In 1981 Noel Buntine sold Buntine Roadways with 53 road trains and the depots in
Katherine, Alice Springs, Wyndham, Tennant Creek and Mount Isa. How ever the
business did not succeed under the change
of ownership and within two years had
been placed into receivership. Noel Buntine bought the business back from the
receivers and renamed it Road Trains of
Australia (RTA). Retaining the white and
green colours of Buntine Roadways, Noel
restarted the business with two trucks. A
year later he bought 14 Mack Superliners
and new Haulmark trailers to start the 1984
cattle season. Within two years Noel had
returned the business to profitability.
In 1985 Buntine sold the business again,
this time to D&W transport, owned in partnership by well-known northern identifies,
NT fuel distributor Dick David and Ken
Warriner of Consolidated Pastoral Company. Over the next eight years under David’s
and Warriner’s ownership RTA continued
to grow, with acquisitions including John
Bain Transport, Tanami Transport, Kloppers Transport, Barkly Transport, Basketts
Transport and Victoria River Transport
(Dennis Buntine’s business)
In 1993 Jim Cooper of Gulf Transport
Group and Mick Flynn of Flynn Petroleum
joined forces to buy RTA from Dick David
and Ken Warriner. Mr Cooper, who bought
out Mr Flynn’s share two years later, already owned substantial transport industry
interests with Gulf Transport and Powertrans in the mining industry. After selling
the company to Hamptons in 2006, Mr
Cooper paid tribute to the RTA culture:
“People give a company its character and
at RTA the camaraderie was terrific. We
had a great team of people and walking
away was tough,”
In 1994, following Noel Buntine’s death,
the road connecting the Victoria River
area to the Victoria Highway south west of
Katherine was named Buntine Highway in
his honour. In 1995 the first pavilion at the
National Road Transport Hall of Fame was
also named in his honour.
Lizard ( Peter Williams)
The Hon Peter Styles
MLA, Minister for
Transport was the
VIP guest speaker.
Thanks go to Bruce
Honeywill who MC’d.
Rod Downes
ABOVE: Lynn and Nick
Absalom - A&F Transport)
BELOW: Thanks to Greg
Whitford &Annette Bateson
who ran the bar all day
Jack (Admiral) Taylor (Dec)
Industry Icon of the year Jim (JJ)
Hurley with Bill Baskett who
sold out his business to RTA
under David and Warriner.
This old F Mack was hastily
done up to represent Buntine
Roadways as a prop at the dinner
Lizard tells it like it is to Kel Davis
and Simon Pratt from Cummins.
Thank You to
Our Sponsors
* A&F Transport (Nick Absalom)
* Roadtrains of Australia
* Mack Truck Australia
* The Cooper Family
* NT Government
* Patty Buntine
Special thanks to
Robyn Radke-Cooper
Kevin Renehan
Kevin and Di Shay
Sherrill Ives
and Liz Martin
Transmission
In Memory of Albert Chalmers Borella VC
Albert Chalmers Borella VC, MM (7 August 1881 – 7 February 1968) was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for
gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Born in Victoria, Borella was one of 64 Australians to receive the
Victoria Cross for their actions during World War I, doing so while serving with the
26th Battalion around Villers-Bretonneux in July 1918
Borella enlisted in the Australian Imperial
Force (AIF) in Townsville, Queensland,
on 15 March 1915. He had to go to some
effort to do so because at the outbreak of
World War I the military authorities would
not accept volunteers from the Northern
Territory. Borella accepted a job as a cook
for a survey party in Tennant Creek and in
January 1915 he set out for Darwin to volunteer for active service.
With Charlie, an Aboriginal man he’d befriended, he walked 140 kilometres (87
mi) and swam across several flooded rivers. He borrowed a horse at Powell Creek,
just north of Renner Springs, and rode to
Katherine where he then caught the mail
coach to the railhead at Pine Creek where
he then went by train to Darwin. He sailed
from Darwin to Townsville on 8 March
1915 with four other men who were among
the first 15 volunteers for active service
from the Northern Territory.
Initially serving in the ranks as a private,
Borella served with the 26th Battalion at
Gallipoli from September 1915 until he
was evacuated with jaundice in November. He did not rejoin his unit until 5 February 1916, and then served on the Western Front in France. He was wounded in
the Battle of Pozieres Heights on 29 July.
Borella achieved promotion from corporal
to sergeant and was commissioned as an
officer – Second Lieutenant – on 7 April
1917, and to lieutenant on 28 August 1917.
Borella attended officer training in the
United Kingdom.He went on to receive a
Military Medal for conspicuous bravery
on 11 May 1917 and was mentioned in the
Despatches on 1 June 1917. He was awarded the Victoria Cross on 16 September
1918. His citation for the Victoria Cross,
gained in 1918 in Villers-Bretonneux,
France, at the age of 37, reads in part:
“During the period 17/18 July
Lieutenant Borella, whilst leading
his platoon, charged and captured
an enemy machine-gun, shooting two
gunners. He then led his party, by
now reduced to 10 men and two Lewis guns, against a very strongly held
trench, using his revolver and later
a rifle with great effect and causing
many casualties. Two
large dug-outs were also bombed
and 30 prisoners taken.... ”
He received his VC at Sandringham
from King George V.[9] Three of Borella’s brothers also served during the war:
Charles and James in the 7th Battalion, and
Rex in the 8th Light Horse. All survived
and returned to Australia.
After the war, Borella returned to Australia, initially farming a property in Victoria
before rejoining the Army during World
War II and serving in a number of garrison
units in Australia. Demobilised in 1945 heworked as a public servant until he retired
in 1956. Albert Chalmers Borella died in
1968 at the age of 86.
*Still Available*
Trucks In Action Building
Fund Life Membership
APPLICATION
Name_________________
Company______________
Address_______________
______________________
______________________
Phone_________________
Email_________________
Please tick one box
The NT Major Events Company has been
given the responsibility to organise and
coordinate The Borella Ride, which will
be part of the Northern Territory’s Anzac
Centenary program. The Borella Ride is a
commemorative activity that will retrace
the gruelling trek undertaken by Albert
Borella VC to enlist in WWI.
The Borella Ride will be a recreation of
Borella’s trek to join up. Utilising a small
group of Borella Riders, the event will
duplicate all the essential elements of the
journey, while also looking at what it was
that motivated WWI volunteers – there
was no conscription in that war.
The Borella Ride will also examine the
difficulties and dramas of enlistment; as
well as the tough realities of travelling
through the Northern Territory at the time.
The Borella Ride is planned to go ahead
in February/March 2015. Whether you live
in the Territory or are planning to visit this
event is a must do!
Bronze
Silver
Gold
Platinum
$1500
$2750
$5000
$10000
PAYMENT OPTIONS
MAIL: RTHS Building Fund
PO Box 8099, Alice Springs
NT, Australia 0871
EMAIL: Credit Card Details to:
[email protected]
FAX:
Credit Card Details to
08 89529895 / 08 89532955
DIRECT DEPOSIT:
Road Transport Historical Soc.
ANZ Bank, Alice Springs
BSB: 015 881
ACCT: 2575 49867
WANTED: Skilled Volunteers for
Four, Six or Eight Week stints!
Can you build, weld, plumb, construct, handyman, landscape,
paint, cook up a storm, sort library books, do data entry,
build displays or have mechanical or electrical skills?
If so, and you have four to six weeks to spare WE NEED YOU!
We can bring you up for a “working holiday” as we prepare
ourselves for the massive event that will be
ReUnion 2015.
*NOTE: Some Conditions Apply*
Call Liz 0429 201 549 or email:
[email protected]
Transmission
The Old Ghan ‘Train Stay’ finally comes of age
With ReUnion 2010 a couple of innovative volunteers put a proposal to the CEO
and Board to renovate an Old Ghan sleeper carriages as an accomodation house
for volunteers and others coming to stay at either the Hall of Fame or Old Ghan
museums. With accomodation at a premium the project was given the ‘go ahead
and work commenced barely six weeks before the reunion in August 2010.
The carriages were relocated and water
and power were connected, toilets upgraded, ladders constructed, mattresses and
bedding purchased and we were able to
use them for volunteers in 2010. Thanks
go to Greg Livesay and Marie Harrison
for initiating the project and to the many
others including Kel, Charlie, Mike, Jan,
Greg W, Dave and Shirley, Jeff and Marg
who have assisted in various ways since.
For the past couple of years we have been
concentrating our efforts and finances into
the mini rail and work all but ceased on
the railway carriages.......that was until two
pairs of enthusiastic volunteers arrived.
The goal was to have the ‘train stay’ ready
for ReUnion 2015. They were so excited
about the project they said they’d be ready
for ReUnion 2014 and they were!
On arrival long term volunteers Ros and
Allan Gordon and first time volunteers
Frank and Judy Wortley, were given a
tour of the carriages and an outline of what
work was to be undertaken. Initially this
was some handyman work and a simple
clean up; just enough to make the place
functional and safe for accomodation.
“It was Terrific!”
Audrey Alcorn writes
Allan, Ros Gordon, Frank and Judy soon
approached their new undertaking with
a growing passion. They barely stopped
work for weeks and their achievements
surpassed our expectations. As well as
basic handyman work they laid flooring,
cleaned, painted, repaired and refurbished
rooms, installed plumbing, curtains, sinks
and furniture, and built an outdoor bbq and
sitting area. The list just went on and on.
The result is amazing and our first officialguests, the Heinrich family from Clare,
were absolutely delighted with the result
and the personalised service provided by
Allan and Ros Gordon during the reunion.
On the weekend of 26th August our family
group departed Clare in South Australia to
travel to Alice Springs to participate in the
Induction Ceremony of the Shell Rimula
National Transport Hall of Fame. One of
our family members, Stan Heinrich, now
deceased, was being inducted onto the
Wall of Fame for his outstanding service
to the transport industry.
Transport Women Australia Ltd (TWAL)
hosted a breakfast on the lawns at the Old
Ghan Train Museum where thirty guests
were entertained by the well known local
indigenous woman Rhubea Neale who
spoke about her amazing journey from a
domestic violence background to finding
herself in art and music.
You can read his story on the website:
www.roadtransporthall.com
On our arrival in Alice Springs we were
greeted by wonderful people and made
to feel very welcome and important. Our
accommodation for the weekend was in a
restored railway carriage with 10 sleeping
cabins, each with bunk beds which were
all made up in motel style. The bathroom
facilities consisted of two toilets and one
shower.
For our use and recreation there was a
lounge car with access to a platform for
outdoor seating. In the lounge car there
were chairs and tables, couches, a frig, jug,
toaster, crockery, cutlery and a plumbed
kitchen sink. Outside we had access to a
barbecue, shady seating in a grassed and
picturesque setting. We all agreed that
we had the very best accommodation in
Alice Springs and that the volunteers who
worked their “butts off” did a marvellous
job to see that all was well.
Women’s Breakfast
Rhubea is flanked by Hall of Fame CEO
Liz Martin OAM on the left and TWAL
committee member Sharon Middleton on
the right. Sharon was also a surprise inductee into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame.
We were all very proud and humbled that
we had the honour of being the first official
guests to use this wonderful facility and
we really hope that it will be available to
us again next year. To us the whole weekend has been so very well organised and
that all attendees were looked after in the
best possible way.
Congratulations to Liz Martin and her
team who worked so hard to make the
2014 ReUnion such an enjoyable event.
Thank you to Sherrill Ives, Kel Davis,
Dallas Baldock, Marg Leese and Bette
Phillips for organising the breakfast.
Ghan Legends Museum
from camel
pads to
railway tracks
Alice Springs, N.T.
Transmission
26
The BIG Book of Australian
Trucking set for 2015 launch
by Liz Martin OAM
While the day to day business of the Hall
of Fame goes on for the past two years
our CEO Liz Martin has been slowly
researching and putting together a big
book on Australian Trucking that will
be launched at ReUnion 2015. The book
will be the most significant she has written yet. It will be a large full colour hard
cover coffee table type book and the
most comprehensive trucking book ever
written in Australia. Liz MartinWrites....
There is no disputing the significant role
that road transport has always played
in Australia’s economic and social well
being. For me, it has always been about
the people! Its that aspect of the industry
that I love. Being involved in the National
Road Transport Hall of Fame for the past
25 years has reinforced for me just how
unique the camaraderie of the industry
really is. It doesn’t matter what state we
live in or what sector of industry we are
involved with, whether we drive, own a
truck or work for one of the corporations
the issues that impact us are universal.
That creates a bond, a mateship, that we
rarely see in any other industry. Whether
we drive a B-Double on the Hume today,
bogged to the axle on the black soil plains
of the northern beef roads in the 1970s or
battled the bulldust and corrugations of the
Pilbara in the 1950s, at the end of the day
we are all good mates; forever bound by
the commonality of common hardships.
While the success of the National Road
Transport Hall of Fame can be attributed
to many factors the single most significant
ingredient has been the industry itself. We
have a rich, diverse and proud heritage but
one that is often forgotten, downplayed and
even misrepresented by authorities, mainstream historians and state museums. We
sit, as an industry, balancing precariously,
on the peripheral of every other industry
in the country. It is time we claimed our
rightful place as an historically significant
industry in our own right.
Dont take more word for it! Take a few
moments to visit your state, municipal or
even the local school library; you’ll find
hundreds of books about our achievements
in aviation, shipping, steam paddles and
the river trade, the railways and huge iron
horses of steam, of bullockies and camels
and great stage coaches and cattle droves
and even the automobile and bicycle......
but you won’t find much, if anything,
about trucks and their historical and economic significance to our great country.
If it were not for the ingenuity and blood
sweat and tears of our earliest truck and
bus pioneers most of Australia’s wealth
producing industries would simply have
never got off the ground.
This lack of accurate information is pretty
disheartening given that road transport is
the very lifeblood of this country. We are
not only a major industry in our own right
but we service every other industry in the
country. Australia is a large country where
vast distances sweep horizon to horizon
unbroken by city landscapes.
Road transport is the vital link between
market and consumer. All day, every day,
and even overnight while we are sleeping,
hundreds of thousands of trucks travel
millions of kilometres carrying millions
of tonnes of goods, product and produce.
This contributes to our international competitiveness and gross domestic product,
and creates financial viability and financial
stability to our local economies and your
businesses and mine. Road transport also
plays a key role in bringing social equity to
marginalised remote communities and city
suburbs alike. It gives us the high quality
of life we enjoy in Australia. Without it,
Australia will literally stop!
Early industry fought not only against vast
distance, harsh climates and geographical
contrasts but against cross jurisdictional
legislational differences, heavy handed
enforcement and inequity in excises, taxes and charges brought about by spiteful
pro-rail governments and country road
boards that really didn’t give a damn about
the roads beyond their own town limits.
And they did it all in a myriad of overseas
built trucks that were, in the main, totally
unsuited to Australia’s harsher operating
environment. A few were unique imports,
some were hybrids made out of whatever
could be scavenged, most included crude
modifications, some were total failures and
yet others were destined became revered
icons on the highways of Australia’s past.
Womens Conference
The National Road Transport Hall of
Fame recently played host at a gala dinner
for the National Womens Coalition.
As we head into the future we need to
ensure the National Road Transport Hall
of Fame continues to preserve and present
our road transport heritage for the benefit
of future generations. It is important as we
move into the next quarter century that our
museum continues to be an industry entity
and not become a government or council
institution. The National Road Transport
Hall of Fame is proudly a self funded community based museum. As such, we have
now formed a Foundation that will create
a financial backbone for the museum well
into the future. This book is my gift to that
Foundation. My wish is that it will become
an ongoing fundraiser for many years to
come long after I have gone. I therefore
take pleasure in inviting you to join me
in creating this, the most comprehensive
book on road transport to ever be written in
Australia. if you know of an unusual truck,
a special pioneer or have a good photo of
any old truck you can send them in.
How Can Your Help Defray Costs
The first 100 books can be pre-ordered for $100
each. They come in a commemorative box with
a personalised message from Liz Martin.
It is anticipated normal RRP will be $65.00
AND BEST
REUNION
2015 ‘in the
ReUnion 2015
Alice
mate’
Our volunteers did a marvelous job setting
up and catering. Above are - Irene, Vicki,
Alan, Dallas, Sherrill, Shaun and Kel.
25th Aug to 31 Aug 2015
BOOK NOW
Our Vice Chairperson Sherrill Ives (right)
offerred a taxi service between the bus and
the dinner venue in the Kenworth Museum
Yet, despite the many hardships of the past
century we have emerged into the new
millennium as an enduring, proud resilient
industry that continues to excel by world
standards. The safe, dynamic, productive,
and energy efficient trucking industry
Australia enjoys today is in many ways the
legacy of the trials and tribulations of our
road transport pioneers.
This book honours the men, women and
machines of Australia’s yesteryear. It will
be launched at Reunion 2015 in Alice
Springs when we will be celebrating the
20th anniversary of opening the National
Road Transport Hall of Fame and 25 years
since the Road transport Historical Society
was first muted. I am proud to have been
involved that whole time, and I am the
only one of the original team left!
Transmission
AUSTRALIA’S
BIGGEST
* SHELL RIMULA WALL OF FAME
* CUMMINS TRUCKIES RACE DAY
* CAT ALL TRUCK PARTS CONVOY
Photos Stories from
ReUnion 2014
Well known local indigenous singer, the
lovely Rhubea Neale, entertained at the
dinner with her melodic singing.
The Kenworth Museum looked fantastic
Irene Strang did a great job setting the
tables and carving the meat for the ladies.
Port
Pirie
Bus
Service
To:
Postage
Paid
Road Transport, Carrying Australia, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
National Road Transport Hall of Fame
PO Box 8099,
Alice Springs,
N.T. 0871
If Not Delivered Please Return to;
Transmission