The Best Australian Trucking Stories Read online

  Jim Haynes has travelled far and wide to interview the people whose stories make up this book. From his days driving trucks in the bush for his mates, and later as part of the Slim Dusty touring show, Jim has been aware of the special nature of the trucking industry in both rural and urban Australia. ‘Every year Slim would do a show to raise money for the truckers’ memorial at Tarcutta,’ said Jim, ‘and those families loved him. It was a privilege to be part of that. I have also done many shows with my bush poet mate Frank Daniel who ran a trucking company for many years and met many great characters from the trucking industry. Their stories inspired this collection.’

  Before becoming a professional entertainer, songwriter, verse writer and singer in 1988, Jim Haynes taught writing, literature, history and drama in schools and universities from outback New South Wales to Britain and back again. While teaching he gained two masters degrees in literature, from New England University and the University of Wales. Jim is the author of many great Australian titles including books on railways, aviation and horse racing, and is one of our most successful and prolific Australiana authors.

  First published in 2011

  Copyright © Jim Haynes 2011

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act.

  Allen & Unwin Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, London

  83 Alexander Street Crows Nest NSW 2065 Australia Phone: (61 2) 8425 0100 Fax: (61 2) 9906 2218 Email: [email protected] Web: www.allenandunwin.com

  Cataloguing-in-Publication details are available from the National Library of Australia www.trove.nla.gov.au

  ISBN 978 1 74237 694 3

  Text design by Bookhouse, Sydney Set in 10.75/17 pt Versailles by Bookhouse, Sydney Printed and bound in Australia by Griffin Press

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  ebook producation by Midland Typesetters Australia

  Acknowledgments

  Introduction

  The Aussie truckie Traditional/Jim Haynes

  Rent-a-wreck Kingsley Foreman

  Doing time for trucking Irwin Richter/Jim Haynes

  The Nullarbor crossing Ray Gilleland (The Nullarbor Kid)

  Long road to the top John Elliott

  Mrs Ward Frank Daniel

  The friendly truckie Steve Theobald/Jim Haynes

  The good Samaritan Ray Gilleland (The Nullarbor Kid)

  Repossess that! Kingsley Foreman

  The AEC Government Roadtrain Liz Martin

  Trucking chick Jayne Denham/Jim Haynes

  Confessions of a wheat dumper Frank Daniel

  Trucking with Slim John Elliott

  It was a great idea Grant Luhrs/Jim Haynes

  Odd jobs Kingsley Foreman

  American blue devils Frank Daniel

  The Tarcutta memorial Ron Pullen/Jim Haynes

  The Tarcutta bog Ray Gilleland (The Nullarbor Kid)

  Rock ’n’ roll trucking Rod Hannifey

  The Vesteys’ Rotinoffs Liz Martin

  It’s not like on TV Kingsley Foreman

  Not on a sixpence Cheryl van der Velden

  Easter Monday 1995 Sharon Hourn

  The silver shed Ray Gilleland (The Nullarbor Kid)

  The big load Frank Daniel

  Mack make ’em tough Kingsley Foreman

  You ain’t got no pigs Frank Daniel

  Done cartin’ Frank Daniel

  This trucking life Rod Hannifey

  A brief history of Australian road transport

  Liz Martin and Jim Haynes

  I owe a debt of gratitude to Liz Martin, Grant Luhrs, Frank Daniel, Rod Hannifey, Ray Gilleland, Kingsley Foreman, John Elliott, Ron Pullen, Irwin Richter, Sharon Hourn, Jayne Denham, Steve Theobald and Cheryl van der Velden for their contributions and support.

  A special mention must be made of the assistance given by the National Road Transport Hall of Fame, Alice Springs.

  Thanks to Stuart Neal for suggesting this collection and to Clara Finlay for her invaluable assistance. John Mapps and Lisa Macken did a great job copyediting and proofreading.

  Photos appear by courtesy of the National Road Transport Hall of Fame, Ray Gilleland, Ron Pullen, Frank Daniel, Rod Hannifey, Jayne Denham, John Elliott, Kingsley Foreman, Robyn McMillan and Grant Luhrs.

  My only claim to fame in the trucking world is that I have held a heavy vehicle driver’s licence since I was 21 years old.

  As a young single schoolteacher in the bush I boarded with a family who owned a drilling business, and one day the local police sergeant asked me when I was going to get a truck licence.

  ‘Why do I need one of those?’ I asked.

  ‘Well,’ he said, ‘you’ve been driving those trucks of Kolstad’s around for a while now, I thought you might want one.’

  ‘Me . . . driving trucks?’ I replied nervously. ‘No, not me, Sergeant! I don’t really need one, do I? I only move the trucks around the yard . . . mostly.’

  ‘Look, Jim,’ he said seriously, ‘stop lying to me. I know why you haven’t come in for a truck licence driving test.’

  ‘Oh,’ I said, ‘why is that?’

  ‘Because,’ he sighed, ‘if you turned up to get your licence in one of those trucks you’ve been driving around the bush, I’d probably have to put it off the road for many and varied defects, so just drop into the station tomorrow and I’ll GIVE you a bloody truck licence, OK?’

  I did . . . and he did . . . and I still have it.

  When I was asked to compile, edit and help write this collection of stories, certain of my younger musical friends, who knew nothing of my trucking claim to fame, found it rather amusing. They seemed to think that truckies were rough, tough macho men, strong and independent, practical, physical types of blokes, and that I . . . wasn’t. Little did they know that I had spent some time as a truck driver, albeit a very brief period now decades in the distant past.

  I also had ‘connections’.

  Although I had no direct contact at all with trucks or trucking, my first thought was that I knew people involved in the trucking community through my connections with country music. I had toured as part of the Slim Dusty Show and served on the board of the Country Music Association for many years with Slim and Joy McKean. Slim recorded many trucking songs and was universally loved by truckies, and Joy wrote the best trucking song of all time, ‘Lights on the Hill’.

  I had done shows with Travis Sinclair, who comes from a trucking family, owns and drives a big rig and has had many hits with truck songs.

  I was also friends with singers like Jayne Denham and Amber Lawrence, who both had sponsorships with trucking companies. I knew I would find some good trucking stories if I asked around.

  I was right.

  When I called Slim’s daughter, Anne Kirkpatrick, to ask about material for a story, she said, ‘Jim, why don’t you just call John?!’ An old friend of Slim’s and mine, photographer and journalist John Elliott was the obvious person to turn to for good stories about Slim and the truckies. John travelled many thousands of kilometres with Slim and was the photographer for many of Slim’s albums and books. Thanks to John, I didn’t have to strain my memory banks about Slim’s connection with trucks.

  Luckily for me, two good mates, Grant Luhrs and Frank Daniel, also came to the rescue. I have known Grant for 30 years, since we met performing at the Longyard in Tamworth. I have recorded in his studio in Wagga and we have been partners in crime running opposing shows at the Tamworth Festival for years, as well as travelling to other festivals together.

  Grant was also involved in Rig Radio, a radio show for the trucking community, and he put me in touch with Rod Hannifey, who was a terrific help in getting this collection together, providing several great contributions of his own, making many useful suggestions, and sending me the poem by Cheryl van der Velden.

  Rod Hannifey was involved in Rig Radio and also runs the ‘TRUCKRIGHT Industry Vehicle’, a truck in which he takes motoring journalists, politicians and representatives from road authorities for long hauls, so they can see and understand the issues facing the road transport industry. The website www.truckright.com.au gives tips on sharing the road with trucks and welcomes comments and feedback.

  Grant has also been involved with the Tarcutta memorial and knew people like Ron Pullen and Irwin Richter, who were part of the driving force behind the memorial. Both Ron and Irwin have a long history of involvement with the road transport industry. Their stories appear here, as does Grant’s story about Rig Radio, and their memories and assistance with this collection have been invaluable.

  It’s odd how things are connected sometimes. Grant arrived at my place one day with some recorded memories of Ron’s and said, ‘Ron sent this brochure about the Tarcutta memorial,
in case it might be useful.’ I opened it as we chatted and there was a photo of Slim Dusty doing a fundraising concert for the memorial. Standing right next to Slim on stage was . . . yours truly, Jim Haynes. Neither Grant nor Ron had realised I was featured in the brochure, and I had no idea either.

  Frank Daniel always comes good when I need help with a book, whether it’s poetry or a yarn or a contact. Frank owned a trucking business for many years and operated a fleet of sixteen vehicles out of his hometown of Canowindra, but I have known him for almost twenty years as a writer and performer of bush verse. We have done a few thousand kilometres and a lot of shows together in that time.

  I knew Frank was the man who dumped the load of wheat at Parliament House in 1986 and I figured that would be a good story for this collection, if I could pester him into writing it. I figured he’d have a few more good yarns about his trucking days if I annoyed him enough. He didn’t let me down.

  I soon came to realise that the trucking community is full of very gracious and helpful people who also happen to be just about the most ‘Aussie’ characters you can find anywhere. There is a general desire among them for the transport industry to be seen in a positive and realistic light.

  Everyone I talked to was enthusiastic about conveying a true picture of the role played by the road transport industry in Australia’s development and history. They all felt that truckies had been given a raw deal by the media and suffered from negative perceptions and a stereotyped image. The more I had to do with them, the more I realised they were right.

  Everyone I approached for help with this collection was amazingly generous and helpful and enthusiastic about the project. The day I called Liz Martin in Alice Springs and introduced myself was a truly lucky one for me.

  Liz Martin OAM has been so helpful in providing stories and contacts and suggestions that it’s no wonder she is so admired for her efforts in getting the National Road Transport Hall of Fame to become a reality in Alice Springs. She is an inspirational woman! The website for the Hall of Fame is www.roadtransporthall.com and it’s worth the trip to Alice Springs just to visit the hall. Thanks to Liz, I now know a bloody lot more about road transport history than I did twelve months ago!

  Meeting the ‘Nullarbor Kid’, Ray Gilleland, was a genuine thrill for me. I’d read his stories because Jayne Denham had told me I had to and we finally met up while I was working in a show at Twin Towns RSL, on the Gold Coast.

  Ray is a larger-than-life character. There is no bullshit in Ray’s yarns; what you see is what you get and what you read really happened. They are fantastic stories! Ray’s book, My Way on the Highway, is still available direct from Ray ([email protected]) for those of you who want more of his stories.

  Kingsley Foreman and Sharon Hourn were very gracious in providing their stories and I thank them both sincerely. Kingsley’s stories made me laugh out loud and Sharon’s story will break the hardest heart. I admire her bravery in telling her story so that others can understand the tragedy that too often comes with the trucking life.

  Steve Theobald emailed me after I’d talked about truck stories on 2UE one Sunday. He had a story from his childhood that he allowed me to use, after his dad had added a few details and memories. It’s a wonderful heart-warming yarn, too.

  Apologies to all those who contacted me with stories and ideas that I didn’t get around to including. So many stories came ‘out of the woodwork’ as the collection was being put together. Jeff Spence, Tony Dyer and Allen Robb were especially helpful, but those stories, like so many others, will have to wait for Volume Two.

  Jim Haynes, October 2011

  When the Lord was creating all things, all the elements, plants, creatures and people, he’d made it to the sixth day without tiring, although he’d been on overtime for a couple of days.

  Each creature required special care and attention and, when it came to humanity, all professions and nationalities had to be unique; it was boutique manufacturing, not production-line stuff.

  Nurses and teachers required extra doses of patience and tolerance, politicians needed extra-thick skins and two faces, television personalities needed permanent smiles and the ability to fake sincerity, and authors and editors required extra doses of endurance and intelligence.

  God had managed to create most types and professions when an angel working on quality control noticed that the creation process had slowed significantly. The angel, whose name from memory was Steve, was just starting out in his new job as apprentice archangel; I believe the Catholics later made him patron saint of spanners and wing-nuts and you can pray to him instead of swearing when you skin your knuckles under any vehicle.

  ‘You’re slowing down, Boss,’ said Saint Steve. ‘You seem to be taking a lot of time on this one. What’s the problem?’

  And the Lord answered, ‘Thou shouldst see the specs on this order, it’s near impossible even for me!’

  ‘Maybe you’re just getting tired,’ said Saint Steve gently. ‘Have another go after smoko. What is it you’re trying to create, anyway?’

  ‘It’s a thing called the “Aussie truck driver” apparently,’ said the Lord, checking the front of the manual.

  ‘Sounds relatively straightforward,’ remarked Steve. ‘What’s the problem?’

  ‘Well,’ answered the Lord, ‘this one has to be able to drive ten to twelve or more hours per day, through any type of weather, on any type of road. They also have to know the highway traffic laws of six states and two territories plus the federal laws and be ready and able to unload 40 tonnes of freight after driving all night and have the ability to sleep when they can in places that the police refuse to patrol.’

  ‘Gee, Boss,’ said Saint Steve, checking out the front of the manual as he stood beside his leader, ‘that means extra doses of concentration and endurance, amazing memory and superhuman strength plus extra vigilance and the ability to work on minimal rest!’

  ‘Just as thou sayest,’ replied the Boss, ‘and this model also has to be able to live in a truck 24 hours a day, seven days a weeks, for months on end, offer first aid and roadside assistance to his fellow travellers, meet tight schedules and still maintain an even and controlled composure through it all. These people also have to keep their heads in a crisis and act to very detailed specifications with a high level of motor-skill accuracy in an accident.’

  ‘I also see here,’ said Saint Steve as he examined the specifications, ‘they have to be in top physical condition at all times and be able to operate on black coffee and half-eaten meals and have six pairs of hands.’

  ‘Yea, verily,’ said the Lord, tapping the page Saint Steve was reading, ‘but it’s not the hands that are causing me problems, it’s the three pairs of eyes a driver needs to have.’

  ‘So I see,’ gasped Saint Steve, ‘and that’s on the standard model!’

  ‘Yes, just as thou sayest,’ the Lord replied. ‘One pair that sees the herd of cattle in the scrub 3 miles away, another pair here in the side of his head for the blind spots that motorists love to hide in, and another pair in front that can look reassuringly into a spouse’s face and say, “It’ll be all right, I’m fine, I’ll get some rest when I get home.”’

  ‘Speaking of rest,’ said Saint Steve, closing the manual, ‘you’re looking tired. Why not have a spell and tackle this one later, after a nice cup of tea and some smoko?’

  ‘I can’t,’ said the Lord, ‘much as I wouldst liketh to. I’ve already managed to get this model to the point where it can drive 1000 kilometres a day without incident, raise a family of five without ever seeing them and survive on one dollar a kilometre.’

  Saint Steve rubbed his chin and looked reflective. ‘What model brain are you installing?’

  ‘The best,’ said the Lord. ‘When operating properly this model brain can tell you the elements of every chemical load invented, recite Australian road rules and regulations for each state while asleep, offer timely advice to strangers, search for missing children and help make good parenting decisions that help raise a family of decent citizens without ever going home . . . and still keep its sense of humour.