Six district transport legends have been honoured by the industry during the successful return of the Rotary Club of Deniliquin’s Deniliquin Truck Show & Industry Expo.
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Running for the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic, the three day event included the expo delivered in partnership with Rotary on Saturday and the Deniliquin Truck Show committee’s Deniliquin & District Transport Industry Wall of Fame Induction Dinner on Friday and memorial service on Sunday.
The larger than normal induction on Friday night represented two years of inductees.
Stan Gardiner, Edwin Carter and Kevin Gough were to be inducted in 2022, but the celebrations were cancelled as a result of the floods which gripped the entire district.
This year’s inductees were Herbert Gladstone Grimison, David Mahon and Kenneth Maher.
All six were celebrated by more than 200 attendees at the dinner, held at the Deniliquin RSL.
The evening included an address from special guest speaker Chris Brooks, a Barooga farmer and the son of founding NATROADS board member Ray Brooks.
He spoke about the early days of what was then Ray Brooks & Co Transport, and the family’s continued history in the industry.
Below we bring you more on each of the inductees.
Stan Gardiner:
Stan got his start in the transport industry in 1961 when he purchased a second-hand International ASC 160 and started carting produce from Cobram to Melbourne. He was 18 years old.
When his family moved from Strathmerton to Finley, he sold the International and started driving for Ernie Yeo. Soon after he was driving for Tony Brayton, a potato grower, behind the wheel of a Commer Knocker.
When this truck was sold to Doug McGillivray from Jerilderie, Stan went with it.
He went on to drive a slimline AEC and brand new Deutz while working for a Doug over many years, carting stock.
Stan went on to purchase his second truck, a Bedford tray-body with stock crate and a grain bin, and carted stock to markets and silos, and potatoes to the Melbourne Markets.
He traded the Bedford for a single axle C1800 International, and carting produce and general goods. He then updated to an 1418 Mercedes Benz with spread axle McGrath trailer.
With this combination he worked for various companies.
In 1975 Stan purchased a FR700 Mack, specked up for tanker work as he was now sub-contracted to Fred Brown Transport.
Over the intervening years Stan purchased a tri-axle Fruehauf trailer before returning to HA Chalmers, later moving on to Kenco carting produce and citrus out of Gayndah for Mundubbera Transport.
During this time Stan purchased his second Mack, painted in Kenco’s colours, and his wife Lynne joined him on the road for the next 16 years.
The pair sold the Mack and opened a business in Berrigan in 1984 - Lynne running the shop and Stan driving a loader for Frank Rennick and Co as his introduction to earth moving.
With the business sold three years later, Stan purchased a Cab-over Kenworth and went back to carting potatoes from Berrigan.
He traded the Cab-over for a W900 Kenworth roadtrain, and 41 foot lead trailer and 45 foot convertibles, and started carting all over Australia.
In the early 2000s Stan sold the truck and went to work for John McNaught Transport until returning in 2013.
Stan and Lynne still travel as often as possible, only now it is in a caravan with the dogs in tow.
Edwin Carter:
Edwin Leslie Carter was born in 1939 and left school at 14 to work on the family poultry farm, later taking a job at the Lance Creek Meatworks as a plant operator.
He soon found himself hauling hanging meat and hides to Melbourne.
At the time Edwin wasn’t licensed to drive a heavy vehicle and had no idea how to operate the gears.
When the owner of the truck found out, he told Edwin to go find the police sergeant who was busy playing snooker in the local pub. It was about 9.30pm and the sergeant said to bring two bottles of beer to the station.
Half an hour later Edwin had his licence and 56 years later is still driving.
Edwin drove many trucks in the following years, including a 1952 Foden, a Leyland and an Atkinson.
Later he drove a Commer Knocker carrying a Centurion tank, which had been made into a bulldozer with swamp tracks clearing scrub. Edwin then went to Melbourne to drive a Bedford for J Murray-More, carting steel.
This is where he met his wife Virginia who was the pay mistress at the time. They have a son and three daughters.
Edwin then went to work for Vaughan Transport running interstate to Sydney carting mainly chocolates and tyres. His next employment was at RJ Moore Transport in Echuca where Edwin drove Internationals, 1418 Benz, petrol Dodges and ACCOS.
He was involved in the Big Blockade for 10 days, stuck at Prospect in Sydney.
While he was at Moores, Edwin got the nickname ‘Gold Nuts’, because he would paint all the letters and nuts on the wheels gold.
Moores were struggling financially at the time and paid their drivers an extra $20 a week if the truck came home without being repossessed.
In 1992, Edwin’s truck, carrying food and medical supplies, was the first truck into Charleville after the big flood. He carted spuds from Ballarat to Cairns in an ACCO.
The last ten years were with John McNaught Transport in Finley, road trains carting grain and rice. His wife and their dog, Jake, travelled with him for many years.
Edwin’s commitment was recognised in Truckin’ Life September 2005 when he joined the Million Clicks Club.
Kevin Gough:
Kevin got his start in the industry in 1967, working for a contract farm worker at Moss Vale and relief milking for dairy farmers.
He contnued this until 1973 when he moved to Blighty with his parents to work on family farm.
Four years later he started working for Philip Gatacre on mixed farming property, farming and carting wheat and barley and wool, and in 1981 he made another career move to drive milk tankers for Grant Haynes to Sydney, Penrith, Greenacre, Ultimo, Orange and Bathurst over the next three years.
After a short stint back with Philip Gatacre, Kevin took a job with Keith Purtill and Co in 1985, driving first a semi fuel tanker for on farm deliveries.
He moved into driving coaches from 1986, for extended tours, day charters, school runs, country rail contract and still occasionally in the truck for fuel deliveries.
By 1999 be was doing charter quotes and extended quotes, as well as driving train link services.
He continued this until 2004 when he was sent to run the Hay depot, consisting of seven school runs and looking after the CountryLink service for Mildura to Cootamundra.
When Dyson Group acquired Purtills coaches in 2019, Kevin stayed with Dysons and continues with them today.
Herbert Gladstone Grimison (posthomous award):
Herbert Grimison was born on December 3, 1893 in Moama, the 13th child born to John and Rosina Grimison. Herbert was only three when his mother died.
After completing his schooling at Womboota Public School, he worked on the family farm and on farms throughout the area and showed an aptitude for machinery.
Herbert spent much of his life with his older brother, William and his wife Lily on their property, Monken Grange at Balranald. There he met his own wife, Ruth.
They moved to Deniliquin in 1925 where he started his transport business with a horse (called Prince) and cart. He bought his first truck, a Maple Leaf, and continued his transport business carting beer to hotels from the Deniliquin railway station and other commodities throughout the area.
Herbert was an alderman on the Deniliquin Council for three years, and was also a member of the Buffalo Lodge and Edward Lodge No.9.
Herbert and Ruth had six children.
This business was the beginning of what was to become a much larger, successful business run by his son, Ken, when he returned from World War II.
It is still operational today on an even larger scale, run by his grandson David Herbert ‘Sherbie’ Grimison.
Herbert passed away in 1969.
David ‘Speed’ Mahon (posthumpous award):
Speed was born on April 19, 1931 at Deniliquin Hospital.
After growing up in Deniliquin he was called to the army and later served in the Korean War in 1950. He was one of four from Deni to do so.
On his return he resided in Melbourne and started to drive trucks for Jack Khan, who had the contract carting red gum timber from the Deniliquin Sawmill to various places in Melbourne.
After a few years, Speed moved back to the Deniliquin area and then drove for Beckton Transport.
Following this he then drove for Kenneth Grimison hauling fuel and stock.
Speed changed his profession and then worked at the Deniliquin Council.
During his council days he drove a semi tipper. After a month he tipped it over and went to a body tipper, and the council never purchased a semi tipper ever again.
He then drove for I & D Grimison, during which time one of many interesting experiences occurred.
He and Sherbie Grimison were up north and Speed’s 1418 was running a tad hot.
He lifted the bonnet to inspect the radiator and found a hole in it, at which time Sherbie pulled up and came to inspect.
While Sherbie was distracted, Speed walked back to Sherbie’s truck, jumped in it and drove off to leave him stranded.
In his driving career he had a pretty serious accident at Pyalong.
He was trapped in the cabin and fuel was leaking everywhere. While being rescued, he was asking the emergency services for a smoke.
After retiring he did a short trip to Darwin with Teddy Fitzmaurice. Speed was driving, hit a cow, the cow rolled over the bonnet with great force.
Teddy yelled out ‘you just hit a cow’, to which Speed replied ‘No I didn’t, it was a bird’.
Speed passed away on November 13, 1991.
Kenneth ‘Tex’ Maher:
Tex was born in Deniliquin in 1945 and started his long career in trucking at the age of 21, obtaining his semi licence while working for Druitt’s Earthmoving
In late 1968, he began working for AA ‘Brov’ Thomas, who held the first AMPOL Agency in Deniliquin, driving a 1965 Grey Dodge (26HP Pink Perkins Motor) and carting anything from wool (10,000 bales per year), cars and heavy machinery.
After a few years of local work, Tex was yearning to expand his skills and drive interstate. A ‘one-off’ trip in the Dodge saw Tex carting supplies from Melbourne back into the Deniliquin Rice Mill during the time it was being built.
In 1974, he progressed to driving a brand new Deutz, with a 39ft McGrath trailer, in which he carted bulk grain to Melbourne, Geelong and Bendigo.
When the opportunity arose to cart bulk fuel on a new route, Melbourne to Deniliquin, he did so in a Red Dodge with tanker.
After a short stint driving for Lindsay Park Transport, carting grain in a 1978 Ford Louisville 903 from the Riverina to Geelong and Melbourne, and returning with a backload of bricks for the local Newbrick Franchise, Tex began his employment for Ricegrowers Cooperative Limited (RCL) at the Deniliquin Rice Mill in 1983.
Here he drove a Kenworth SAR 300 Cummins, carting paddy rice from district properties into the mill seven days a week.
In 1996, Tex gained his road train licence and in 1997 began working with McNaught’s Transport in Finley after RCL contracted out their grain carting to the company.
At McNaught’s, Tex started driving a Kenworth 450Hp Cummins, pulling road trains from the Deniliquin Rice Mill around the Riverina. He then progressed into a brand new 604 Kenworth 550Hp Cat Engine.
Tex was very proud of his new truck and treated it as his own.
When the drought came and there was little rice to cart, he began transporting sorghum, wheat and barley all over NSW and into southern Queensland.
Tex retired in 2009 at the age of 65, however the shortage of good reliable drivers meant that he was still highly sought after by local farmers for seasonal harvest work for the next 10 years. He would often put in the long hot days, but with one request - the truck needs to be air conditioned!
Tex is highly regarded for his driving skills, loyalty to the people he worked for and a great role model for the newer members of the industry.
In June 2016, Tex was also inducted into the Truckers Hall of Fame in Alice Springs.
His family, fishing and a bit of golf are now his first priority, but after 50 years of trucking, Tex is thankful for the friendships he made and has fond memories of the camaraderie between other drivers.
Senior journalist