As part of the tenth anniversary of the Deniliquin Truck Show & Industry Expo six district transport drivers have been inducted into the Deniliquin & District Transport Wall of Fame.
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A huge weekend of industry celebrations were kicked off at a special dinner on Friday evening, where Edward Fitzmaurice, Jacqueline Southern, Stuart McCallum, Graeme Unwin, Wayne Scott, and Neville Jones where all inducted to the Wall of Fame.
In attendance for the evening was around 170 people.
The dinner was just one part of a huge weekend for the Deniliquin Truck Show & Industry Expo.
Following last year’s inaugural success, catering to the event’s growing popularity, the expo itself was hosted at the Deniliquin Festival Site - home of the Deni Ute Muster.
“We had plenty of room for the trucks in the show ‘n’ shine, plus all our other attractions,” Ms Muir said.
“After a great wall of fame dinner at the Deniliquin RSL Club on Friday night, we had a good turnout for Saturday’s truck show.
“We had a huge array of stalls, games and entertainment and of course trucks for people to enjoy, followed by the trophy presentations and auction, which was, as always, well-supported by donors and bidders.
This year also had the addition of the family friendly Tractor Pull event this year.
Truck Show committee member John Creenaune said the tractor pull event added to the occasion.
“Considering the weather was looking pretty hideous for a stage there, it was a great event.”
“I’d guess we had roughly 1500 people brave the conditions and the vast majority of which stayed through right to the last race which was great to see.
“The event went well, we’ll take things from it and it will be back again next year.”
More details about each of the Wall of Fame inductees is as follows:
Edward ‘Ted’ Fitzmaurice:
Edward John Fitzmaurice is affectionately known by all as Ted or Teddy.
At the age of 14, Teddy was employed by the SA Government as a fireman based at Quorn.
He then did a stint in Queensland as a cane cutter, before returning to Deniliquin to drive trucks.
Teddy worked for Michael Hawley and Laurie Kirby hauling red gum logs into the Gulpa mill and John Beckton carting livestock and general cargo.
He then did a stint with Neil Scott and Ken Grimison on livestock.
Teddy then worked between David Grimison and Alan Murphy over the next 20 years, including a stint at J Murphy & Sons for seven years.
David bought one of the Narrandera Raffle trucks, a black SAR with red stripes which was a real head turner and Teddy got to steer it.
He drove a cabover Kenworth for Alan Murphy, the truck Jenny and Paul Fellows restored back to its former glory.
Evan Whitbourne, who is on the harvest in Queensland, said he spent many years carting boat sheep in a truck behind Teddy and told this story.
“As the night wore on Teddy would start to slow and all of a sudden, a cigarette would fly out the window; Teddy would then start to speed up. After a while, Teddy would then start to slow down and then a butt would fly out the window and he’d then speed up.
“This went on all night.”
Evan was disappointed he can't be with Teddy for the induction, and said he holds Teddy in the highest regard.
Teddy has been a great mentor to Evan and the many young men who he taught the ropes.
Jacqueline ‘Lady John’ Southern:
Another nomination and Induction is Jacqueline Emily Southern, affectionately known as ‘Lady John’.
Lady John was born in Urbenville in 1929 with her career in road transport starting with her husband Colin carting firewood in Blackall with an old Thames and also an old Bedford on a mail run.
Between 1948 and 1972 she gave birth to 10 children.
She and Colin and their children moved to Cobram where she drove a 190 Inter for Kortum brothers.
Lady John spent many years driving for Neville and Phyllis Jones, carting wool, aggregate and grain.
Her favourite truck was the B model Mack, but she also spent time driving R 190's, C line and S line Inters, R and F model Macks a 1418 Benz and occasionally a Kenworth.
She was quite famous for her driving skill and was a favourite everywhere she went.
Lady John finished her career driving for Pattersons at Narrandera driving a Louisville locally with the odd run into Sydney.
She retired at 77 and really missed the camaraderie of the road and the relationships she had with her customers.
The diesel obviously ran in her veins, with four of her sons and a grandson having careers in road transport.
Lady John passed away in 2017, aged 87 and was independent to the end.
Her ashes were scattered out the window of a truck near Grong Grong on the Newell Hwy, reflecting her love of trucking and of rural NSW.
Neville Jones:
Neville was born in Dandenong on October 11, 1939. His father was a Flight Sergeant in the Air Force and after the war he started an earthworks and transport business.
Unfortunately, Neville’s mother died when he was an infant, and he was raised by his grandparents until he was eight, when his father remarried, and he moved to Melbourne.
At the age of 16 his father convinced him to move to Hay for six months only.
This grew to 10 years working on a Caterpillar grader forming many of the roads out the back of Booligal, many of which exist today.
Considering he was self-taught he became very proficient not only at road building but later setting out irrigation, doing channels and all types of irrigation earthworks, travelling as far away as Wentworth.
Neville married Phyllis in Echuca on November 21, 1964.
For the next five years, Nev continued to work for his father, which were mostly trips to Darwin in a 160hp International doing 30 miles an hour, with no bunk, air con and mostly dirt roads.
In 1969 Neville and Phyllis started their own transport business with the purchase of a B61 Mack and sheep crate.
Jones Transport started with the second-hand Mack and a sheep crate, carting sheep to Newmarket.
Neville’s first regular client was Dennis Jacka who would send down a load of sheep every fortnight from Ivanhoe, and they became lifelong friends and Neville was always grateful for the start Dennis gave him.
Neville and Phyllis operated B, R and F model Macks, 1418 and 1923 Benz’s, Acco's, 5 lines, Louisvilles and later Kenworths and Western Stars.
During this time, they created a family, with Debbie, Glynn, Wayne and Les all contributing to the business.
Jones of Hay is testament to Neville and Phyllis and they and their family's commitment to excellence in road transport.
Stuart McCallum:
Stuart started driving trucks as a 14 year-old with his father’s roadworks company, building the Conargo-Jerilderie Rd in the 1960s.
This started his love of driving trucks.
He borrowed money for a deposit on his first truck and started work with Alf Jones carting general freight, which continued for a few years. In 1973 he bought out Keith Hood and started carting stock.
He then went to sub-contract for J Murphy & Sons, an association that lasted for many years and a wonderful friendship developed.
Stuart has employed many drivers over the years.
In 1989 Stuart purchased a property at Mayrung but continued to drive for Murphy’s.
In 1993, the opportunity to purchase a truck and tipper came available so he started carting grain during harvest. This continued for many years until the property sold, and he moved to Emerald in Queensland.
On returning from Emerald, he purchased a truck and tippers and started carting again.
In 1997 he sold his truck and crates and drove for Murphy’s again.
In 2012 due to health issues he retired from driving and son Brad took over the driving with Stuart involved. This is when they returned to livestock carting.
In 2018 Brad bought the business and Stuart again retired, but in 2019 it wasn't long before the driving bug returned, and he started driving for David Grimison Transport.
Due to the expansion of Bradley and Kellie’s business (McCallum Livestock Transport) Stuart was soon behind the wheel driving for them. He did various trips, including many across the Nullarbor WA and into Arnhem Land NT to collect donkeys.
Today he is still moving crates around the state for Bradley and Grimison’s, though long hauls are now in the past.
Today, Stuart has been driving for a significant 62 years.
Graeme ‘Pegleg’ Unwin:
Graeme was just 16 years old when he picked up his first job with Mathoura transport operators Fred and Ray Piggott.
He was the company ‘jockey' helping load and unload trucks until he was finally 19 and able to get his own truck licence.
In the early days, the Piggotts and their team moved a lot of red gum timber, with regular runs to Adelaide and Melbourne.
By the time Graeme joined the driving team, Brisbane was also on the route.
It was while working with the Piggotts in 1976 that Graeme almost said goodbye to the industry.
It was at Pyalong, at the bridge.
Graeme was in the passenger seat and Ray was driving, and the truck tipped over.
Graeme was stuck under the trailer with 44 gallon drums on top of him, crushing part of his leg.
The crash was in December, and Graeme was a resident at the Royal Melbourne Hospital until June the following year.
After that, he went to the Royal Talbot for intensive rehabilitation.
An old friend reignited his passion for the transport industry early in 1978.
Graeme re-entered the transport industry with his own truck in the late 70's, but then went back to working for other people.
Over the years Graeme worked for lan Chessells, Grant Haynes, McNaughts, Booths, and he retired with Deniliquin Freighters where he had been for the last 10 years.
A highlight was when he was doing the milk, driving a Kingsford Smith Bicentennial Mack.
The tri-axle trucks at Deni Freighters were also a bit of an experience.
So after a 50 year career in the transport industry, many miles along the road, and a tall tale or two (Graeme’s stories always had some truth to a degree) Graeme retired in March 2021.
Wayne Neil Scott:
Wayne Neil Scott was born in Deniliquin on August 12, 1958 to parents Neil and Olive Scott.
His father owned a livestock transport business called Neil Scott's Transports P/L.
Wayne had a passion for the industry which could be seen from a young age.
He left school at the age of 16 and joined the family business with his father and older brother, Bruce.
Wayne obtained his rigid licence at the age of 19 and started driving the company's tray truck delivering livestock around the countryside.
Wanting and needing to drive the bigger trucks, the company applied to the authorities and Wayne became the youngest semi driver in NSW at the age of 19 when he passed his licence test.
He also was one of the youngest drivers in NSW to carry four decks of sheep.
He started driving the company's Volvo and then progressed into a Kenworth in 1981 when the first Kenworth was purchased by the company.
Wayne continued driving for his father in probably the best truck in the fleet, a 1985 SAR with a 350 Cat engine.
It was Wayne's favourite truck, and a photo of it still hangs proudly on his father’s wall.
Neil Scott's Transports was sold in 1989 and Wayne then went driving for lan Hood, Deniliquin Freighters, Lumbars, finally driving a fuel tanker and school buses for Purtills until his untimely passing on March 11, 2010.
Wayne will always be remembered by his many friends in the industry for being a great mate, loyal to the people he worked for, and a great role model for the newer members of the industry.
Many people say that Wayne was a great mentor, and they thank him for the help and advice that they received.