Allister ‘Macca’ Moffitt
Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame in 2023.
Allister Moffitt, better known as Macca, was born in 1954 in Masterton, New Zealand. Raised on a sheep and beef station, his first experience with trucks was steering the truck around to pick up hay bales, barely able to see over the dashboard, while the driver changed gears.
Macca went to school in Martinborough and college in Greytown. Leaving at 14, he went shepherding on Aranui Station for five years, where he learnt fencing, shearing and driving bulldozers clearing fence lines and constructing dams.
From there Macca moved to Levin driving concrete trucks for about four years, married and had two boys. He then went onto logging trucks and driving skidders and bulldozers in the bush for about the next ten years.
After that Macca moved to a V8 Mack towing a bailey bridge with hydraulic suspension, aptly named ‘Fleetwood Mac’, for Mitchpine in Levin. In the back country blocks he was lowered down by a skidder or pulled up by a dozer with a loader following down the track to push the back of the jinker to get around the corners.
Macca entered numerous truck competitions, culminating in being crowned New Zealand Truckie of the Year which included a trip to America to visit a truck show. After that trip, in 1990, Macca came to Australia. Upon arrival, his first job was with F & H Transport carting aluminum from Gladstone to Sydney and returning with Pencil Pitch from Newcastle.
Next Macca drove for McDonald Transport, driving B Doubles out of Brisbane to Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. Macca stayed with the company for approximately nine memorable years, and during this time had the pleasure of driving a brand new T600 Kenworth, only leaving when Graham sold the business and retired.
Macca then ventured to SRY transport where after a few years he drove a roadtrain doing a weekly run to Alice Springs with groceries and general freight. The return trip was either down to Wyalla in SA to load salt or in the season, returning home via Katherine in the Northern Territory with magoes.
A change of scenery beckoned and for a couple of years Macca began carting grain and cottonseed in AB Triples around Queensland and NSW for Greg McDonald. He then joined up with Jason Hartwell Haulage, who later secured a contract in Mount Isa, so Macca drove triples between Lady Loretta Mine, loaded with iron ore to the Mount Isa mine. Macca thoroughly enjoyed this experience staying at a camp in Mount Isa on a 3 week, 1 week off roster for about five years. During this time he drove three new Kenworths. The roads were very corrugated, with several water crossings, sometimes taking two hours to travel 90kms – only to get to the dus pads and have to change one, two or more tyres damaged from the rock.
One of Macca’s highlights was a trip to the Kenworth factory in Melbourne to pick up the ‘Queenslander’ a 909 Kenworth for Jason. This was then hooked up with a float, towing 4 rows of 8 and a dolly, 2 rows of 4, which had been refurbished by Drake Trailers and Scotty Reid. When the Lady Loretta mine was closed, Macca returned to Richards Transport and is still driving for the company to this day. He was given the pleasure of driving the company’s 100th Kenworth in 2022, which is a great recognition of his dedication to this family business and their respect for him as a driver and employee.
Macca has travelled to every capital city and all over this great land, and his love for the industry and the trucks he has driven still continues, with many thousands of kilometres still to travel.
