Garry Williams
Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame in 2023.
Garry Williams, commonly known as Rover, was born in Albury, New South Wales in 1956. Garry’s passion for trucks started at a young age as he would go with his father, Frank, on runs from Narrandera to Melbourne in a Dodge transporting wool and sheep. He always yearned to be a truck driver and would accompany Frank every chance he got.
Garry began working on weekends and after school at Albury Border Transport, where his father worked, working with trucks around the yard. One day he went home from school for lunch, and he never returned.
Garry began working full-time unloading trucks and once he got his P-Plates, delivered oil around Albury for Albury Border Transport as they were the distributor for Castrol. Once Garry got his truck license, he started driving interstate haulage in a V8 Dodge and other trucks which were bigger and more powerful. These included Commers, 1418 Mercedes, Volvos, Kenworth and International ACCO’s soon followed.
During his career Garry drove for companies including Albury Wodonga Transport, Fleet Express, Finnigan’s, Wadley’s, TOLL Regional, IPEC and Overnighters just to name a few. He carted a wide variety of loads across most of eastern and southern Australia. These loads consisted of general freight, carbon black, sand, milk, livestock, logs, grain, containers of produce to be exported, steel coils, gravel, wool, sheep skins, hay, fuel and dog food.
In 1982 Garry married Roslyn and settled in Thurgoona, NSW, where they raised two sons and a daughter, Shaun, Kane, and Hanna. After fighting a 3-year battle with Leukemia, sadly Ros passed away in October 2020.
One of the most memorable times for Garry in his driving career was working on express parcel freight for The Overnighters (and then IPEC) during the 1980s. His favourite truck being a twin steer Kenworth K100E rigid which would run Sydney to Melbourne and return. As they were geared to pull through the hills he would often assist other trucks up the hills and then later paint the bull bar to cover up the scratches. This was a time where no one worried about fuel or speed. He was driving a Detroit 6/92TTA when the speed limiters came in.
Garry drove buses for Continental Trail Ways (Ansett) for a short time. He would drive two up from Wangaratta to Brisbane twice a week. Garry also drove for Lieschke Transport in Jindera NSW for five years prior to retiring in December 2022.
Garry experienced a wide range of driving in his career and after fifty-one and a half years in the transport industry he decided to retire. He enjoys travelling in his fifth wheeler and often catches up with other retired drivers to reminisce about the good old days and to discuss all the changes that have occurred. Garry is respected in the trucking industry as a hard worker and was always willing to help others.
