Janice Allen
Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame in 2023.
Janice Allan was born in February 1951 in Cromwell, New Zealand, before coming to Australia in the early 70s. Jan started her career somewhere between 1973 and 1974. It took a very strong and courageous woman to work in the transport industry at that time.
Jan worked as a pilot vehicle driver for several years, discovering her love of life on the road. She eventually got her HC truck licence and spent many years co driving as well as piloting Neil Warren, her then partner. Jan played a big part in escorting and hauling Long/Wide loads from Perth to the Loy Yang power station in Gippsland, Victoria, between 1977 and 1980. Neil had the contract for moving the large conveyor frames for Sadleir’s Transport. The frames were 80 feet long x 12 feet wide or 24-metres x 3.6 metres. Two trucks went in convoy with police escort out of Perth and through Melbourne.
Not much time was spent at home in Perth, Western Australia, as Jan was carting loads all over the state. She also concentrated on interstate runs from Perth into Melbourne and parts of country Victoria, but also later, the Perth/Darwin/Queensland runs. Jan and Neil then followed contracts around various areas of the country, particularly the north. They had regular contracts and set runs in both the Northern Territory and Queensland for some time.
Jan gave birth to her daughter Haley in 1980 and proceeded to raise Haley ‘On the Road’. With friends made at roadhouses over the years, Haley was occasionally dropped at Penong Roadhouse in South Australia whilst Jan was eastbound, then picked up on her return trip.
Over the years Jan and Neil did many trips all over Australia with the longest being nine weeks when they went Perth, Melbourne, Darwin, Tennant Creek, Rockhampton, Melbourne and returned to Perth. Some time was spent in Alice Springs and Uluru on the way past.
Melbourne–Darwin–Perth was a 9-day trip at the time, so there was occasionally time for sightseeing. On one trip Jan’s sister Angie was picked up in Melbourne having flown in from New Zealand. She traveled with Jan and the family. While stopped in Cooper Pedy the sisters disappeared for a while, they had found the pub in Cooper Pedy and brought their favorite drink, a bottle of Bacardi and a bottle of rum, which they were drinking straight from the bottle! It has been suggested that the signposts at the Northern Territory Border were holding the two women up!
Later Jan continued her trucking career with her new partner and owner/operator Colin Mulcahy. They continued the interstate runs 2Up mostly in Kenworths. Later, due to parenting duties and being unable to get babysitters to cover the time taken for extended hauls Jan decided to call it quits around 1989. She later gave birth to her second daughter Lauren.
Jan Allan passed away suddenly on 10/06/2013 in a Perth hospital.
