Brian Pitt
Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame in 2023.
Brian Pitt was born in 1954 in Maffra, Victoria, the eldest son of Murray and Doss Pitt. Brian’s ambition was always to drive trucks. From age 7, he helped his dad with a briquette run in an early Inter. Brian started work as an apprentice Fitter and Turner with S. Lacey & Sons. Six years later, Brian obtained his articulated licence through Dyers Transport, Sale, and climbed into an Atkinson semi-trailer. His trucking future had begun!
During his time at Dyers, Brian worked on cranes at Esso in Longford, Victoria, but the boredom of shutdowns got to him so he moved to Willaton’s out of Morwell, Victoria, hauling potatoes interstate to Sydney via Canberra.
With a flair for planning and organising, Brian became the yardsman and scheduler for a while but he missed the road and the wheel. He approached Barry Bedggood and a few days later Brian was heading interstate in an Acco 3070 Eagle.
In 1983 Brian married Marilyn and they had three children, Wayne, Amanda, and Matt. Bedggood’s business moved forward with new jobs and new trucks, first Atkinsons and then Kenworths. Brian’s favourite was the Kenworth SAR with its narrow cab, clear view, and sleeping quarters. The interstate trips slowed with some remaining trips to South Australia and then a change to all Melbourne runs so that Brian could be home with his family.
After 27 years straight, Brian swapped a truck for a tractor and did some agricultural contracting and farm work before heading off around Australia with his second wife, Christine, on a working holiday. Health issues saw him return to Maffra and when they improved Brian re-joined Bedggood’s.
Trucking can be a lonely job and sometimes scary. Brian remembers driving up the Cann Valley, solo, after bushfires at night, thinking that just one of the weakened smoking trees might end his career should it fall, but Brian had luck on his side.
Brian has enjoyed a lifelong love affair with trucks and moving freight but health once again became an issue and brought on Brian’s retirement from trucking.
