Timothy Atkinson

Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at ReUnion 2015.

Timothy Charles Atkinson was born on the 10thMarch 1951 in Queenstown Tasmania, he was 12 years of age when his love of trucks and driving began. Tim drove the delivery truck up the main street of Queenstown for Gorrange's with his dad, the truck was an old White His first real paying job in the transport industry was driving for Kevin Honan the truck being an old 1956 Ford flat tray, Tim did this on weekends and school holidays from the age of 14 up until he finished school. He then went to work for Lyndon Gardener as an off-sider.

At the age of 19 Tim went driving the delivery truck for the Mount Lyell mining company store in Queenstown in a three ton Bedford. He worked there for three years. Tim then moved to Geelong where he worked for Polly Farmer Tyre Service that lasted four months. He then went back home and again worked for Mount Lyell Mining Company's town services where he stayed for four to five years. He also drove ore trucks from Queenstown to Melba Flats. This is where he first drove a Transtar truck and trailer until he was made redundant after the mines first cut backs.

In 1978 he started work as an agent for BP delivering heating oil and fuel and in between he began doing part time work for KJ & C Bailey in Strahan driving a Bedford and then a Dodge carting sand and gravel, supplying all the batch plants on the west coast of Tasmania until 1981. Tim then started work for Kevin Honan driving a Hino flat tray and Isuzu 210 hp single drive with 30 ft trailer behind carting freight from Queenstown to Hobart return up until 1988.

In late 1988, Tim started work on the Crotty dam for Wiggings and Batchelor driving 6 wheel articulated dumpers building the dam wall. When the work stopped because of the greenies, Tim then rotated between KJ & C Bailey and the West Coast Council. With Bailey's he drove a Ford Louisville 9000 and for the Council a Mitsubishi.

In 2002 Tim then went to Western Australia to work in the mines building tailings dams at Leonora, Murran Murran and Granny Smith mine.

Returning back to Tasmania in 2005 Tim then started driving road trucks for Steven Groves in a DAF carting earth materials such as silicon, sand and gravel up until 2009 when work ran out. Tim then moved to De Bruyns transport where he did tanker work carting cement, limel and stock feed until he retired in 2012.