Anthony Bourke

Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at ReUnion 2010.

Anthony Bourke (Tony) was born in 1961, the third generation of a cartage contracting family, the son of John Bourke and grandson of James Bourke.

It all started with Grandfather James in 1899. He used his 3 horses and a wagon to cart bricks for Auburn and Tooranga Brick Works at the age of 16 years. James upgraded to trucks in 1936 with a Maple Leaf Chev tipper carting sand from the local creek which he loaded by shovel.

James' son John joined his father in 1959 with a Maple Leaf Chev tipper. This was followed with a KB5 International and other trucks such as various Internationals, a Commer Knocker and a Ford 700.

In the 1970s John changed to semis. He started off with a long-nosed 1418 Mercedes Benz and a cab-over Benz carting three and a half tons of paper reels for Australian Paper Mills. After this he changed to Kenworths. Both his sons, Anthony and Chris, followed him into the family business,

Tony started his trucking career around 1980 at the age of 20 years. He had learned his truck driving lessons as a school boy during the holidays when he worked for his father backing the trucks into the places to which he was delivering freight.

Tony's first truck was a 1418 Mercedes Benz which was followed by several Kenworths including W925 S2, W900, SAR, and T600. His most recent truck is a T900 with 3 Trailers, 2 tabletops, Freighter and Lusty, and Freighter ST3 tautliner. He uses these trucks and accessories to transport general freight for the automotive industry. Most of this freight is transported in the local and country areas around his home base.

Tony's favourite of all his trucks is his Kenworth T900; his most recent truck. Both he and his brother Chris are still driving but feel that this may be the last generation to continue the family history. The next generation is made up of 4 girls and 1 boy who is an international ice hockey player, unfortunately with no time for much else.