Noel Buntine

Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at ReUnion 2000.

Noel Buntine dabbled in the industry for a few years but it all really started for him in the 1960s when he purchased a B61 Mack, named it the High and Mighty, and started hauling cattle to the Wyndham meatworks.  By 1980 he had a fleet of 50 roadtrains, depots in three states and 120 employees.

Initially the office was a briefcase under the driver's seat and the trucks travelled through virgin scrubland because it was in better condition than the roads.  Repairs were done on the roadside in bulldust or mud.

There were no roadhouses or warm beds at the end of the day.  Tucker was cooked on the shovel on the roadside or a tin of 'pot luck' opened.  Wheel bearings, tailshafts and even engines were repaired on the dirt roads where the mishap occurred.  Everything focused on getting the job done and that's what built the Buntine name.  In 1981 Noel sold out the business and the Buntine name went with it.  Unfortunately, the business floundered and the Buntine name was dragged unceremoniously through the bankruptcy courts.  In 1983 Noel shocked everybody by buying back his fleet from the liquidator and re-entering the cattle transport industry.  It took him just two years to build his business back to its former glory.

Noel was a man of sound business acumen, ethics and vision but for those closest to Noel, his family, drivers, mechanics and business associates, the single most outstanding quality he displayed was the goodness of his word and the blind loyalty to his people.  He passed away in 1994 just before the National Road Transport Hall of Fame, a project he supported wholeheartedly and financially, opened its doors.