Allan Bramstedt

Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame in 2019.

ALLAN TREVOR BRAMSTEDT (BRAMMY) was from in Nilma Victoria where he was born in January 1934 and passed in March 2009. In his early years he worked as a radiator mechanic and drove trucks on weekends. In 1959 Allan purchased his own Ford Truck to cart milk and wood around the district. In 1966 Allan and wife Joan bought a local cattle trucking business from Norm Canobie. It was the beginning of AT & JM Bramstedt & Son Livestock Transport. The Bramstedt family involvement in trucking had started with Allan's father after WW1.

On one of Allan's trips in the truck with daughter Sheryl, he fell from the top of the truck into the cattle below and broke his wrist and gashed his head. Years later they discovered an old fracture in his neck, most likely from that same fall. Son Trevor often went with Allan in the truck. In those days there was no sleeper; Allan would sleep across the seats and Trevor on the floor. Trips to Bombala from Nilma would mean leaving Friday night and back Sunday night. Roads were narrow and from Cann River you would be required to travel in groups with the last truck in line letting the other group of trucks heading in the opposite direction, knowing they could go through. After working all day, repairs and servicing was done at night or whenever possible.

When his son Trevor he turned 18 he started driving and became a partner in the business in 1980. In March 1986 Allan suffered a heart attack and his ill health meant he had to cut his workload back to managing stock numbers and working for agents and drivers at livestock markets form Bairnsdale to Korumburra. Allan continued doing this until November 2008 when he was diagnosed with cancer.

Allan spent his last months living at son Trevor's where his bed was positioned for him to be able to watch his beloved trucks coming in and out of the yard and the drivers were able to give him a toot and wave. He always wanted to know where the boys were off to. With his note pad in hand and phone by his side, he always had the numbers ready to give Trevor for the loads from Bega and Cooma. The trucking business Allan started many years before, continues today, run by son Trevor and grandsons Daniel and Taylor Bramstedt.