Allan and Jack Brown & Hurley

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

One of the most successful trucking partnerships in Australian road transport history would have to be that of Jack Hurley and Alan Brown.  It grew out of a friendship between two army mechanics during World War 11 and led to what is still today one of the largest and most successful truck dealerships in Australia.  Beginning their business with a rented bicycle shop in Kyogle, their first job was to fix a tyre puncture on a neighbourhood bicycle.

By 1947 they had secured a Land Rover dealership and were selling Cletrac Crawlers, White trucks, Allis Chalmers and David Brown Tractors.  By 1956 Brown and Hurley had sold 135 trucks including the first tandem drive White in Australia.  The following year they started assembling the Leyland Super Hippo.  Volvo and Kenworth and other dealerships followed soon after.

Jack and Alan decided back in 1946 that they would swap jobs every year.  In that year Jack looked after sales and Alan looked after the workshop.  Forty years later when they retired Jack Hurley headed the Sales Department and Alan Brown still ran the Service Division, an area he excelled in.  Jack was the more adventurous of the two - the one not afraid to take a risk and who had the ideal personality for sales.

Alan was the one with the eye for details and a methodical approach.  Today their sons oversee a business that runs nine Kenworth dealerships, employs 130 people with an annual turnover of $100 million.  Not bad for a couple of army mechanics.  They were indeed a unique team and proof that the Australian dream is still achievable.