Norman Causley

Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame in 2021.

Norman Allen Causley was born in Maclean,  NSW, in  Feb 1948. He revealed a passion for trucks in his early childhood, watching and listening to trucks roar past on the nearby Pacific Highway.  Norm would say to his mum, “Gee! I would love to be able to drive one of them one day”, and his mum would reply, “Oh Norm, don’t be so silly!”  But Norm eventually did just that and not in a half hearted way.

It was 1969 before Norm started driving trucks for Tom Ellem, transporting filter presses from the Harwood Sugar Mill to local cane farms.  In 1970 when Tom Ellem was looking to retire and wanted to sell, Norm formed a partnership with Jim Causley and bought Tom out.  

Although Norm and Jim stuck to their fleet colours of white and red, the fleet at the start was a mixed bunch of Leyland Albion, Dodges and Bedfords.  As the years passed, Volvos, Internationals, Ford Louisville and Mercedes Benz were purchased. Norm’s preferred truck  was Kenworth but it was not until 1980 that  Norm and Jim looked at purchasing one. Jim Hurley ended up persuading them to purchase three Kenworths! Norm described the Kenworth as a good-looking truck,  Australian-built to suit our road conditions.  Over the years, the fleet had grown to 27 trucks.

From 1980 to 1986 the business employed 50+ staff and  through the tough, quiet times, Norm would always be looking for work to keep their staff employed. However, from 1987,  Norm started to downsize the fleet for many different reasons.  Even though Norms' passion for trucks had not changed, the industry was changing enormously and the decision was made in June 1990 to sell the trucks.  Throughout this twenty year period of ups and downs, Norm had the constant support of his wife Sue and their four children Mark, Rodney, David and Tania.

Norm’s focus became his cane farm  but quite often, he could be seen driving his tractor and calling out to old  truckies for a chat over the UHF. 

In 2016, Norm and Sue sold their cane farm and retired.  Norm then became every “truckies’ worst nightmare” as he now hits the road towing a caravan.  But he does have  a couple of Kenworth stickers on the rear of the caravan just to let everyone know he is a truckie at heart!