Reg Clarke

Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at ReUnion 2015.

In 1965 Reg Clarke was driving a Deutz truck with a freezer unit, delivering Masters Milk to New Norcia, Moora and Geraldton. This was a big job in those days as the towns had no roads on the coast. He also took the banking from the New Norcia roadhouse to the Midland Bank.

Reg then bought a petrol 675 Dodge to cart cars out of Adelaide for Friendly Service Station, in those days there was about 700 miles of dirt road across the Nullabour and he had to open a gate at the Madura Pass. There were fine corrugations and big holes due to the bulldust. When Reg was leaving Adelaide to head home, he would go around and pick up vegetables, papers and groceries to take back.

Reg would deliver some goods from Adelaide to Ceduna, Penong, Nundroo, Yalata, Ivy Tanks, Koonalda, and Nullabour with Eucla being the last one. He would give what water he had left to the roadhouses free of charge. Water was like gold in those days.

The petrol Dodge was costing too much so it had to go. In the late 1960s Reg got a job with a contractor driving a Mercedes with a Hiab fitted to the chassis to unload his own trailer at Kambalda. Reg again would load his prime mover with papers, groceries, etc for Southern Cross, Coolgardie and Widgi.

Reg used to go out to the desert for Bill Clarke with drilling freight, gold mine loads and all the gear that had to go to the destination. A lot of the time he had to make his own track to the pipeline as the wind and sand would cover the old track. He had to turn down the pipeline track at Sandfire, back then he was on his own. Bill Clarke would give Reg this work because he knew what he was doing out there. The trucks had to have all the gear as there were no mobile phones out there.

Don Daniels offered Reg a job carting CIG gas and general freight. The company was called Minesite Haulage. Reg was a bloody good operator and he taught others their trucking skills and helped most people on and off the dusty roads and at home. Reg would be proud of his daughter Rhonda and her husband Jungle for the mark they are making in the trucking industry. Reg passed away in March 1979.