Harold Carey
Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at ReUnion 2010.
Born in 1924, Harold Carey was almost destined to be involved with trucks. He was driving trucks in the Air Force whilst serving Australia in the Second World War.
After returning from the war at age 23 he purchased his first truck in 1947, a 1941 Ford 4 ton table top carting wood and wheat. The business was steadily growing and was now carting sand and gravel, lime, cement and machinery. His first semi-trailer was purchased in 1951, a 1946 Maple Leaf. It wasn't long before he purchased two more semi-trailers, winning the Egg Marketing Board contract and carting many loads of pipes for the Dungowan Pipeline Construction.
In 1954 he moved the business away from the family home purchasing land on Goonoo Goonoo Road, Tamworth where a service station and garage were built, followed by an office. The land opposite was later purchased to park the trucks. The Goonoo Goonoo Road site was then known as Careys Motors. By 1972 Carey's fleet of vehicles had outgrown its premises and more land was purchased in Tamworth's industrial area, Taminda.
Some of the trucks Harold owned throughout the years were International KB5, KB7, Maple Leaf , Dodge and International R190 but his favourite truck of all time was the Mack B61. It had more horsepower and improved brakes.
Harold's most memorable recollection of driving was when he came across an overturned truck carrying drums of fuel and a keg of beer. He lifted the drums of fuel back on the truck with the sole purpose of retrieving the keg a priority of course!
A career on the road always has its ups and downs and the saddest moment for Harold was a fatal accident where he lost a valued driver and more importantly a friend.
Carey's Freightlines, as the business is now known, is still going strong with a large fleet of semi trailers and depots in Tamworth, Sydney and Brisbane. Harold's sons, Michael and John, have continued to grow the family business to what it is today and the third generation of Carey boys are now moving through the ranks to take it into the future.
