William J.J Carmichael
Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at ReUnion 2015.
William (John) James John Carmichael was raised near Ivanhoe on the family station, Rosehill. His school lessons came through correspondence before he attended the Wentworth Central School until 1969. Returning home to drought conditions, John started work at Trundle, transporting tomatoes from Echuca to Melbourne and carting gypsum to the Ivanhoe Railway station. He also worked wool pressing and at the local Service Station.
In 1976, John married Keren and settled into Ivanhoe where they raised two sons, Nicholas and Mark. John’s first truck, an Albion tipper, was contracted to the Central Darling Shire to cart road base. In 1976 he purchased a CAT Grader to work for the Shire maintaining roads. By 1978 the CAT had been replaced by a brand new D720 DRMCO Grader.
A red 1972 International was purchased in 1982. This was used to cart wool and livestock to Melbourne and was his first prime mover. John later upgraded with a White Road Commander which in turn was sold in 1986. As the business grew so did the fleet which included an F model Mack, R model Mack, a new Mack Titan, Western Star Constellation, a Western Star Heritage, a Mack Value Liner, a new Mack Super Liner. In later years an old B model Mack was purchased for restoration.
John’s trucking career took him all over Australia carting a variety of freights including sheep, cattle, goats, blue metal, ore, grain, wool, road base, transportable huts, oil rigs and machinery. One noteworthy trip was a convoy of trucks that loaded black goats between Ivanhoe and Cobar; the trucks loaded at midnight and the goats were transported express to the Sydney Airport and straight onto a Jumbo Jet bound for Korea.
John’s son Mark joined the family business in 2012. A year later he took delivery of a Mack Titan which he fitted with an MP10 engine. He drives it on a full time basis.
In 2015 John drives a 2009 Mack Super Liner full time for the business. He has achieved much during his working life with a successful business that has grown from single trailers to road trains B-Trains. He recalls a career of fighting with dirt roads, wet roads, corrugated roads and thick bull dust!
