Marcus Donnelly
Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame in 2017.
Marcus Paul Donnelly was born in 1949 at Five Dock in Sydney New South Wales.
Marcus' first long distance transport driving job was with Overland Trucking Co based at Rocklea in Queensland and it was the beginning of a career that would last for over four decades.
Marcus' job with Overland saw him driving a Leyland commer attached to a single axle trailer. His cargo to Adelaide was nearly always motor cars and his return trip to Brisbane was barrels of wine.
Marcus later moved to Shepparton where he started a job with EC Phillips, later known as Phillips Transport. During his 33 years at Phillips Transport Marcus drove several different trucks, including on occasions the Kenworth that is now on display at the Kenworth Pavilion.
Marcus has said he has enjoyed nearly every day of his life as a truck driver except for the one occasion when he had to help retrieve the burnt out wreckage of a Phillips Truck involved in a fatal accident. This accident claimed the life of his friend's wife and daughter. On another occasion Marcus was crossing the Yarra River by way of the Westgate Bridge while driving an Argosy Freighliner. A sudden gust of wind blew his empty tautliner onto its side. Marcus escaped serious injury but he did sustain minor injuries to both his legs. This accident happened at around midnight and it's said the wind gusts were travelling at 140 kilometres an hour. The bridge was closed to all outbound traffic for the rest of the night and it made big news in the Melbourne Sun Herald.
After 33 years with Phillips Transport the company was bought out by Patrick Freightlines and as a result Marcus was made redundent.
Marcus then obtained a job with Valley Pack in Mooroopna delivering containers to the wharf in Melbourne. After four years Marcus retired. Three months later the call of the road was so great that he returned to Valley Pack as a casual part time driver. During his years on the road Marcus drove various trucks such as Leylands, UDG Daff, Kenworths, Freightliners and currently as a part time driver he is behind the wheel of a T 409 Kenworth.
These days when Marcus is not driving he spends a considerable amount of time fishing on the local rivers and in the ocean of the South Australian coast.