Andy Derjaha
Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at ReUnion 2011.
Andy Derjaha was born in Northam West Australia on October 1950. He grew up in Morley and attended John Forrest High School. His interest in trucks started when he used to see an Antil Ranger B-model Mack parked in his street for a few days every fortnight. This brought on his ambition to one day drive trucks. He started off driving rigid tippers and agitators but his heart was set on driving long distance.
In 1973 he got a start with Cavalier Transport carting gas bottles for C.I.G and general for T.N.T. to the Pilbara in West Australia. He drove a single drive 1513 Benz towing a single axle 34ft trailer. Most of the roads then were dirt and rough. He left there and started with Dowland Transport doing interstate in a G88 Volvo. There he was carting timber from the south west of WA to Adelaide SA . From SA he would load through Bill Porter to Melbourne. From Melbourne he would load BF Goodrich tyres for Toll Chadwick back to Perth. He also loaded through Laurie Rodregze who managed Bill Game Loading Agency. He moved on and got a job with Alan Davison. There he was carting from Perth to all the states and the Northern Territory. The Northern Territory run was for T.N.T. Darwin Express. It was on one of his trips back from Darwin that he had to go to Balgo Mission in the Great Sandy Desert to pick up seismic vehicles to take to Warrnabool in Victoria. The road from Balgo was the Tanami Road. It was one of the roughest roads he travelled.
In 1984 he purchased a cab-over Kenworth and subbied for Barry Ladd Perth Freightlines out of Melbourne to Perth .It was there that manager Bill Obrien nicknamed him Havachat. That name has stuck with him ever since. He sold the Kenworth and went carting logs for R&N Palmer out of Dwellingup to Welshpool WA. He soon got the bug for long haul and bought a Ford Louisville LNT 9000 and started with Perth Freightlines again.He got sick of carting general freight and bought a 1L2 Scania carting cars for T.N.T. Car Carrying. It was one of the best companies he had worked for. The rates were good and he carted cars Australia wide. T.N.T lost the Ford contract so he sold the truck and went to work for Cleveland Freightlines..He was there for nine years and enjoyed his time. He left and bought a CHR Mack with a semi tipper carting sand and limestone for several firms south of Perth. The tipper work was too full on so he sold it and went driving for Matic Transport hauling pneumatic cement tankers. He was carting cement and lime all through WA . For seven months he hauled triple tankers of lime from Dongara WA to the Ranger Uranium Mine in Jabiru NT.
He now has his own Western Star pulling cement tankers for BGC Cement local and the odd trip away. The good thing Andy remembers about being on the road is the many friends that he met and who are still friends today. The worst things now are the overzealous law enforcers and the ridiculous log book laws in the eastern states. WA has the best fatigue laws in the country.
