Robert Davis
Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at ReUnion 2010.
Robert Davis was born in Kingaroy and grew up in Sawtell and Bonville. During his last school years and afterwards Rob worked in the timber industry and sawmills around Bonville. He later got a job driving a tractor snigging timber and tree cutting around Drake.
He helped his father bring tyres for Goodyear from Sydney to Brisbane and melons from Ingham to Melbourne. He got a car licence in N.S.W. but was too young to get a truck licence so his uncle got him a job for the Taroom Shire Council based in Wondoan where he got his licence for trucks. He drove his first truck, an Albion bogie drive body truck for 12 months. He then went to work for Neilson driving an International C18 (Perkins) single axle prime-mover and trailers, a C18 (Cummins) single axle and an Acco V8 (Cummins) single drive with bogie trailers carting cattle and general out of Brisbane.
He worked for Fitzerald & Co at the age of 19. He was there for 7 years. This was when Rob did his first trip to Darwin in a B-model Mack. He carted oil rigs to Blackall with 34', 36' and 38' trailers. From Longreach out it was dirt road and in the wet season many were caught stranded. Drivers used to put what they call push-pull bars between the trucks to try and get enough power to get through the mud.
In 1974 Rob bought a secondhand R 600 Mack Maxidyne Flintstone, 5 speed box, bogie drive which had gone through the 1974 Brisbane floods. With this he started his own business working for Fitzerald for 7-8 years.
In July 1981 Rob bought a new Mack Superliner and called her "Gidgee Queen" as she was in gidgee country carting gidgee posts for NAP Co. (North Australian Pastoral Co). He did work for Elders in Katherine, wire, gidgee posts, flour and beer up and wool on the return trip back to Brisbane. He carried a lot of gidgee posts for NAP Co. The destination of the posts included Alexandria in the NT. Marion Downs and Glenormiston at Boulia, Monkira and Coorabulka etc further down towards Bedourie.
He carted for Elders, Katherine out of Brisbane for Darwin including beer for Timmy Telford owner of the Leichardt Hotel in Cloncurrry and flour out of Toowoomba for bakeries all the way to Mt Isa.
Rob moved to Alpha in 1989 where he started a livestock business. He found the freight walking on and off by themselves was a nice change to the long loading time of general. Rob is a Mack man but has been seen behind the wheel of a KW on very odd occasions. He has spent all his life on the road driving roadtrains.
