Leon Dyer

Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at ReUnion 2005.

Leon Dyer was born on 2nd August 1935. His first trade was fibrous plastering, but, at age 16, before he was eligible for a licence, he found himself driving a tray truck carting plaster sheet on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria.

Leon then got a job carting pulp logs out of Noogee with a rigid Studebaker. The work was hard, and the road harder and the job required just as much time repairing the vehicle as it did driving it. Maintaining these old vehicles was the start of a career as a mechanic, body builder, panel beater and spray painter.Leon went on to drive all manner of trucks, from tippers to mobile cranes before venturing into interstate work in a Commer Knocker. He hauled general and produce all along the east coast and to Adelaide. The Newell Highway in those days was a corduroy road at Grong Grong, and dirt through the Pilliga and across the Moree flats.

Leon came off the highway in the late 1960s, and opened a workshop, doing chassis modifications, re-powering, painting, and anything and everything to do with trucks.  As they got old enough Leon employed his three sons in this venture. Leon's skills and expertise in this field were well-recognised by his peers and those in authority. Impossible and can't be done, were not in his vocabulary.  In the late 70s Leon, always looking for a new challenge, set up a removal and storage business which took him to Cairns, Hobart, Perth, and all points in between.

At the same time he ran a second-hand shop. By the 1990s, he was also operating a tipper, bobcat and a demolition yard. Leon was actively involved in Trucking Associations in the late 70s trying to improve the lot of the truckie. Leon is enjoying his well-earned retirement on the Mornington Peninsula.