Andrew Embling

Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at ReUnion 2013.

The Alexandra Truck, Rod and Ute Show is an event that attracts some 15,000 people annually to the into the small community of Alexandra on the junction of the Goulbourn Valley Highway and the Maroondah Highway in the 'High Country' of Victoria.  The township has a population of just over 2000 people and the fact that it swells to almost twenty times its size for its annual truck show is testament to the dedication and determination of a small band of people led by the entrepid Andrew Embling and his friend Gordon Simpson.

In Alexandra  Andrew is called 'Andrew Everywhere'  as you can always see him conducting clearing sales, hosting various events and active in every facet of the community. Andrew was born in Alexandra but spent some time in nearby Yarck before being bought up in the suburbs of Melbourne. In Yarck Andrew's parents had operated a small general store selling groceries and supplies to locals. The family business held the motto For Service and Courtesy and it still the adage Andrew runs his life by to this day.

Andrew grew up with an appreciation of the trucking industry and the importance of transport for stocking the store. His grandparents also owned a farm at Kunumbra so Andrew also developed a love of machinery and the country lifestyle. When he turned 16 he took a job with the Wool Store in Melbourne with Victorian Producers - a fore runner of Elders. In later years Andrew moved into the Stock agent business and his appreciation of the significance of road transport to the cattle and sheep industry continued to grow.  He met his wife Trish, who worked for the Murray Goulbourn Milk Co-op, while he was the stock agent at Kyabram where he lived for 18 years.

In 1996 Andrew moved back to Alexandra to manage the Victorian Producers  stock agency. It was purchased soon after by Elders and Andrew found himself without a job. He subsequently set up a Dalgetty's branch in Alexandra which later became Westfarmers and ultimately Landmark in which Andrew and Trish became the franchisees. From the time he arrived back in Alexandra Andrew was determined to do what he could to support the community.  With good mate Gordon Simpson, who owns the local Caltex Depot and Service Station, they developed the Alexandra Truck, Rod and Ute Show.

Andrew and Gordon both believe that the future of Alexandra lays in tourism with its position just an hour and a half from Melbourne. As such both have played an integral role in promoting events and activities in the area.  Their desire to promote the significance of the trucking industry, an industry that is much maligned by the broader community, has also been at the fore-front of their decision to grow the Alexandra Truck, Rod and Ute Show, which is now in its eighteenth year of production.