Robert Eagle

Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at ReUnion 2003.

In 1946 when Robert's brother came out of the Navy, he bought a KS5 Inter and 22' McGrath semi to haul timber down from Taree and logs from Sussex Inlet to Helensburg for Pat Casey's timber mill.  Whenhis brother bought a new EH petrol Mack, young Robert stepped in and started driving the KS5.
Robert had just completed his apprenticeship as a typewriter mechanic but it did not take much to convince him that truck driving would be a better career.  It was a trade he could always fall back on but it did not prove very helpful to him as a truck driver over the years!

Very soon the brothers were running interstate carting I.C.I. for George Alsop.  They had a KS5, a KBS7 and a 1949 Federal.  1952 saw the arrival of the recession.  Robert got a job driving an NR Mack for John Gill up at Warragamba Dam (12 hour shifts).  When that finished, he went to Wallerong power station doing earth work and after that, with hope on the horizon, Robert bought a petrol Commer 7-ton and went back to interstate runs.  He used to put 11 ton on his "old girl." 

Soon after he got a job with a customs agent, A.L. Humby's Pty Ltd. Robert was carrying all sorts of goods off the Sydney wharfs and around the wider Sydney area including the markets.By the end of 1979, Robert's seven trucks and ten trailers were sold.  Retaining just the one truck, Robert again worked for himself.  Returning home from a trip to Brisbane in 1983 he was stopped by the R.T.A. at Berowra and given some defect notices accompanied by fines.  On the spot, Robert decided the government was too money hungry......and called it quits.  He retired that very day - a true gentleman of the road.