David Findlay

Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at Re Union 2011.

David Findlay was born in 1946 at Mirboo North, Victoria, the son of Jock Findlay who established Findlay's Livestock Transport.
At sixteen David and his brother Robert bought a truck for $1200 and hired a driver. Turning eighteen, David bought his first truck with a twenty foot rigid stock crate and started his own livestock business to Dandenong and Newmarket. Within two years he added an Acco, bought out Peter Devine Transport and built a dog trailer.In 1968 he traded his two trucks for a MAN. Commencing interstate haulage he carted potatoes and backloaded various freight out of Sydney. He then moved his family to Sydney.

His first major contract was with B&D Rolladoors between Sydney and Melbourne. Buying an extra tri-axle to leave in the dock enabled quick turn arounds. David proudly bought his first new 892GM Kenworth in 1978, upgrading over the next 11 years.As B&D's operations decreased in Sydney, David carted steel out of Melbourne and potatoes from Thorpdale to Sydney, Brisbane and north Queensland. He then went with State Express from Sydney to Adelaide and from Sydney to Brisbane. He operated with three drivers.

In 1983 he bought a farm in Bungonia, NSW and downgraded to one gold nugget series Kenworth and drove Sydney to Melbourne, Melb to north Qld carting steel and returning with produce from the Atherton Tablelands. David sold the truck in 1989 to Len Hilder Transport, Trangie and commenced broad-acre farming in the Riverina growing grain. In order to  market and sell his own grain interstate and locally he bought another Kenworth and two farm rigids. David's wife, Helen, died in 2000 and by 2001 he sold up.He well remembers The Razorback Blockade in 1979 when the transport industry came to a standstill for ten days. Passionate about the transport industry, David was actively involved for thirty-nine years and is now retired on the Sunshine Coast.