Scott Gillespie

Scott Gillespie was born in May 1972 in Mount Isa Qld where his parents and grandparents were based. Nicknamed 'Freddy' as a youngster he spent his early years droving cattle throughout the outback regions of Queensland and the Northern Territory with his grandparents. It was an insight into the tough pioneering ways of the Australian bush that few children of that era have the opportunity to experience.

It was a life of camp fire dinners and laying in the swag on balmy nights looking at twinkling stars, but it was also a life of searing summer heat and freezing winter nights, of 18 hour days on horseback, of cattle stampeding for miles and dust so thick you could hardly breathe let alone see.

When his father, Jim Gillespie, decided to take a job with Baldocks Transport carting bagged copper dust from Tennant Creek in 1972, it soon became obvious that young Freddy would become a truck driver. Freddy loved the trucking life from the very first time he went in one.

From about the age of 10, Freddy chose offsiding in road trains with his father to learn the ropes over traditional schooling. He soon became a well known and popular kid along the old South Road and often amazed the city truckies with his bush learnt knowledge of driving and fixing trucks in the Outback. He accompanied his father on outback runs for iconic outback companies such as Timor Transport, Ascot Haulage, Gulf Transport and NT Fuels Shell Distributor. Every-one along the length of the old south road knew Jim and Freddy were a team to behold.

When Freddy got his truck licence he quickly found a job cattle carting with Roadtrains of Australia where his reputation as a professional driver and good bush mechanic were cemented. After 15 years of carting stock Freddy decided he was due for a change and went on to road train tipper and loader work in remote areas.

In 2016 Freddy is currently working for G & S Contractors in Alice Springs NT and still enjoys his work. Having literally cut his teeth on a Flintstone Mack it is no surprise that Mack is one of his favourite trucks