Lloyd Hunt
Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at Reunion 2005.
Lloyd Hunt, aged 18, first started driving trucks in Longreach with Bielenberg Bros. On a casual basis he carted sheep using International body trucks in 1982 to 1992. The next six years were spent in the RAAF as a welder general.
In 1958, Lloyd was posted to Darwin. When he arrived, he met another Longreach man, Les Ferret Sheppard, who was driving for Outback Transport between Darwin, Mount Isa and Alice Springs. When he got the chance, he went on an occasional trip with him. Lloyd spent three years in Darwin in the RAAF and when he finished his term in 1963 he applied for a job with Buntine Roadways.
At the time, Buntine had two body lorries and three semis, all of which were Mack B6s. Lloyd drove one of the two units that worked between Katherine and Wyndham meatworks for a couple of years. Lloyd then decided to go to Alice Springs to work with Fleet Owners carting between Darwin, Larrimah, Mount Isa and Alice Springs. He also did short stints with Dick Rodgers carting livestock driving AECs with Stratty Bloomfield moving oil rigs, and into the mines in Tennant Creek with Kittle Bros.Fleet Owners also did fuel runs from Darwin to Alice Springs for Shell Co. Sandy Mostran, who handed over to his son, Peter, when he retired, ran the Shell depot in Alice Springs.
Whenever Fleet Owners needed drivers and mechanics they sent the message to Longreach and employed Bob O'Neill, Charlie Brown, Bob Wells, Tanks Bob Tidd, Graham Naylor and Curly Milson, who came over from Buntines. Well -known Territorians’; Doug Foster, who later managed Buntines, and Doug Parks, who later established Timor Transport, worked there at the time. Lloyd worked for G&L Stevens carrying fuel for BP to Alice Springs for a year, until Shell decided to haul their own fuel. He then applied for a job there, and started with them in 1968. He remained there for 30 years, until NT fuels, under Peter Mostran, took over. He then moved to Queensland for a couple of years before returning to work for NT fuels until North Fuels took over.
