Mark Hoad

William Mark Hoad, known as ‘Hoadie’, was born in Adelaide, South Australia, in May 1964. Aged only nine, his feet could not reach the pedals of the old Commer truck in which he learned to drive on his uncle’s farm, near Penong, South Australia. 

Hoadie’s first truck was a Dodge D2F with a V8 Perkins engine, which he bought on the 8/8/88. With a custom-designed water cartage tank and a dodgy handwritten receipt to borrow an extra $300 to buy fuel, he established ‘Hoad Water Cartage’. Business doubled over the first few years as he  supplied domestic water to homes around South Australia and specialised in servicing the industrial and commercial sectors. During this time, Hoadie was involved in developing the bottled spring water industry. At one stage he was supplying or carting about seventy-five percent of the bottled water sold in Australia. 

With his seven-year-old daughter often in the passenger seat, Hoadie delivered distilled water for Optus Remote Cooling Systems in outback South Australia and Western Australia.  Supplying bulk demineralised water to a cruise liner in Sydney Harbour was a memorable trip, as was his involvement in bushfire relief.  One of Hoadies’ more specialised remote jobs was transporting potable water for 5,000 United States Marines and Australian soldiers who were at Bradshaw Field Training Area, Northern Territory, on a two-month training stint.  Handing over to his driver, who asked for instructions,  Hoadie, with his usual dry wit warned, 'Don't back into a Black Hawk helicopter and don’t kick any unexploded ordinance to see if it works.’

Hoadie has designed various types of cartage tanks that are still being manufactured and used to this day. He is an innovative man, having developed and manufactured his own diesel exhaust fluid known as Optiblue which he supplies to local transport companies.  

Hoadie was also able to purchase his opposition's business, ‘Andy’s Water Transport’.  Combining both businesses gave him a fleet of eleven trucks and a staff of twenty people.  Hoadie went on to form a tank cleaning division and a division to ensure alternate water supplies for government departments and industry.                                                        Inducted in 2021