Kenneth James “Ken” Hopper

 Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame in 2022.

Kenneth James Hopper, known to all as Ken, was born in March, 1942 in Werribee, Victoria.

Obtaining his truck licence in 1960, Ken’s first job was for Rudder Transport in South Melbourne, delivering parcels to businesses in Flinders Lane and Little Burke Street in the city.

Over the next several years, Ken worked at different driving jobs such as general freight for Yellow Xpress, livestock carting and quarry work for Ready Mix and Standard Quarries.

In 1967, Ken married Ellen and they went on to have three children – Michael, Rachel and Anthony. The family lived in Werribee.

In 1972, Ken became an owner driver, purchasing his first truck, an R190 International, to cart general freight from Melbourne to Adelaide, South Australia. This was traded in for a C-line International with a 160 Cummins before Ken bought an Atkinson to pull fuel tankers out of the Newport Caltex depot, carting fuel throughout Victoria.

Eventually, Ken was running a fleet of five trucks on general freight from Melbourne to Adelaide and Melbourne to Sydney for different companies. Ken drove a B-double unit while the four drivers he employed drove singles.  Ellen managed the office and bookings.

Every year, Ken and his family or one of the drivers would travel to the Penshurst and Castlemaine Truck Shows in Victora where they won several trophies including one for ‘Truck of The Show’. Ken also won several tarpaulin tying competitions; he certainly had a lot of practice in his daily job!

Selling the business in 2002, Ken worked for Booth Transport in Melbourne regularly running freight to Adelaide for five years before retiring in 2011.

Reflecting on 52 years of driving - five days and nights on the road every week, returning home to deal with on-going repairs and maintenance, battling the summer heat and cold winters, sleepless nights, endless miles and breakdowns – Ken would not hesitate to do it all again!