Paul Haynes
Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at ReUnion 2013.
Paul 'Darby' Haynes has been involved with the Australian transport industry for over 50 years. He was born in Holbrook NSW on 3 December 1939. He came from a farming family but always said, life on the land was not for him. Paul first developed the trucking bug as a 15 year old carting the grain into the silos at Holbrook. At age 22 Paul married his first wife Lynette and they had six children; Marc, Greg, Kate, Beth, Patrick and Rachael. One of the children' favourite memories was when Paul was carting Colvan Chips and he would return home with a massive box for the kids to feast on.
After his father died, Paul used his inheritance and bought the Haynes Transport Fleet from his cousin Snow Haynes. This included Bedfords, an International R190, Dodges and the Commer Perkins. He used the Commer Perkins to do his first interstate trips. This included heading up to the Gulf around Normanton where he delivered Murray Grey cattle to cross breed with the drought hardened territory stock. To cover this distance he would use a two and a half deck sheep crate with cattle on the bottom and hay on the top deck. While in the Northern Territory Paul noticed how operators doubled up their loads of cattle and was one of the first operators in the Riverina to cart two decks of cattle.
In the early 1970's Paul added a Mack B Model Thermodyne to the fleet and ran interstate for North Queensland Express. His loads included much needed building materials for the reconstruction of Darwin after Cyclone Tracy. During this time, the Haynes family led a transient life, heading north to Queensland to live in Bargara, Hervey Bay and later Acacia Ridge in Brisbane.
Paul's next truck was his beloved Kenworth. He would return home with the Kenworth with watermelons in open racking. Needless to say the children and indeed the whole street welcomed his home-comings and feasted on fresh watermelon for days. In 1979, when the family was living in Liverpool NSW and Paul was subcontracting to TNT, Evel Knievil came to Australia with his Thrill Spectacular Tour. Paul was given the job of driving the left hand drive custom rig that had been brought from the USA. Unfortunately the tour was cancelled with only four of the scheduled 44 performances completed. Paul had to return to his regular run and that, he claims, was his one and only, first and last brush with fame.
From the 1980s on, Paul remained in the Sydney region, always truck driving and usually as a subcontractor. He has worked for many large companies, including Finemores Transport Wagga, TNT Express, Heggies Transport, Hornby Transport, Ross Transport and Port Kembla Steel Works.
Paul is now retired and lives on the NSW south coast with his wife Elvie. His love of travelling continues although now with a caravan.
