Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at Reunion 2005
Allan Johnsy Johns grew up on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria in fruit and dairying country where driving a tractor at a young age was natural. He moved from tractors to farm tray trucks laden with fruit for loading into the local cool stores. At the age of 14 he went with a local hay cutting operator travelling all over Victoria.
It was during these travels that he learnt how to plough and by 17 he was driving bulldozers. In 1956 he obtained his semi licence and got a job with a local firm carting general supplies to shops and factories around the district.In 1958 Allan married Dorothy Unthank. At the time he worked for Peninsular Bus Line and carted fruit to Victoria markets for Ray Greenway. After trying share farming for a couple of years the call of the road got too strong and Allan started driving interstate for Jack Playford in a Foden. One week's pay, truck driving, was more than one month's pay on the farm so trucking became his life. Later, Allan drove for Martins Overland Transport. During this time he drove to Brisbane and Sydney driving a Series 7 Dodge and one of the first Kenworths in Australia. Allan then went to work with Ces Thompson Transport driving a Kenworth before he purchased a Diamond T in 1968 and began subbing to Thompson. He then purchased a MAN in 1969 and subbied for another three years before selling it to go driving tankers for Knights Transport at Kilmore. Allan drove for Knights until March 1979 when he moved to Qld and drove a tipper doing odd trips to Sydney. He worked for Edihire carting to Tarong Power Station. In 1982 he started driving tankers for Pozzalanic and did so up until his retirement in 2004. Allan still chats about the many miles, driving mates and the friendships he formed.
