Nicholas Koorey

Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at Reunion 2010.

Nicholas George Koorey, was born in Sydney on 31st January 1944. In 1962 at the age of 18, Nick started work for Mayne Nickless as a trailer maintenance mechanic.
After two years he bought his first truck, an ACCO 170 Inter table-top, and subbied for Mayne Nickless doing over-night express and interstate work. About 12 months later he started carting to Queensland and upgraded to a single axle trailer with an ACCO 180.
At 23 he bought his first B-model Mack and it was only a short time till he was taking loads to Darwin and Mt Isa. This lasted about two years then in 1969, Nick, Kevin Russell and Frank Bourke started Copper City Transport which was based in Sydney and specializing in transport to Mt Isa. Beer, wines and spirits were carted to most hotels and clubs in town, mainly from Melbourne and Sydney. Cartage of wines and spirits from Sydney and the Riverina to northern Qld was also regular. This company operated for about 15 years. In the later years Nick was loading out of Brisbane. Return loading was usually mining equipment or wool. The roads were mainly dirt, so he had the usual problems of rough and boggy roads, dust, heat and wet seasons.
He then bought a tipper and carted explosives to the mines in central Queensland and grain back to Sydney. In 1986 he went to Alice Springs and worked for Transfield carting gas pipes on the Palm Valley to Darwin pipe line. Arriving back in Sydney he began to work in operations for Marr Contracting (Transfield) Heavy Haulage transporting over-dimensional loads all over Australia. After 12 months he took over a waste acid tanker and a small customer base from this company. Over the next 13 years he expanded this hazardous waste transport business to be the largest transporter of hazardous water in Sydney. Nick retired from the road transport industry in 2001.