Barry Alan Knee
Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame in 2022.
Barry Alan Knee was born in November, 1970 in Dandenong, Victoria. His interest in trucks started as four-year-old when he would often go on trips with his father, Peter, in a D750 Ford, to Shell Newport, Shell’s major fuel distribution centre in Victoria. Barry became such a regular visitor to the terminal that the canteen ladies would have his lunch ready and waiting for him!
Turning 19, Barry started working full-time with his father in Piangil, Victoria, when the family formed their own transport business, Barry Knee Haulage. The first truck Barry drove was a Ford Louisville LNT with a Cummins VT903, 15 speed on 4 springs, transporting fruit to Melbourne markets and returning with fertiliser for the Piangil region. He also carted bulk grain in tippers and convertibles as well as general freight, all with single trailers.
As the work increased, Barry and his family purchased a new International Transtar and a 14 pallet Nissan rigid to transport fresh produce as well as fertiliser. In 2005, the business moved into B-doubles and Barry drove a Kenworth K100 Aerodyne. This was followed by purchases of a Western Star, cab-over Kenworth’s K104 and KW108, a Freightliner Argosy Acert auto, a Kenworth K200 Big Cab, then a 2015 Kenworth K200 auto and finally, a 2021 Kenworth T410. Barry’s overall favourite truck to drive was the Kenworth K200 Big Cab.
As an interstate driver, Barry has transported refrigerated produce, wool, fertilisers and general freight, including a variety of farm machinery, between Piangil, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane. He is very grateful for the fact that over the years, the family’s businesses have never suffered any serious injuries or fatalities on the roads of Australia.
Barry has long been a supporter of helping primary producers in need. In 2009, Barry volunteered his time and his truck to deliver a load of hay donated from Mildura and the Boundary Bend districts in north west Victoria to the farmers and their livestock in Flowerdale and Coldstream, which had been ravaged by Victoria’s Black Saturday bushfires.
In 2019, Barry didn't hesitate to join the Burrumbuttock Hay Run to Quilpie which involved over 500 volunteers and some 180 trucks carting more than 6,500 donated bales of hay to desperate, drought-stricken farmers in outback Queensland.
Early 2020, Barry again donated his services to deliver three B-double loads of donated hay from the Swan Hill district in north-western Victoria directly to farmers in Corryong in the north-east of the state in the wake of harrowing bushfires.
Barry is a very proud truck owner and operator, having made many friends whilst driving on the highways of the country.