Trevor Kelly

TREVOR KELLEY was born in Karoonda , South Australia in 1933 but grew up in Bridgewater where he was educated. He attended Goodwood Boys Technical College for a while before dropping out to do an apprenticeship as an electrical fitter. After doing a couple of trips with a mate from Bridgewater he became interested in road transport so in 1956 he quit his job and bought a truck. It was a 1948 OS Bedford with a 20ft strap trailer. The tray was short a 44 gallon drum of petrol was slung under the trailer to carry petrol. Trevor did three trips a week for Barlows out of Melbourne.

Trevor then had a chance to carry Holden car bodies so had to lengthen the chassis so he was able to carry seven bodies at a time to Brisbane via Bordertown, Dimboola, Bendigo, Benalla, Wodonga and Sydney. In 1956 he got stuck in floodwater at Holbrook with 72 other semis. Later, at Wagga Wagga he had to wait three days for the DMR bull dozer to tow him through 200 yards of muddy quagmire. Trevor later upgraded to a KB6 and switched to carrying Chryslers out of Adelaide and occasional backloads for Austin out of Brisbane to Adelaide. He recalled a mate from the Padlock Co-op in Mildura who ran a Ford Thornton who would set his cruise control; "A piece of broom handle which he would jam between the accelerator and the dashboard setting a blistering speed of 28 mph."

Before Trevor headed across the Hay Plains he would always buy a loaf of bread to compliment the tins of bully beef hidden under the seat for emergencies. If you saw a fire at night you'd always pull up for a yarn. it was either truckies or drovers and the mateship was great. Trevor eventually decided to work local and purchased a 6 metre tipper. Later he installed an underbody G Well hoist and started carrying riprap from Greenhill Quarries to the outer harbour breakwaters. He also carted quarry materials for other local councils around South Australia. Trevor later built a besser block shed at Bridgewater. He also purpose built a twin steer Dodge Power Giant for quarry work and purchased a Ransom Rapier dragline. He then purchased a Ford D750 with a pusher axle to work at Crafers Freeway. He worked at Mintabi and drove a Hiab crane for a while.

Trevor is a much loved "old school" gentleman of the road. Today he is retired and enjoys showing his prized restored Fargo at truck shows.