John Kelly 2008

Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at Reunion 2008.

John Kelly had been in the transport industry for many years starting out as an interstate truck driver based in Adelaide driving for Ace Gutters.  From 1970 to 1982 John worked for Scotts Transport.
John shifted to Sydney and from 1982 to 1985 he drove for TNT/Alltrans all over, and then from 1985 to 1993 worked for BP as a tanker driver.  In 1993 he was a driver and trainer for Hunts Specialised Transport followed by a year long stint at Roadmaster as a driver-trainer from 1993 to 1994.
In 1995 John worked at the Australian Trucking Association, which was then called the Road Transport Forum, until 1997 when he left and started as Risk Manager at National Transport Insurance where he remained until his untimely death in late 2007.  John was involved in safety and industry betterment initiatives over many years.  He worked on developing fatigue management programs and implementing driver-training strategies; a skill he excelled at.
He was a real character of the industry and few people would not have known or been touched by him in some way.  He had been there and done that, he knew the nature of the industry and what needed to be done to fix the wrongs and how to deal people.
John had a couple of sayings that will remain in the industry for a long time.  If he was going to a convention or meeting, he would say it was "Bigger than Budgewoi" even if there were only a couple of people there.  His second favourite was when he could see that a company was shonky or couldn't be fixed he would call them "crocodiles".
John started his own small trucking company which he ran in his spare time.  His dedication and commitment to the industry were unprecedented.  He lived and breathed it.  Most of all he loved the transport industry with real passion.