Kenneth McDonald

Ken McDonald ,known as 'Kenny Mac', was born in 1936 at Coraki NSW where he met and married to his lovely wife Dorothy. He gained his HR licence in 1956 while serving in the CMF however, it wasn't until 1972 that he bought his own truck. Ken recalls fondly it was a powerful beast. It was a butter box ACCO powered with a 6-354 Perkins motor which he used to pull a semi tipper hauling for Pioneer Road Services to sugar cane on the Richmond River.

Ken later traded the ACCO for a D2F Dodge with a 555 Cummins to haul grain from farm to silo. He then traded up to a used F86 Volvo, continuing to haul grain and general tipper work. In 1975 he sold the 86 and he spent 2 years away from trucks. The call of the road was too strong and in 1977 Ken purchased a used 330Hp G89 Volvo to haul Sydney-Brisbane for Brambles and basically wherever the load took him. By 1978 he'd had enough of second hand trucks, let his hair down and bought a brand spanking new G89 Volvo.

It was truly a great truck

When Kens flat top trailer was stolen in 1980 he once again turned to tipper work with the '89'. A highlight of his long distance career was taking his wife and one of his three children (two sons and a daughter) with him on trips to Melbourne, Adelaide, Home Hill or anywhere they had not been before. From 1980 until 1985 Ken worked short haul tipper work when he was offered a position with Pozzolanic. This he happily accepted and purchased a new Western Star with a 3406B Caterpillar power plant to haul bulk cement from Brisbane to Northern NSW. The long hours started to catch up with him, so he sold the Western Star and semi retired.

However retirement was not for Ken. In 1990 he bought an N10 Volvo (275hp) body truck and returned to the tipping game. Today, in 2016, Ken is still tipping as a subcontractor to Boral Asphalt. The Volvo is still going strong with over 1.25 million klms on the clock. So Ken just 'keeps on truckin'. Congratulations Ken.