Kevin McKinnon
Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at Reunion 2010.
Kevin McKinnon grew up on farming properties around Muswellbrook and Gloucester where his father operated 4 trucks for local and general carrying.After being a postal delivery boy and a fireman on the 3801 steam train, Kevin's first 'official' truck driving was in 1947 when he responded to a call for help at Avoca Beach where his father and brother were too ill to work their carrying business. This first truck he drove would have been a 1929 Chevrolet one ton tray back. He liked Avoca Beach so much that he stayed and consequently they bought another truck to expand the business.
When Kevin married Lorna in 1950 they moved to Muswellbrook where he had a joint venture with Reg, carting coal in their truck at the mine. This soon ended when Kevin drove into the back of another truck due to poor visibility with so much coal dust on the site. The truck was sold and they moved back to Avoca Beach where he drove a delivery van for a local smallgoods company. Kevin then bought his father's carrying business but back problems caused the sale of the carrying business and subsequently he bought the beach shop which they operated for a while but in 1960 they bought a truck and the associated dairy farm milk run at Frederickton, NSW. The original International truck that came with the milk run had to be replaced with a new IH a few years later followed by a semi-trailer after that.After 10 years, which included droughts, floods and Kevin's constant back pains, they moved back to the Central Coast in 1970. Kevin quickly secured a job at Gosford BP Depot driving fuel tankers and trucks locally and to nearby towns and cities. The trucks were mainly IH ACCOs and a Ford Louisville. Occasionally Kevin also drove an Atkinson semi-trailer to NSW country towns to bring much needed fuel to the Central Coast. He held this job until his health forced his retirement in 1987. The Rotary Club of Gosford West awarded Kevin the 'Pride of Workmanship' in 1977 whilst employed by John Starr, the local BP agent, a testimony to his dedication to his work and typical of his attitude to many things. Do it right.Kevin spent more than 40 of his 60 years driving trucks; a significant contribution to the industry in which he loved to be involved.
