Neville Murphy

Neville James Murphy was born in Tara Queensland in 1948 and has been a truck driver for all of his working life. Obtaining employment with the Western Downs Co-operative Tara in 1967 he quickly moved from being a storeman to transport. This role consisted of delivering fuel and groceries to outlying properties and then to the Tara Brisbane run transporting general freight such as wool to Brisbane and returning with supplies for the co-operative. It was a tight schedule of three round trips per week, 300 kilometres each way.

In 1970 Neville went to work for Harwood's Transport doing the same work of general freight around town and the Tara to Brisbane round trip three times per week. Harwoods were a family owned business and the main freighters in Tara.

In 1971 Neville married Fay Steger. 1980 saw Neville and Fay move to Brisbane where they purchased a home at Yeerongpilly, where he still resides. Neville gained employment with McQuillan Transport at Archerfield. McQuillans moved general freight from containers on the wharfs to warehousing. During this time he was involved in an accident while unloading a container from the truck which saw him hospitalised with major injuries that kept him off work for 3 months.

Neville then worked for Pozzolanic Enterprises (now Cement Australia) for almost 23 years as a pneumatic tanker driver. Cement Australia processes and distributes fine grade fly ash and other ash products from coal-fired power stations in Queensland Gladstone, Tarong and Callide. Neville loved the work, although in 2005 a fall from the top of the tanker left him with serious head, shoulder and back injuries, keeping him away from the job for 6 months. He was proud to receive recognition and an award for 15 years accident free driving with Cement Australia.

In 2008 Neville fulfilled a dream of owning his own truck and sub-contracting to Cement Australia. What should have been the happiest time of his life was also the saddest with the sudden passing of his wife Fay in August of that year. Neville continued to run his sub-contracting business with the help of his sister but his heart was no longer in it and he sold the truck after three years. Neville continued to drive for other subcontractors until his retirement in 2015. He drove trucks for 48 years and his son David continues the tradition, driving for Stocktrans Glen Innes.