Gavin Murphy

E Murphy & Sons is one of the fifty oldest surviving companies in Australia and is the oldest transport company still owned by the direct descendants of the founder.
Edward (Ned) Murphy arrived in Australia in 1842.  He began roadmaking in Footscray in 1858.  The business grew to include removal of waste and nightsoil in horse drawn drays.  When Edward Murphy Snr died in 1909 his wife Margaret ran the business for the next ten years.  A very rare occurrence for the time. The youngest of her ten children, William (Bill), became managing director in 1917.  By this time the Murphys were stabling 386 draught horses and they were acknowledged as the finest in Melbourne town.  Bill, however, was astute enough to know that the horseless carriage was the way of the future and introduced the first motor transport into the Murphy fleet in 1920.It would, however, be 1952 before the last horse was retired.  Bill's son Lindsay saw the business through the post WW11 period.  This was an era that road transport boomed mainly due to the massive availability of vehicles from army disposal sales and hundreds of returned service men with mechanical, logistics, vehicle maintenance and heavy vehicle driving skills seeking work. The Company soon moved into bulk commodity haulage.  His son Lindsay (Junior) took over the business in 1976 but his untimely death in 1991 meant that younger brother Gavin had to step in and take over.  It was Gavin's father, Lindsay, who first realised the importance of their family heritage and began restoring old family vehicles and drays.  The family have followed through with this tradition.  Under Gavin's leadership the business now employs forty people, has over fifty vehicles in the fleet and still does business with clients dating back to 1900.