Lynton Mackenzie
Lynton Mackenzie was raised in an unhappy home in Jeparit and by the age of 16 was off hitchhiking his way to Adelaide. When picked up in a Silver Ghost Kenworth Slimline Rigid that went like a bullet, that's when he knew as much as it terrified him, that he wanted to be a truck driver.
His uncle sub-contracted to Brown & Mitchell and asked a very inexperienced Lynton to drive his Slimline until he got his licence back. With his uncle by his side teaching him the ropes he continued to drive back and forth between Melbourne and Adelaide. It later led to Lynton working for Brown & Mitchell himself driving local around Melbourne until he graduated to interstate at the age of 19. Early 1980s Lynton began working for McCarthy Transport driving an Aerodyne Kenworth and Martloo Transport driving an International Slimline carting grain and general.
At 23 he won five thousand dollars in Tattslotto and purchased a White Road Commander with a 350 Cummins. He began sub-contracting wherever he could, however disaster struck after his first year when his truck loaded with grain caught fire and burnt to the ground. After that Lynton vowed his business was over and would have to quit the industry until diesel mechanic John Jenkins found a complete White road commander cabin at the wreckers. Working 20 hours a day for a month the truck was rebuilt and Lynton was back in business. Soon after he gained major contracts with Tattiara Meat Company, Blue Lake Milling and Angliss Meats and opened his own container park business in early 1990. He won more contracts with Columbus Line and NYK accounts and as the business grew so did the fleet with Lynton owning more than 70 prime movers, over 250 trailers and employing over 300 people, turning over in excess of $80 million dollars a year.
In 1990 Lynton won the Southcorp business contract to warehouse, containerize and pack export wine, so he built a six million dollar facility on the harbour. By mid 2000s Lynton had 12 B-doubles running four trips a day, around the clock out of the Barossa in Adelaide. He formed a joint venture business to export overseas with Hillebrand and together they formed Mackenzie-Hillebrand which was bought out by Qube Logistics in 2011 for a multimillion dollar figure.
Throughout Lynton's 38 years in the transport industry he has always had the support of his loving wife Kay and their three children. Now retired, looking back at where Lynton's journey began to what he has accomplished today is a great testament to what this man has achieved.