Primo “Peter” Martignago
Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame in 2022.
Primo Martignago, known as Peter, was born in Postino, Italy in October, 1945 and came to Australia with his family when he was eight years old. The family settled in Horsley Park, New South Wales, where Primo still lives today.
Driving trucks was all Primo ever wanted to do and he obtained his licence as soon as he was able. Primo’s brother-in-law, who had a cement business in Horsley Park, purchased a truck for Primo to cart general freight and one of his first trips was from Sydney across the Nullarbor Plain to Perth. It would take some four weeks to do a return trip and sometimes he would detour to Adelaide, South Australia, pick up a load of steel and head west again before returning home. Primo tells stories of the dirt roads and a salami which he kept under his seat. It was covered in dust but he eventually ate it when he had no food or money left while out on the road!
For the next decade, Primo worked for different companies driving interstate runs as well as tipper work across the state. He drove various makes of trucks from International, White, and an E.R.F to Mercedes Benz, Mack and Kenworth prime movers.
In 1974 Primo became an owner driver, purchasing a cab-over Kenworth. Although based in Horsley Park, he started pulling a freezer van out of Buronga, near Mildura on the River Murray, carting to Brisbane, Sydney and Adelaide and returning to Renmark, in the South Australian Riverland, to haul wine tankers bound for Griffith and Sydney. Primo’s two brothers worked for him for a while so Primo also bought a tipper for grain cartage in central New South Wales.
Primo went on to cart clay from Mudgee in New South Wales down to Melbourne, Victoria and loaded a different type of clay out of Bendigo to transport to Sydney where it was used to make porcelain wash basins and bath tubs.
After many years of doing this type of work, Primo ventured into the heavy haulage industry, in which he has now worked for over 30 years. He has done a lot of work for Transfield and John Holland, carting heavy equipment across Australia. Primo’s fleet currently works very closely with Lampson’s Cranes, based in Newcastle, New South Wales. Using the push and pull method, the trucks transport large cranes that weigh hundreds of tonnes. Of course, one of the downsides of this work is obtaining all the permits required to shift such big loads!
Primo’s whole family works in the business, PATR Transport Pty Ltd, from his daughter in the office and his sons as drivers to a cousin as a mechanic. Over the years, Primo has purchased escort vehicles, floats, platform and extendable trailers and drop decks to handle all the equipment they shift. The fleet currently has four Kenworth prime movers and some 16 trailers.
Nudging 77 years of age, Primo is still driving his C501, doing whatever work comes his way, be it a large job or small. Although he now relies on his sons to do a lot of the bigger shifts and jobs that require greater physical activity, Primo has no plans to fully retire.