Neil (Toody) McGlashan

Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at Reunion 2004.
Neil (Toody) McGlashan, born into a transport pioneering family on the 4th of July 1936, was destined, from that day, to play a part in road transport. The youngest of 12 children, he purchased his first truck in 1957, following the lead of his father who had started transporting in the early 1920s.
His brother Stanley carted the first load of fresh produce from Mildura to Melbourne in 1933 driving a new Maple Leaf truck. The 550km journey took 36 gruelling hours over a treacherous track.With this one truck Toody began to build McGlashan's Transport into a business serving all the capital cities around Australia from the Sunraysia region. He hauled dried fruits and packaged wine products. In 1992, Toody purchased the company's first B-double unit and used it to carry export, quality wine for Southcorp Wine from Karadoc to Port Adelaide. In 1995 McGlashan's Transport won a major national tender to warehouse and distribute all the dried fruit packed by Australian Dried Fruit Sales (Sunbeam Foods) for the Australian domestic market. On the first of February 2000 Toody sold his business in a multi-million dollar deal to Alan Scott from the Scott Group of Companies based in Mt Gambier, SA. At the time of the sale McGlashan's Transport had grown to include 19 prime-movers, 12 B-doubles and 35 tautliners. Toody eventually retired but the business continues to thrive and is a testament to how a boy from the Australian bush, who with hard work, sheer determination and a good sense of business acumen, can build a company that meets world-best practice.