Diane Meaney

Diane Meaney (nee Hart) was born on 14th May 1942, and grew up in Two Wells where her parents ran Hart Motors, a Ford dealership and garage. Driving has always been a part of her life and early on included entering rallies as well as taking a trip to Darwin in 1962 with her brother Peter in a 1954 Ford Zephyr.

In 1968, Diane married Malcolm Meaney and began her 43 years in road transport as an owner/operator. She first started driving a Ford F600 delivering fuel for Ampol in 1968 after Malcolm lost sight in one eye in an accident and she kept the business going while he recovered. Diane's favourite truck was the 2638 Benz, but she also drove the V10 Benz, later known as The Old Girl.

While raising their three children, Diane managed to fit in seasonal grain carting, running single trailers to Jamestown to hook up roadtrains, and carted bore casing for 11 years along the Strzelecki Track to Moomba Oil and Gas Fields for Santos. A couple of trips were even made padded with pillows whilst pregnant, and she was also known to have breast fed her daughter while driving a roadtrain along the Strzelecki!

One memorable moment while Di and Malc were taking a load of railway iron from Paringa South Australia to Tully in Queensland up a steep incline, Di lost her forward momentum and stopped. She couldn't get going again, so Malc behind her, and now stopped too, ran up and got the truck going while Di sat on his lap. He then slid out and followed her up the hill. She said it was a very tense moment!

Diane is respected by all for her friendly, easy going nature and her determined driving ability. She always kept her femininity whilst driving and was often called Lady Di.

Di continued to run the Meaney Transport business after Malc's death in 2005, doing mainly local grain carting, before reluctantly closing the business in 2011.

Di now occasionally helps her son Daniel in his trucking business and is sought after as a public speaker talking about her trucking adventures over the last 43 years.