Kevin McAuliffe
Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame in 2021.
Kevin John McAuliffe, known as ‘Macca’ was born in Ballarat, Victoria in 1946. Kevin's first job in transport was driving a 10-ton tipper for Ballarat Metals.
Kevin, his wife, Carol, and three children moved to Horsham, Victoria, in 1974 when he became manager of Lempriere Metals. After a couple of years Kevin started driving for Brennan's Transport in Horsham before buying a Ford LNT with a 32 Alcon Tipper from Bill Brennan. After that, Kevin purchased a brand new LNT Ford with a 30 inch high-rise sleeper which was painted in a colour scheme which became the company colours. Another new Ford LTL was purchased in the mid 1980’s and Kevin stayed with the LTL’s through into the late 1990’s. It was then that Kevin purchased his first Western Star with a 550 Cat E-motor, painted in the company colours. In 2008 Kevin purchased a Kenworth T904 with a 550 Cat motor. Kevin has always pulled single and B double tippers.
The McAuliffe family business grew when Kevin’s two sons, Richard and Jamie, joined him on the road. They travelled from Victoria to South Australia, Western Australia, Queensland and New South Wales carting bulk grain, fertilizer and gravel. Kevin showed his sons that hard work pays off in the long run. He taught the boys to always look after their vehicle - to keep it serviced, clean and maintained which they have done admirably. Kevin has won numerous awards for his well presented truck, including ‘Rig of the Month’ in 1986; ‘Rig of the Show’ at Pimpinio and ‘Best Truck’ a number of times with his Kenworth T904 at the Heywood Truck Shows in Victoria.
One of Kevin’s most memorable loads was a tipper full of grain with bales of hay loaded on top. The hay was to go to Bombala in Victoria so Kevin had to carefully plan his trip route in order to avoid all the low overhead bridges in Melbourne as the load was so high.
Currently, Kevin is still rolling the wheels along the highway in his Kenworth T904 and B-Double, his pride and joy.