Peter McQuillan

Peter McQuillan was born in Bundaberg in 1949 and raised in Brisbane. He and his wife Jo raised three children, Simon, Katie and Joseph. Peter was close to his brothers David and Mark and in 1969 the three of them started McQuillan Brothers Transport with three small parcel trucks and a small depot in Montague Road, West End, Brisbane.

With their keen business acumen and a series of takeovers of smaller operators, McQuillan Bros soon established a substantial operation in Brisbane. After the 1974 floods the McQuillan Bros moved to Coopers Plains where they ventured in warehousing and container cartage, as well as distribution. This depot was equipped with its own workshop, refuelling station, large office, parking for vehicles and employees car park. Due to strong growth in the warehousing division, Peter and his brothers built a 70,000 sq ft building, later expanding it to 140,000 sq ft of storage. It was the first of its kind in Queensland allowing total warehousing and distribution for clients in the Queensland market.

The McQuillans operated a wide variety of vehicles including Leyland, Mack, Bedford, Leader, Mazda and Datsun trucks along with a large fleet of forklifts. In 1985 Blakistons Ltd of Geelong took over McQuillan Holdings, including all warehousing and distribution. Peter remained with Blakistons until 1987 until he and his wife Jo purchased their own milk franchise expanding into bulk supermarket runs throughout Brisbane, Ipswich and Toowoomba as well as long haul operations and local delivery in Darwin. In that time they also contracted to companies such as Linfox and Toll. After the deregulation of the milk industry in the 2000's, Peter and Jo sold their business and bought a fuel distribution business. They operated it for a few years before it was purchased by its parent company.

Peter then remained a driver for many years until a truck accident claimed his life in October 2015. Peter was loved by his family and friends and all who worked for and with him. He was passionate about the industry and made a huge contribution to road transport. Peter McQuillan well deserves his place on the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame.