Norman Matheson

Norman Matheson, better known as Billy was born in Kerang Victoria on the 11th December 1943 and died on the 23rd June 2001. His mother and sister both drove cattle trucks and general freight which gave him his first taste of truck driving.

Billy was packed off to Geelong when he was 14 to start an apprenticeship as a mechanic at Cowley's and then to Winter & Taylor. When he finished, Billy went back to Kerang and started running the service station with his mother and sister. This is where he became friends with the truck drivers, Ken Nelson, Arthur Nelson and Johnny Pearson.

Billy's first truck was a Bedford and he carted oil and fuel drums from Melbourne to Kerang's BP Depot. He also had a tow truck which kept him quite busy. Billy then bought a White and started carrying fertilizer for HiFert when it started. He also carted grain, tomatoes, gypsum and salt. He would work long hours at the service station and then jump in the truck to do his loads. When they sold the service station in 1990, they concentrated on their trucking business.

He then bought his pride and joy, a brand new Atkinson. He also owned a Mitsubishi, a T-line, a Freightliner and an Isuzu tray truck which was used in their fertilizer, grain and garden supplies business called Matheson's Bulk Freight. This included the trucks, a huge bulk grain shed, bag storage, workshop shed and 25 bilk silos for fertiliser storage.

When Billy got sick he was not able to but could still run the depot up until the day he died in June 2001. He was a truckie through and through and his Atkinson is travelling up and down the road to this day and still going strong.