Brian Nicolson

Brian Stanley Nicolson was born in Warrnambool, Victoria in November 1947 and grew up to become a truck driver for half a century.

Brian started his career in transport in 1965 at Harry Johnson’s in Warrnambool, doing local deliveries of beer and other goods.  After working there for several years, he went on to drive general freight to Melbourne with Mayne Nickless. Next, Brian started work with Doug Paton in Koroit, doing milk pick-ups from farmers around the district and trips to Leongatha and Rochester.

In the late 1970’s, Brian and his wife, Ann, started their own tip truck, earth moving and trailer cartage business which they operated on Brian’s days off from milk pick-ups.  However, as demand grew Brian gave up the milk carting job with Doug and concentrated on his own business.

Brian started out with one tip truck, an International Transtar. After only a couple of months, the hoist broke and the body tipped off while unloading at a farm at Warrong. The repairs cost $3,000 which was a substantial amount at the time. Brian then upgraded to a 1990 Mercedes Benz 2235 truck, with a two-axle Gorski trailer. He also had a 1989 Ford L800 truck and water tanker tandem drive, which were used to fight various fires around the district. Over time he upgraded to a 2001 Mercedes Benz Actros Truck and three-axle 05 Hamelex trailer, then a 2010 Man 26480 truck ZF fully automatic transmission.

Brian contracted to many south-west Victorian businesses including Boral, Ready Mix CSR at Tarrone, LK Earth Movers, McKinnons at Mount Shadwell, and Haberfields Quarry at Tower Hill. 

In 2012 Brian Stanley Nicolson was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He continued driving trucks after his diagnosis but passed away in October 2017 aged 69.                    Inducted in 2021