Brian Anthony Norton
Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame in 2022.
Brian Anthony Norton was born in Leongatha, Victoria, in November 1933 to a farming family. Leaving school at 14, Brian started work as a mechanic apprentice at a local garage. Each working day, Brian would ride to work and home again on his pushbike, a 20-kilometre round trip. However, instead of finishing his trade qualification, Brian became the first in his family to pursue a career in the transport industry. He began by backing stock crates into the Leongatha sheep yards which were across the road from the Police Station. When he was old enough to get a truck licence, Brian paid a visit to the Police Station. Before handing Brian his licence, the policeman said, “I’ve seen you driving around over there. About time you came and saw me!”
Brian’s first fulltime driving job was for Jock Findlay who gave a lot of young aspiring drivers in the area a start in the industry. Eventually, Brian was able to purchase his own truck, a semi-trailer BMC with which he sub-contracted for Jock, carting general freight locally and cattle to the Dandenong Livestock Exchange. Brian remembers one of his jobs was carting asbestos sheeting for new houses being built in the area. He considers himself to be one of the lucky ones as he is still around to talk about it.
At this time, superphosphate fertilizer could only be freighted through the state by rail and Brian had the job of unloading the ‘super’ at the train siding in Ruby in South Gippsland, Victoria. Once loaded, Brian would travel to local farms and spread the ‘super’ wherever the farmer wanted. When the rules changed, Brian was able to cart the ‘super’ in large bins from the factory in Geelong straight to the farmers. Brian approached a local engineering company with the idea of making a ‘super’ bin with retractable legs, something that was not available on the market at the time. This enabled Brian to lower the legs on a bin and drive the truck out so he could go onto another job, leaving the farmer to spread the ‘super’ in his own time. Brian also purchased a Dodge with a 120 horse power Perkins motor which, he was pleased to note, cut 20 minutes off the trip to Geelong compared to his BMC.
Upon starting work for a local quarry, Brian bought his first tipper, a Bedford with a Leyland 400 horse power engine. This was replaced by a UD truck with a 285 horse power V8 motor when Brian was contracted by the local quarry to spread rock on logging tracks so that machinery and log trucks could access the mountainous forests. This work saw Brian crawling around on the side of mountains making tracks and he soon had a reputation of being able to drive a truck in places that were ‘mission impossible’ to many.
Next, Brian owned and operated a F86 Volvo semi tipper to undertake a contract to cart briquettes out of a Morwell factory to local hospitals for their heating and to milk factories, which needed to produce steam for their pasteurization process.
Brian finally slowed down, making deliveries in a Tautliner for a local trucking company but it took four attempts before he fully retired in 2010 at the age of 80. His career in transport lasted over 60 years, mostly as an owner-operator doing intra-state work. He was a hard worker, always willing to help out anyone in trouble but now Brian is enjoying his well-earned retirement in Ruby.