John Pierce

John Lambert Pierce was born in Sydney in 1915. John left school at the age of 13 years to take a job as the offsider for the local grocer who was making home deliveries with a horse and cart. This led eventually to truck driving and then to the purchase of his first truck in 1939. John then went on to being employed on civil defence projects during the war.

The post war years saw a building boom which provided the opportunity to grow the business delivering building materials around Sydney's North Shore. John L Pierce Pty Ltd was incorporated in Sydney in 1949 and the continuing growth saw the business incorporate interstate and bulk liquid divisions.

For the 80 years since 1939 the company has progressed from being a fleet of locally operated tippers to an interstate fleet operating through depots in Brisbane, Melbourne, Ravenshoe, Sydney and Toowoomba. The current operation is a tanker fleet with depots in Brisbane, Newcastle and Sydney.

John L was a foundation member of the Long Distance Road Transport Association, an early attempt to bring operators together to improve industry standards. The LDRTA with John's son David Pierce on the committee merged with the NTF to form Natroads, the current industry organisation which John L's grandson John S Pierce has chaired.

John Lambert Pierce died in 2002 but the family owned business is still going strong.