Peter Redding

Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame in 2021.

Peter Herbert Redding was born in April 1940 in Fulham, England during World War 2. He was an only child. In 1952 the family immigrated to Australia as ten-pound Poms, settling in Geelong, Victoria. When Peter was 19, his parents wanted to move back to England, but Peter only got as far as Sydney before he jumped ship and returned to Geelong.

Peter’s first driving job was in a two-ton Morris Commercial, if you can call that a truck now! He then worked for the State Electricity Commission driving trucks loaded with cranes, loaders and equipment throughout Victoria. In 1964, Peter began driving for Trans West, mainly on the wharves but also doing some tanker work.

In 1970, Peter started working for J.W. Bromage, who only bought Mack trucks and Peter ended up driving a Mack Super Liner. Joe Bromage sold his business in 1987 to I.R. Cootes and Peter stayed on doing tanker work with bitumen all over Victoria. This involved asphalt plant deliveries, roadside work feeding the stayers with bitumen and keeping the bitumen hot where it was used for sealing roads and highways. These were very long workdays. Sometimes Peter did some interstate fuel and LPG deliveries. At the end of his time with Cootes, Peter was driving a Mack Trident.

Retiring in 2005, Peter just could not let go of the steering wheel. He did some casual bitumen work until his Dangerous Goods Licence ran out and then did a bit of work for Klos Brothers in Lara, Victoria where he was nicknamed “Poppa Bear”.

Peter is now 81 years of age and in good health, so he volunteers at the local Aged Care Facility where he drives a 22-seater bus on outings. He also does some casual driving for a private contractor with buses and coaches. He is still active in the Geelong Transport Driver’s Social Club of which he was a founding member in 1974 as well as a past president.  Peter and his wife, Heather, still live in Lara and live an active life.