William (Will) Shaw

Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at Reunion 2007.

When young William was sent to Australia in 1974 to learn about life away from the comfort of the North Yorkshire countryside, no-one envisaged the impact he would have on transport in Australia. Least of all William!

The plan was for him to spend a year jackarooing before returning home to resume studies at agricultural college to prepare him to take over the family farm. Young Will returned but yearned for the Down Under lifestyle. He came back to Australia in 1979.

Will's return saw him working in the small town of Premer in central NSW, near Tamworth. He worked for Clyde Purkiss in Premer, driving trucks that carted wool, grain, stock and blue metal. His first truck was a cab-over Kenworth powered by a two-stroke Detroit. He worked as a tow operator for several businesses including Roadmaster Haulage, before getting his first roadtrain job, with Turners Transport, hauling pipes to Blackwater in Queensland's Bowen Basin and by 1981 he was subbying with TNT carting to Darwin. He soon expanded his fleet to six units.

In 1986 he decided to build his own client base. One of his first customers was BHP for whom he moved around 100 tonnes of steel a week. Will bought his first chiller trailers in 1991 to haul melons from the Ord River irrigation area in Western Australia. Today, the Shaw's name is synonymous with roadtrains. He operates 37 prime-movers and 100 trailers on the longest line-haul routes in Australia.

Will lives in Sydney with his wife, Carole, and daughter, Isabel. He regularly travels back to England to oversee the wheat harvest on the family property. Despite the constant pressure of operating a large transport company, Will still manages to get behind the wheel every now and again and often sets off for what he calls a quick lap around the island. His commitment to providing industry-leading customer service has been the foundation of his success in the Australian trucking industry.