Hector Sands

Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at Reunion 2009.

(1913 - 1980)

Hector James Sands was born in Echuca, Victoria on the 23rd April, 1913.  Hec purchased his first truck, a Reo in the 1930s and contracted to the Victorian Roads Board.

During WW11, Hector worked for the Defence Department establishing airstrips at the Pt. Cook RAAF Base.  After crossing the Nullarbor by train for a holiday in WA, Hec saw an opportunity for transport of livestock by road.

In 1948 Hec purchased a single-axle, double-decker, strap-trailer to tow behind his Ford prime-mover.  He left Echuca and headed west on unsealed roads, arriving in Northam in Western Australia a week later, where he settled.  It took six weeks for Hec to finally get a load transporting sheep to the Midland Sale Yards for Elders.  This started his transport career in WA.  Hec carted wool bales and super-phosphate under the 'Roster System' of five loads per week, then invested in another truck and carted produce from Carnarvon to Perth and potatoes from Harvey to Adelaide.  In 1954 Hec started carting packaged milk into the wheat belt area of WA.  He purchased a Comet 90 with an insulated box using wet wheat bags and block ice to keep it cold.

In the 1950s Hector Sands signed his first contract with Masters Dairy and purchased a Leyland 110 with a Lister-powered refrigeration unit.  It was luxury after the ice-box.

Carting milk then newspapers, mail and small parcels, meant the need for more trucks and in the 1970s Hec bought his first fleet of D-series Fords to cope with demand.

In 1979 ill-health forced Hec into retirement and his three sons took over and expanded into refrigerated transport.  Hec died on 30th September, 1980, aged 67, and is buried in Northam, WA.

Hec's pioneering values in the transport industry continue through his sons in the family business that is Sands Fridge Lines.