John (Boyd) Sutherland

Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at Reunion 2005.

JA (Boyd) Sutherland commenced his transport career carting wood and skins for his step-father, back in his school days in Tatura, Victoria.
Whilst he was good at his school work and was destined, in his family's eyes, to be a bank manager, his heart was in trucks.  All he wanted to do was drive!  In 1936 Boyd purchased his own vehicle and went into the transport business, something that he would remain in until 1982.  The only break he had from the road came with the outbreak of World War Two, when he was posted to the munitions factory in Bendigo, Victoria.After the war, Boyd moved his family to Kyabram, Victoria, in the heart of the fruit growing area, and became very successful there carrying fresh and canned fruit, wool, and general freight products.  He purchased two Fiat diesels which he found to be inadequate.  He was near bankruptcy before deciding to switch to the smaller Austins which, whilst they were overworked, managed to give a trouble free performance.  After this he purchased many marques such as the Burma Dodge, the first of the Internationals, Albions, and later, Mercedes, Kenworths and Macks.Boyd was joined in the business by his son Fred in 1959 and the business became heavily involved with the Kyabram Preserving Company which continued to blossom until the intervention of Henry Jones IXL when the cannery closed down and the assets sold off.  In true Aussie trucking style other business opportunities were found to replace those which had been lost, and soon the Sutherland's carrying business were moving more freight that before.  Most people in the transport industry from the 1940s through to the 80s would have come across JA (Boyd) Sutherland at some point in time.  Boyd was regarded as one of the industries true gentlemen of the road and is remembered fondly by all who knew him.  Boyd passed away in 1999