William Stocks

Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at Reunion 2012.

At the age of seven William (Bill) Stocks told his father, "I wanna be a truck driver and by the time he was 12 years of age Bill was already going on the occasional trip with the local drivers. He purchased his first truck; an old Commer tipper when he was 20 and this was soon followed by an International R190 which he drove from Melbourne to Perth across the paddock (as the Nullarbor was known) for Madgewick Transport. It was not unusual for Bill to be gone for months at a time yet has been married to his wife Margaret for nearly fifty years.

Bill went on to drive the Brisbane run for Sartori's Transport and later to Bunkers where he drove their first-ever new Kenworth. Bill then returned to Sartori driving his own semi-trailer. Bill put a driver on to do the local work and went back driving interstate himself. Bill went on to work for Sartori for the next fifteen years.

Bill then spent nine months subcontracting in his B61 Mack in Geelong, hauling for Austrak, producers of concrete railway sleepers. Within six months Bill upgraded to a 1979 Kenworth and within two years bought a second truck. Sixteen years later, in 2012, Bill is still carting for Austrak currently operating a fleet of six trucks made up of Kenworth K104s and Volvo FL12s.

A forklift accident nearly took his life in 2003 and Bill had to take things a little easier. He only does an occasional trip here and there and usually spends his days fork loading trucks.

One proud achievement that Bill recalls was when he drove one of the longest loads ever to Cairns 40 years ago. Bill recalls that a truck driver back then didn't have the luxuries or the power that trucks have today. Being a truck driver has been Bill's life, even being on the road when his first son, Billy Jnr, was born. Bill met a lot of great people on the road and still keeps in touch with many of his old mates today. He well deserves his place on the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame.