Ronald Saville

Inducted into the Shell Rimula Wall of Fame at Reunion 2006.

Ron Saville started off with a war disposal, ex lend-lease Chev.  Today he runs a very diverse operation based in the Sunraysia city of Swan Hill.  Saville Transport operates from Swan Hill with three stock crates and three bulk fuel tankers, operating two Scania T 112 Ms and three Volvo F10s plus 2 G88s.  There is little doubt that Ron has an appreciation for Swedish marques having admired the precision of Swedish products after having, many years earlier, purchased a watch for 27s 6d.

Back in the early days Ron was carting fuel with single-drive, single-axle combinations and as the industry developed he moved up into Internationals with bogie tankers.  He'd also bought a Leyland which he thought was a good little truck and that gave him the idea of buying British.  He then purchased an AEC.  It nearly sent him broke.  Ron replaced them with F86 Volvos and that move woke him up to what the Europeans had to offer.  As the fleet grew, old Volvos were replaced with F10s.  The Saville fleet is hardworking both on fuel and livestock.  The fuel cartage side of Ron's business is the most constant with daily sorties from Shell Newport terminal to Swan Hill, Mildura, Kerang and Sea Lake.

Ron carted wine grapes for many years and was a pioneer in loading with skip bins using hydraulics instead of banana boxes.  He carted stock all over eastern Australia.  He build 3 tri-axle trailers and crates from scratch.  He also carted export hay via the Melbourne docks with the factory being in one of his sheds.  Cohns Bros made soft drinks in Wangaratta and Ron carted the drinks back to their Swan Hill depot, which was also in one of his sheds.  Ron often tells stories of hand-loading bagged salt at Sealake in Victoria and carting it to Hay, NSW with 67 gates to be opened and closed between Balranald and Hay in around 85 miles.  Ron has been part of the transport industry since the days of the old petrol Chevrolets and Internationals.

He carted bagged wheat and salt from the salt mines in Sea Lake to the Rail head at Hay when the roads were still black dirt and gates were used on station boundary fences instead of grids.