Francis Wallace

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

All Francis Wallace wanted when he was a boy growing up in the small Victorian town of Patchewollock was to have his name on the side of a truck.   He achieved this when he was 21 in 1968.  Frank was then living in the Bayswater area.

The first truck was bought in early 1968 and was a green Bedford, 1964 J Model 4 to 5 ton.  It was bought from Patterson-Cheny in Dandenong.  This truck delivered Marchants soft drinks to local shops in Melbourne.

Frank, as he preferred to be called, was the first interstate driver for Colin Clark.  In late 1970 Frank bought a Ford F250 freezer truck from Ray Greenway and Colin Clark (Clark and Greenways Transport).  He worked this delivering frozen chickens locally.  In 1972 this truck was sold and he went back on the interstate driving for Clark and Greenways delivering frozen foods.  He then purchased a few trucks throughout the years including a D-line 1830, a 1972 International tipper C 1840 International and in 1973 a 1966 J4-5 ton cream Bedford to deliver plasterboard around the local area for his brother Fred and other local plasterers.

In 1979 the family moved to Wandin Nth. And a year later he sold the plaster truck business.  Frank ran the workshop for Eastern Mack Truck Sales in Dandenong for two years before buying another Volvo G89 semi.  He worked theses two trucks with Greenways Transport, running to Mildura delivering frozen food.  The years saw more Volvos added to the fleet and Frank's sons, Tony and Glen, doing the driving.

It was a busy few years.  Swan Hill mini-buses were purchased from Gregory Bus Lines, a Ford LNT 9000 was bought to pull a flat-top trailer.  Frank bought an R model Mack which he worked LBT.  This was the last truck sold in early 1995.  In May 1995 Frank started work at Lake Boga Transport (now Pickerings) in the workshop.  Francis was the technical/workshop manager responsible for 450 pieces of plant and equipment.

Today he has been with the Pickering Group for 15 years, working on a part-time basis as a company representative.

He now lives in Mildura having served his industry well.