Gary White

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

Gary James White and his wife Kathy are truly an inspirational trucking couple.  Gary first started his driving career in far north Queensland when there were few public roads and even less sealed ones.  It was dusty or boggy!

Since then he has driven big rigs for 40 years, many on the unmade dirt roads of the harsh outback.

Gary's first position was with the well-known Holzheimer family.  Gary is a kind-hearted person renown for helping people who were broken down, bogged or hurt on the outback roads.  His trips included Weipa, Arakune, and Bamaga in the far north, all on dirt roads handling monsoonal conditions during the wet season.  He'd often have to dig his way out with a shovel, cut down trees and push through flooded creeks to keep going.  And then, it meant heat; dust, flies and seemingly endless corrugations during the 'dry' season.  He was often away from home, sometimes for up to two months at a time depending on the conditions.  The legends of Gary's exploits in this harsh untamed area of Australia, often referred to as the last frontier, are known all over the world.  He had a story researched and written about him, by an American reporter that was printed in the National Geographic adventure magazine and released in America and Australia.  The story was titled, 'The Toughest Trucker in the World.

Gary is still travelling the roads.  These days he carts fuel for Lewington Transport from Brisbane to Glen Inness, Inverell and Armidale.  It's a bit easier on the bitumen roads and Gary has a bit more time for leisure.  Instead of taking up a hobby, Gary now helps his wife Kathy with the Lights On The Hill truckies' memorial in Gatton, QLD.

Kathy White is the founder and the back bone behind the Lights On The Hill Truck and Coach Drivers Memorial Wall in Gatton.  She was inducted in 2010.  As well as supporting her husband through his many years of outback driving and raising her family, Kathy has spent the past six years as a volunteer on the committee for the Memorial Wall working tirelessly from her home to ensure the Wall became a reality.  The Memorial Wall, along with its Memorial Convoy and Memorial Day event provide a haven for transport industry families to go and remember their deceased loved ones in a safe and nurturing place.  Kathy's dedication has seen her become a finalist in the ATA Transport Woman of the Year, in 2009, winner of the Awarded QTA Industry Recognition Award and for Lights of the Hill two Australia Day Certificates and four Australia Day Certificate of Achievements awards.  Kathy is proud of the fact that her dream all began from the passing of a great family friend.  Gary and Kathy have two daughters, Dionne and Tracy, who are rightly proud of their efforts.