More by accident than design, the fourth issue of ROADBOSS Magazine features some epic yarns highlighting the critical role trucks play in delivering food to the tables of ordinary Australians.
As a keen amateur fisherman and seafood lover, Editor Graham Gardiner jumped at the chance to follow the journey from ocean to plate with one of the country’s leading wild-caught seafood wholesalers and retailers, Mooloolaba Fisheries.
Spending time on the trawler “Learmonth K” off the Queensland coast, what Graham and photographer Sam Thies discovered was that trawlers are akin to trucks on water.
They’re big, require skilled drivers at the wheel capable of handling often challenging operating conditions, and are essentially vehicles for moving freight from A to B.
Delivering fresh wild-caught seafood is simple: catch it as quick as you can, get it in as quick as you can, and process it as quick as you can. Images: Sam Thies
They’re also arguably the most critical player in the complex supply chain that delivers Australia’s world-class wild-caught seafood from the ocean to the processing plant and via a fleet of refrigerated trucks to wholesalers and retailers and ultimately on to your lunch or dinner plate.
From seas to bees, Deputy Editor Harrison Hunkin and snapper Alastair Brook undertook an awesome adventure with leading apiarists, Neil and Brett Bingley, as they ventured out to Western New South Wales with a truck full of hives to find some sweet honey.
One thing they learned is that bees don’t like dark colours and don’t fly after dark, making night the ideal time to transport the winged insects to the golden canola fields!
It makes for an epic yarn with simply stunning imagery.
ROADBOSS ventured out to Western New South Wales with apiarists, Neil and Brett Bingley, and a truck full of hives to find some sweet honey. Images: Alastair Brook
On a sweet nectar of a different kind, Features Writer Steve Brooks headed to Western Australia to catch up with Scott and Regina Harvey of SRH Milk Haulage fame.
It’s a big jump from the rolling farms of eastern Australia to the dairy flats of WA’s south-west, but distance certainly hasn’t fazed Scott and Regina’s horizons.
Yet while the cost on heart and home has been brutally tough at times, nothing has broken the bonds that keep this enduring partnership firing on all cylinders.
As Steve discovered, the partnership has evolved from one truck into a remarkably successful, high-profile business which now boasts close to 200 employees, a fleet of 75 trucks and around 120 Tieman or Byford tankers moving more than one billion litres of milk a year.
On a sweet nectar of a different kind, Steve Brooks headed to WA to catch up with Scott and Regina Harvey of SRH Milk Haulage fame. Images: Alastair Brook
The steady but consistent growth appears at times to astonish both Scott and Regina. “I try not to think about it too hard. It can give me a headache,” Scott laughs.
“There’s no way either of us thought it would ever grow to where it is now.”
Unlike bees, what does fly at night – and day is race car transporters as Harrison Hunkin and photographer Thomas Wielecki found on a 6,000-kilometre round trip with two leading race V8 supercars, hundreds of thousands worth in tools, tyres and equipment all packed into a million-dollar trailer.
With plenty at stake, it’s not the champagne truck driving that many believe it is, but thankfully for Walkinshaw Andretti United, they’ve got their best man Vinnie Borgia behind the wheel on this epic road trip to Townsville with one of the great trucking characters.
Vinnie Borgi takes us on a 6,000km trip with two leading race V8 supercars, hundreds of thousands worth in tools, tyres and equipment packed into a million-dollar trailer. Images: Thomas Wielecki
From cars to the ‘big C’, Steve Brooks shares the deeply personal story of Andrew Burdett of Burdett Sand, Soil & Stone.
When he needs to get a point across, Andrew can be blunt as a brick. And fair enough. After all, shy and retiring types aren’t usually at the helm of a highly successful family business.
Getting a point across has, however, also become a lifesaving passion for the forthright Burdett since a close encounter with the ugly ‘C’ word. Cancer!
Rounding out the issue, ROADBOSS heads to the small northern NSW town of Kyogle. For many trucking folks, Kyogle almost always conjures the name Brown and Hurley.
Getting a point across has, however, also become a lifesaving passion for the forthright Andrew Burdett since a close encounter with the ugly ‘C’ word. Cancer! Images: Alastair Brook
And fair enough, given the history of this remarkable family company, which was founded in the township way back in 1946.
Look a little deeper though and it’s not hard to find similar tales of extraordinary enterprise sown within this proudly true-blue town.
Like just a few hundred metres from the original Brown and Hurley dealership heading towards town, just over the railway bridge, there are the two bustling concrete businesses of the Graham brothers: Graham’s Pre-Cast run by the oldest brother Peter and Graham’s Concrete and Graham’s Quarry operated by younger brother Rod.
From a standing start in 2015 with four people, Graham’s Pre-Cast now has 20 employees and pours between 15 and 20 cubic metres of concrete a day to form water troughs, cattle grids, septic tanks and feed troughs, all in different shapes and sizes.
Kyogle always conjures the name Brown and Hurley. Look a little deeper though and it’s not hard to find similar tales of extraordinary enterprise within this true-blue town. Images: Jonathan Wood
Meanwhile, on the other side of town, there’s a business called Bordin Bros. created by two Italian siblings also looking for a new start after World War II.
Now run by the second generation, the businees has seen turnover increase five-fold in the last 10 years, with the burgeoning steel fabrication enterprise producing cattle yards, steel panels, ramps and crushes, trailers and tray bodies from sites in Kyogle, Lismore and Hatton Vale in Lockyer Valley.
For both businesses, the out-of-the way location has not hampered growth. As an upbeat Peter Graham says: “I’m a big believer that when it comes to productivity, Kyogle has always punched way above its weight.”
From the ROADBOSS team, we hope you enjoy the latest issue of as much as we enjoyed putting it together!
