Consider me officially blown away. Wow.
I guess those two sentences are a pretty abstract way to start a truck show summation, but allow me to expand and expound on those six words. I am lucky enough to get to a lot of truck shows. A lot. I am lucky enough to get to a lot of truck shows repeatedly. The ones I often return to are shows that I have really enjoyed and the readers of this publication love to experience with me.
On my return visits I am rarely disappointed. Shows that are well run and are well represented tend to stick to their winning ways and keep that high level of performance. One of those shows that is always on my repeat cycle is the WA Mack Muster and Truck Show. The bi-annual event has always been one of my favourites – a good cause, good people, good location and great trucks. Hence, I was happy to make the 4,500km journey over from Brisbane once again.
This year, however, the hard-working volunteers that organise and run this show didn’t just maintain a good show, they lifted their game. There was no ‘one thing’ that elevated the show itself – it was a cumulative effect of multiple little things that really made the 2026 WA Mack Muster and Truck Show the best yet. I guess my job now is to try and explain, because I finished the day with those six words I started this story with – consider me officially blown away. Wow
Before we get to the show, let’s look at two things that haven’t changed – the why and the where. The motivation behind the WA Mack Muster and Truck Show is fundraising. Fundraising for the Harry Perkins Institute for Medical Research, an institution dedicated to cutting edge cancer research and on a mission to make cancer a non-lethal disease. It is hard to find anyone not affected either directly or indirectly by cancer, so it is a cause we can all get behind. In 2020, the first year the WA Mack Muster ran, it raised funds for the Harry Perkins Institute and raised over $100,000. In 2022 they more than doubled that at around $250,000 and then two years ago in 2024 they doubled that again with a total just over $500,000. This year the committee, with the aid of some incredible sponsors, aim to surpass the record 2024 total and while the figures are still to roll in, it seems like a pretty achievable goal.
As for the where – Quarry Farms, Whitby, WA. Every two years this incredible wedding and event venue transforms into a Mecca for machinery and this year more doors and parking were opened up to this event. Located just outside Perth, it is an amazing location, aside from the fact that as I age, the walk-up Mack Alley seems to steepen. There is a huge pavilion at the top of Mack Alley and plenty of parking for trucks, stalls, the DJ stage and, most importantly, the bar. The hill leading to the pavilion is the general truck parking area and all up the place comfortably fits the 400 odd trucks on display, with the road train and second entertainment area located at the bottom of the hill. You can survive without walking up to the top, but you’ll miss some cool trucks.
That’s the why and where, let’s look at the how. The WA Mack Muster and Truck Show is a single Sunday event that works over several days. Yes, I realise the hypocrisy of that statement, but we are in Western Australia, so it works. Staging up for the event normally begins on the Friday, but this year it started even earlier. That is because a new addition to this year’s show was the Road Train area near the car parking allocation. There were several remarkable road train displays set up to give the public a closer look at these gigantic combinations that operate on and off WA roads, capped at the end by two gigantic MGM Bulk quad tipper set ups. You would almost knock over your 10,000-step limit just checking out those two set-ups. Tippers, belly dumpers, even stock trucks. There was a road train for every inclination.
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One of the major fundraising events tied to the Sunday show is the Friday Night Gala dinner. It is where everyone gets suited and booted, dines out on incredible food, shares a few bevvies and then opens their wallets for the charity auction at the end of the evening. Obviously struggling journos like me are there just for the free food and drink, but it is nice to watch some of the biggest names in WA transport getting out and supporting a good cause. What made this Gala Dinner even more impressive was the incredible donation from Mack Trucks Australia of a 2025 780HP Big Bunk Mack Super-Liner. The auction was broadcast live across Australia via Smith Broughton Auctioneers webcast and the big Super-Liner, with it’s 70’ bunk and MP11 top of the line motor, went for a staggering $615,000, all of which goes directly to the Harry Perkins Institute for Medical Research.
It is also worth noting the enormous generosity from the Western Australian operators at the other end of the scale, literally. Bruce from Drake Collectibles was on hand to offer the latest in his incredible Bicentennial Mack Model collection, auctioning off the first ‘Ned Kelly’ diecast model, as well as Ben Hall and John Stuart models. Ned Kelly went for an incredible $17,000, with the three of them in total raising $27,000.
Saturday at Quarry Farm is a chance for us dogged truck nuts just to sit back and watch everyone start to roll in. As the sun passed over, Mack Alley began to fill up and up at the top, Kenworth Corner started to stretch around to Kenworth Avenue. A vast array of food vans and entertainment began to park up, and my keen eye was already detecting a massive step up in the size of the day coming.
Sunday morning, I was out of bed before the local Midland drunks had even cleared the pub’s steps and I rocked up to Quarry Farm nice and early, in part to ensure I got a parking spot close to save me lugging my gear up and down through the show and also in part to beat out the remaining trucks that would make up the 400 entrants at this year’s event. I got the park but didn’t beat the trucks. Mack Alley was bulging and Kenworth Avenue was stacked with Stacks.
By the time the gates opened at 10am for the public, the last remaining spots on the Quarry Farm hill were packed and the car park was chockas. I heard tales told of kilometres of traffic in both directions waiting to get into the carpark – the local support was incredible.
Let’s discuss the show now. What they have always done well at this event, and what they have stepped up again with this year, is the immersive nature of the event – not just from the number of truckies hanging around showing people their rides and explaining their roles, but also the activities for the families and kids. Up in the pavilion you have one room set up with an elaborate remote control truck display – bridges, building and even construction sights. For the first time this year, there was also a static model display in one of the other rooms and that was a huge winner for me. The skill of those model builders was incredible. Up the top end of the show, they still have the kids’ corner where there was every imaginable distraction on hand for the future truckies of the world. There were also plenty of food options available up that end as well. I can vouch for the dumplings and the handmade pizza, although it was quite the wait.
The walk down the hill is always easier than the trudge back up, but in order to appreciate all of the trucks you do spend a fair bit of the day walking up and down the aisles. There is tremendous support from both the large WA companies and many of the small independent operators as well. There is a great mix of modern Macks and Kenworth, Volvos, Stars, Scanias and Mercedes. In fact, when you couple in the impressive historic truck section of this event, it is hard to pick a manufacturer that wasn’t represented.
Once you got through the truck watching, you end up back down the bottom of the hill, where the committee once again have fronted up with endless entertainment and consumables. They even had a huge screen playing the AFL live so the parents could watch that while they sent the kids off to one of the many rides and games available. There were sponsors displays and stalls spread appropriately throughout the entire area, and you were never short of something to see or someone to talk to.
Another advantage of having the hill to walk up is when you are up there, you get an appreciative view of not just the show, but the support the show has from the Western Australian public. The car parks were full and there were lines of traffic waiting to get in. There were throngs and throngs of spectators throughout the grounds, from truck spotters and historians to countless families with sugared-up offspring in awe of the trucks and treats.
The photos will tell you more than I can at the moment. I am sitting at my gate waiting on the big tin taxi home, still smiling after my latest WA experience. If you check out their website, you will see the WA Mack Muster and Truck Show with the self-proclaimed ‘Western Australia’s Premier Truck Show’ moniker. It is a deserved title, and they really have stepped it up another notch. Plenty of extremely high-quality trucks. Awesome participation and representations from the Historic Truck Club, the Remote-Control model club and the static model club. A non-stop DJ that kept everyone on their toes. Enough interactive family activities meaning the kids never had a chance to get bored. They were smart with added shade and shelter from the blistering Perth sun. There were static truck displays and recruitment stands from a mix of different companies. Food choices were many and varied and of course the bar was fully stocked with all the right libations.
By the end of the day, I’d racked up nearly 30,000 steps and all of them with a huge smile. Full credit to all of those that put this event together. It is a fantastic cause and a fantastic show. As I anticipate how they will up the ante again in 2028, I shall finish with the same sentiment I started with.
Wow.
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