The roar of diesel-powered trucks of various makes and models broke the serene ambience of the northern New South Wales town of Mullumbimby on November 9. The occasion? The running of the Mullumbimby Truck Show. As in previous years, the not-for-profit truck event was held in conjunction with the annual Mullumbimby Agricultural Show, the trucks being a vital part of the three-day rural show.
However, unlike similar truck shows around the nation, local organisers are happy to keep truck numbers within a manageable range.
“We normally get about 80 to 90 trucks,” says Mark Ward, owner of Wards Truck and Machinery Centre at nearby Tyagarah. “Ninety is good for us; it’s a good crowd.”
Mark and his wife Nikki have been organising the truck show since its inception in 2009. Mark, a former interstate truck driver, had originally planned to hold the inaugural event at the local rugby league club. However, the Ag Show committee saw the trucks as a way to add value to the annual three-day event, persuading Mark to join in on the festivities.
“The industry was having a bit of a bad name back then, these local people didn’t know anything about trucks and I wanted to show them up close how big a truck was to create a bit of truck awareness,” Mark says.
There was plenty of opportunity for the general public to view the big bangers at close range at the showgrounds. Earlier that day, the truck show participants gathered at Mullumbimby’s industrial area on the town’s east side, registering the trucks while enjoying a bacon and eggs breakfast put on by Mark and Nikki. Right on 11am, the truck convoy wound its way through the town’s streets to the showgrounds.
Typically, the Kenworth brand made up the majority of entries, although one could be mistaken in thinking that the Mullumbimby Truck Show was a reunion of Brown & Hurley customers, especially from the Kyogle dealership. For regular attendee Carl Bursle, that connection holds extra significance.
Carl drove his K200 to the show from Lismore, the truck categorised by the large banner on the grill commemorating his father John Bursle. John passed away from bowel cancer 15 years ago after a long career sub-contracting to TNT.
“Dad originally came from Kyogle and went to school with Jim Hurley,” Carl says. Hence, just like his father, the truck of choice was always going to be Kenworth.
But when questioned about the prospect of an easier drive south for him and the K200 once the Hexham and Coffs Harbour bypasses are complete, Carl had a word of warning.
“The worse thing with that is they’ll want us to go AB-triples,” he says. “They’ll want an extra A-trailer on.
“We’ve got B-doubles now but once we put an A-trailer in front of you, you’ll have an AB-triple when Coffs Harbour and the Hexham Bridge are done, so blokes will probably lose jobs because you’re getting another A-trailer. None of the depots are big enough.”
A one-truck owner, Carl bought the K200 two and half years ago for his nightly runs between Brisbane and Sydney. Even then, he was planning ahead.
“When I picked this up, I got Drew Anderson at Kyogle to order another one for me. It’s getting done up now,” he says.
“I’ve got this one sold; I’ve got five blokes chasing it now.”
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Carl’s Kenworth cab-over wasn’t the only K-model in town by a long shot. Jeff Campbell, who was born and bred in Mullumbimby, rolled up in one of AJ Flynn’s K200s, one of seven in the company’s fleet. A former interstate driver, including a stint with Shoobridge Transport, Jeff now confines himself to local runs from Lismore to Brisbane and back. However, despite the K200 looking the goods, he wasn’t overly concerned about winning a Mullumbimby trophy, mostly due to his young passengers in tow – nephews Harvey, aged 4, and Hughie, 3.
“Their grandfather is Mark Ward. My sister married Mark’s son Mitch, so if we win an award later on, don’t think it’s pre-organised,” he says.
Jeff is another unashamed Kenworth devotee, although he drove a Scania for Shoobridge in his interstate years.
“I’ve been at Flynn’s for about two-and-a-half years. But back when I was 19 and 20, I started with Tony Flynn, Andy’s brother. It was the other Flynn Transport with the fridge vans that went bust,” he says.
“That’s where I got my start, so it feels like I’m home again.”
The Kenworth numbers were boosted further with Joe Booth Transport, who won the Best Fleet trophy, edging out Shoobridge Transport with its mixed makes. Hardy’s Haulage, with its fleet of Kenworths, was another worthy contender in that category. Hardy’s long-term driver Graeme Russell, who regularly pilots a T610 SAR for the Pottsville-based business, says work commitments usually take precedence over attending truck shows.
“We’re always busy, always working, but we were lucky when everyone got into the yard yesterday where the trucks are all kept in good condition,” Graeme says.
“Everything is in really top nick.”
That’s somewhat surprising because Graeme points out that many of the trucks run on dirt and out in the bush.
“We do tippers in Queensland, NSW and Victoria,” he says. “I run mainly down south, across to Adelaide and down to Melbourne.”
Hardys celebrated its 50-year anniversary in 2020, and it has continued to buy its Kenworths through – you guessed it – Brown & Hurley, Kyogle.
Local representation
It wasn’t all Kenworths, though, as other truck makes managed to snare plenty of interest throughout the day. Mullumbimby Reliable Removals, with its fleet of Scanias, flew the flag for the local transport industry. Adam McKenzie, along with fellow co-owner Chris Mott, have operated the business for the past 18 years.
“It used to be Stan Robinson Removals, which was around 60 or 70 years before us,” Adam says.
“Every week we’re either in Melbourne or Sydney, or once a month in Cairns.”
With most of their customers intent on moving north to swap the rat race for greener pastures in northern NSW and Queensland, Adam says lately he’s noticed a reversal of that trend.
“We moved a lot up in COVID time, we were real busy out of Victoria, but now it’s funny, we’re moving a few back to Melbourne,” he says.
The heat perhaps? “It does knock them around,” Adam laughs.
Elsewhere, Tony Armstrong, a regular at Mullumbimby since its early years, drove a Mack Trident to the show. Owned by earthmoving outfit J & M Bashforth & Son, the Trident boasts a 535hp Mack MP8 engine.
“I think I’ve been coming here since 2010. I put my old Trident in then and it won, but there weren’t may tippers in that year,” Tony says.
Bashforths operates almost all Macks, with one sole Scania in its fleet.
“I drove mostly just local, just tipper work and landscaping supplies, but we do a bit of stuff out of Bribie Island,” Tony says.
At the other end of the tipper scale, young Blake Wheatley drove his Kenworth T350 down from Bilambil near Tweed Heads. In his first appearance at Mullumbimby as a driver, Blake was proudly there with his father, Rob Wheatley, who entered a T604 in the show.
“Dad’s always had trucks, that’s why I’m into it,” Blake says. “I live and breathe trucks. You grow up with it and it’s in your blood; there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Still on his P plates, Blake is slowly building up a customer base, despite being currently limited to a rigid licence.
“I’m still on green Ps on my car, so I’ve got to wear it until I get my full car licence,” he says.
A 2007 model with 60,000km on the clock, Blake explains that the T350 was originally sent to Japan to operate as a fuel truck.
“Someone brought it back here and it’s been used as a yard truck in Brisbane ever since, and that’s how we got it,” he explains.
Since purchasing the Kenworth, Blake has added niceties such as square tanks, stainless rims and carbon fibre front springs. That work was completed just two weeks before the Mullumbimby show.
The T350 wasn’t the smallest truck at the show by any means. Not including a mini-Mercedes-Benz that took part in the convoy, vintage Macks and Internationals harked back to a bygone era of Australia’s road transport industry. Also looking dwarfed by the presence of big prime movers, a couple of Japanese trucks from Frank Vanz Lismore Tyre Company shone through with one of its Isuzus winning the Best Light Rigid trophy.
OwnerDriver caught up with Fredie Vanz, who was behind the wheel of a company-owned Hino 300 with his wife Kahlia and niece Lila in the passenger seats. Sadly, as Fredie explains, his dad Frank Vanz passed away eight months previous.
“Dad’s been coming here for years,” Fredie says. “That’s my mum and dad on the side of the truck,” pointing to the livery on the Hino’s van.
“I thought I’d come up this year because we got this new truck, the Hino 300. It’s like a little go-kart, a good truck to drive around in.”
As well as the local area participation, truck and drivers also arrived from south-east Queensland and from points further south. One such driver, Chris Kerrigan, drove a Cromack Transport FH Volvo up from Grafton in a sort of homecoming.
“I’ve been living down there for 20 years now,” Chris says. “I grew up in Byron Bay and went to high school there. Byron Bay was a nice town then.”
Chris’ plans for the day were to catch up with mates, have a couple of beers, stay the night and head back on the Sunday morning.
Crowd pleaser
A little closer to home, Chris McSweeney brought his 2008 Western Star 4900 down from Casino. With the Star recently being refurbished, he thought Mullumbimby was a great opportunity to show it off.
“It’s had a paint job, a new 14-litre Series 60 Detroit, and lots of lights,” Chris says.
But it was the truck’s ‘convoy’ number plates that attracted extra interest.
“They were originally on a Freightliner, bought for the Convoy for Kids in Brisbane,” he says.
Chris spent the previous day washing the truck, although a sprinkle of rain on the drive from Casino meant a further touch-up on the morning of the show. However, despite winning the Crowd Pleaser award at the show, Chris’ Western Star and the other contenders ultimately lost out to Abood’s Crane Trucks 50th Anniversary Kenworth SAR Legend for the coveted Truck of the Show trophy. The company’s founder, Tony Abood, has been based at Tweed Heads since 1988, moving up from Sydney where he had worked for his father, Cedric Abood. Tony ordered the Legend in 2021, but only picked it up in March this year from Brown & Hurley, not from Kyogle, but from the Yatala dealership between Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
“It’s been a long-winded project,” he says, adding that the initial delay was due to COVID.
“They couldn’t get parts and a lot of people had big orders, so when you only order one you go back to the end of the queue a bit.”
Despite the delay, Tony was delighted when he picked the truck up from Yatala.
“Kev Hurley came up from Kyogle to hand over the keys, which was a bit of an honour,” he says. “I’ve been buying trucks off them for over 30 years now.”
It was Tony’s second Mullumbimby Truck Show, bringing along a T410 as well as the Legend. But with the prized trophy now on his mantlepiece, he’s almost certain to be back to the charity fundraising event next year.
As Mark Ward explains, monies raised at the truck show cover costs as well as making donations to various local worthy causes.
“What we make out of the nominations, we buy trophies for the trucks,” he says.
He also runs a separate bar for the truckies and their families, with the keg beer raising money for the truck show and the packaged beer sales going to the Ag Show, of which Mark is also president.
“The money out of the keg beer we split into three or four different charities – Marine Rescue Helicopter, the Brunswick Surf Club who also run the bar, and Our Kids in Lismore which looks after sick kids,” he says.
“We give them some money, but not every year. We try and work it out to whoever needs it. At the end of the day, no-one makes a dollar. We start with nothing and we end up with nothing.
“The show doesn’t see any of that money. That’s how I like it because I catch up with all these guys, have a few beers and give them another serve of bacon and eggs in the morning. When you can see what the effort that these guys put in, it makes it all worthwhile.”
The Mullumbimby Truck Show is a unique event and it’s back in 2025 at its regular date of the second Saturday in November. See you there!
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