AFTER 50 years mostly behind the wheel, Bob Hayward has reflected on his lifelong passion in the transportation business. At 16 Bob began to take an interest in trucks, which was not surprising as he was the third generation to do so. His grandfather Robert began by carrying vegetables to the Adelaide markets with a horse and dray and then came to Victoria where he bought a fruit farm and began carting to Melbourne in an A-model Ford. When his health broke down his son Louis at 12 became the youngest licenced truck driver in the state. The one stipulation on his licence was that his mum had to travel with him at all times. They carried fruit from Garfield to Melbourne with back loads to the fruit shops in Sale. Lou went on to own a log truck carting out of the forests in Gippsland and then finally after his father died the family moved to Melbourne where he drove for Coulson’s and Oliver Gilpin. Gilpin was the first to operate a major chain store group which totaled 93 stores in Victoria, NSW, and SA. All goods were carried by his fleet of trucks. To drive for Gilpin, you had to be able to rebuild your own motor on the run. They carried spare pistons, rings, and bearings. Back in the 1930s, all road inspectors were contracted by the railways and Lou became the focus of a critical test case brought on by the railways to try to stop Gilpin carting long distances. It ended up in the High Court and had the railways won, it would have shut down all long-distance road transport. Bob still has documentation from that case. Bob began to spend time around the Terry family in Swan St and Ralph would allow him to drive his tipper in and out of the sand and gravel pits. Later he was allowed half an hour every Saturday to learn to back the low-loader around the trees at the Swan St swimming pool. At 18 Graham took Bob to the police station to obtain his articulated licence. That licence is still current 57 years later. After a stint in Vietnam, Bob began to drive interstate with many border companies including Rayron and Ray Kernaghan (Lee’s dad). Bob also drove stock with Finemore’s at Dubbo for two years working up into QLD. In Wangaratta he drove fuel for Frasca’s and Trewin Luck and finally general freight with John Miller. In 1975 Bob married the truck stop owner’s daughter from Mangalore. He and Helen were blessed with Christopher in 1980. Helen’s dad challenged Bob to “get a haircut and a real job” and Bob got his bus licence and drove for Benders and Trans Otway in Geelong; finally returning to interstate trucks in 1977. After Helen died in 1982, he and Chris did many miles together in the trucks. Bob remarried and he and Donna then had Mark in 1984. Bob took time off the road, working for the City of Wangaratta and then to Melbourne to complete a four-year degree. This then took them to Bourke to a huge cotton property which also contained a Christian Outward-Bound School. Bob was made registrar but always looked for every opportunity to get into the big stuff. On the farm he learned to drive graders, dozers, planters, and to plough reasonably straight. He also made friends with local truckies and ended up obtaining a road train licence. At one point this gave him the opportunity to drive Kevin Bowden’s Mack road train on stock. He also drove for Mansell’s on seasonal fruit express to capital city markets taking Mark on many trips. Another opportunity given to Bob was to become a part-time radio broadcaster for six years on Outback Radio 2WEB. He put together a truck-related show known as Truck N Trac. Bob did over 600 interviews with legends such as Slim Dusty, Lee Kernaghan, and many other industry figures. It also gave him and his best mate Andrew Aichison the opening to attempt for a Guinness Book record for the world’s longest road train. In 1994 Kevin Bowden’s Mack towed 29 stock trailers into town. Bob and son Mark were on board the Mack and the record was published in the 1995 Guinness Book. Upon return to Wangaratta in 1998 Bob began driving buses for the Cullen family. During this time, he was one of two dedicated coaches transporting the Russian supporters for 22 days at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and then in 2008 for the Catholic Pope’s visit. He also moved the Kosovo and East Timorese refugees with Cullen’s double decker coach during Australia’s humanitarian efforts. Just before Brock Fallon took over Cullen’s Bob teamed up with his wife for eight years to drive the Specialist School bus on the Moyhu run. Bob is also proud to have trained three women to drive which included his wife, Donna. Then finally on the 2 March this year, Bob drove a coach up to the Mountain View Hotel at Whitfield to celebrate 50 years of bus work as well as son Chris’ 45th birthday. Chris now carries on the family tradition of trucking as a fuel tanker driver. Whilst he is a qualified electrician the pull of the road has seen him driving B-Doubles for well over 10 years. He currently drives a Kenworth for Maxi-Tankers and Bob reckons Chris is the best double backer he has ever seen. Due to health reasons Bob is now quietly releasing himself from a lifetime of transport work and service to the community which has seen no regrets whatsoever.
