We indulged in the luxury that a caravan park can provide - power, running water, clean (flushing) toilets and automatic washing machines. The boys swam and worked on their Lego while Bruce undertook some maintenance and I cleaned a mountain of clothes.
Jarrah learnt a valuable financial lesson here. The Stuart Caravan Park had toy camels for sale, identical to the one he had just purchased (out of his birthday money) at Kings Canyon. The caravan park were selling them for $26. Jarrah had paid $44. :-(
After lunch we headed to the National Road Transport (Truckies) Hall of Fame. The Truckies Hall of Fame, the Old Ghan Train Railway Museum and the impressive 11 000 sq ft Kenworth Dealer Truck Museum collectively make up the most comprehensive land transport museum in the southern hemisphere.
As you would expect we saw lots of trucks. Big trucks, little trucks, old trucks, new trucks, red trucks, blue trucks, fire trucks, tow trucks, light trucks, heavy trucks, cattle trucks, box trucks, pick up trucks, flat bed trucks, garbage trucks, haul trucks, cement trucks, refrigerator trucks and log trucks.
More trucks than you could poke a stick at.
Oh and there was plenty of cars, trains, buses, tractors, motor bikes and scooters. The boys thought it was just great, but even their enthusiasm wavered in the 40 degree heat.
The Truckies Hall of Fame's charter is not only to remember the great trucks, buses and vehicles of the past, but to recognise the contribution of the men and women who drove and lived with these great machines of the past. And this was the real reason we were here.
Long time Keysbrook resident and our dear friend Brian Bee was inducted into the Truckies Hall of Fame in 2011.
This is his trucking story...
Brian was 15 when he left school to join his father in a family business from Keysbrook WA, purchasing a 5 ton Thorny Croft Sturdy for the pricey sum of 2300 pounds, in which he did his first of many crossings to Sydney. In 1951 Brian started carting to and from Pt. Cloates whaling station near Exmouth WA. In 1953 the updated to an AEC Monarch. In the dry season he carted manganese from Peak Hill to Meekatharra. In 1953/4 Brian drove for Bell Brothers Earthmoving Watson to Maralinga carting road base and then he moved back to Meekatharra to cart chromite.
In 1956 he ad his wife Lyn moved to Wittenoom where the first two of their six children were born. He carted the asbestos to Pt. Samson for the next two years. In late 1958 they moved down to Perth to start carting general and chilled freight in their new Mercedes L330 to and from Wittenoom.
In January 1966 he started carting cars in his AEC Mandator from Adelaide to Perth, mainly Valliants. The first load was for the Skipper/Jeep dealership in WA.
In late 1966 he packed up the family and moved to Adelaide where for the next 13 years he continued to travel from one side of the island to the other; carting cars and then tyres and conveyor belts for Goodyear from Sydney to Perth and the north west of WA. The return trips were usually Jarrah and Karri Timber from the south west of WA. In the shearing season he would cart wool bales from Arubiddy station near Cocklebiddy to Adelaide over 1000 miles of mainly dirt. In that time he changed trucks, from his AEC to a Volvo F88 then a Volvo G89 and finally he brought a Kenworth K125.
In 1979 he and most of his brood returned to Keysbrook, with Lyn by his side he continued driving interstate. In 1990 Reader’s Digest contacted him and wrote a story about his 1130 crossings of the continent which works out to be quite a few kilometres. In the mid 90s he became a sub-contractor haulier for Boral Transport.
Finally in 2000 he retired from driving to live at Keysbrook and be a farmer for a while. Five of his six children followed in his footsteps and have driven trucks to many destinations around Australia, only one refused to get a truck licence.
Brian passed away in Keysbrook just a few weeks ago. We will miss him dearly.
A true gentleman on the road again!
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