William ‘Bill’ Harney was born on 1st March 1949 in Tatura
Victoria. Growing up on a farm, there were plenty of opportunities to drive vehicles. In 1959, age 10, Bill’s father asked him to drive their 1943 Chevrolet truck in the paddocks while he carted hay.
His first encounter with the police was in 1962 when he was only 14 years old. His father had asked him to drive the truck from their farm to where he was share farming. Along the way, he gave way to the local police car, thankfully he was not pulled over or fined! Not long after, the copper remarked to his father in the local pub that “he was a hard bugger to work his kid that hard!”
In 1969, Bill was driving Internationals and Mercedes full-time for a local carrier to Adelaide. On one ‘routine’ trip, he popped the front wheel brake cylinder and lost all breaking mechanisms – this made him the first person to use the safety ramp in the Adelaide Hills.
Bill married his wife Kate in 1973 and made the move to Stawell where they commenced a business partnerhip ‘Mornane and
Harney’. During this time, Bill was driving long distance from
Stawell to Adelaide. Sadly, this partnership dissolved, but he bought a new G88 Volvo and obtained a trailer from the
settlement.
Over the following years, Bill took on more long distance driving, completing Melbourne to Adelaide round trips. To break up the monotony, he would throw in some trips to Brisbane, Sydney or wide loads to Perth.
In 1990, Bill and Kate purchased Stawell Haulage, which has since been changed to Stawell Freighters, receiving three major forms of work; Seppelts, ACI Glass and Adelaide Brighton Cement. Three prime movers, five trailers and a forklift formed the fleet for their new business. During the early 90s, they picked up a great team of drivers, some who are still with them. In 1991, they picjed up
Discount Freight Express, which is now known as Star Track
Express. They also picked up TNT in 2003, now FedEx
Distribution.
In 2014, Stawell Freighters became the main carrier for Stawell Gold Mines. This has become a very important part of the business today. In 1999, Bill and Kate’s oldest son, Timothy, joined the
business. He drove for a small period and now runs the day to day
operations.
With a career of 57 years, Bill won’t be retiring anytime soon – as long as his health stays in check!
Inducted in 2024
