Richard Beaumont
Richard ‘Richie’ Patrick Beaumont was born 26 October 1945 in Ipswich, where his parents and grandparents operated the Ipswich Bus Service for almost two decades. He has been married to Lynne for over 50 years.
As a boy, he loved Dinky Toys and dreamed of trucks with his name emblazoned on the side. He learned to drive in his dad’s 1942 four-ton Dodge, but his first paid job was in an Austin on a property outside Wandoan. Richie was 21 and this was holiday work while completing an electrical apprenticeship.
Richie started trucking in 1969 in partnership with John Stephens, carting for an Ipswich coal mine in a 1958 Ford Thames Trader, a ‘butter box’ ACCO, and an AB184 International.
Within two years, he was on his own. He continued to cart coal, but secured contracts for gravel, grain, clay, carrots, lime, fertiliser, ammonium nitrate, even livestock.
Beaumont Transport’s long association with New Hope Coal brought innovations and business growth. Beaumont Transport played an integral role in the loading of the coal trains and the carting of coal from Ipswich coal mines and the coal mine at Acland. The coal trains from Ipswich and Acland were unloaded at the Port of Brisbane and the coal was then loaded onto ships and exported around the world.
Many businesses, in the Northern NSW and SEQ area, including sugar mills and power stations who were still using coal, utilised Beaumont Transport to provide them with their coal supply.
Beaumont trucks drove as far as north as Karumba on the Gulf and as far south as Loy Yang Power Station in Victoria. They carted fly ash from Callide Power Station in Central Queensland to Dampier in Western Australia, a round trip of 11,000 kilometres. Beaumont’s serviced long-term customers like New Hope, CS Energy, and Sibelco.
In the mid-80s, when body trucks predominated, Richie bought semis, and his advanced approach to in-house maintenance included welding, sandblasting, painting and crash repairs.
In south-east Queensland, he was among the first to run bulk B-doubles and was the only operator to use BAB quads. Richie was also one of the first bulk haulage operators to use Mass Management.
Beaumont Transport had depots in Ipswich, Acland, Gympie, Rockhampton, Warwick and Tamworth to service their customers with coal, ammonium nitrate, and other in demand products. Running fertiliser out to the Goondiwindi, Moree and North Star areas to farms and cotton gins and then returning with grain was a season that everyone looked forward to, as was the grain harvest seasons! There was a lot of excitement and a lot of work to ready all the 20+ grain vehicles (B-doubles and Road Trains) for a hectic harvest season. Working with Grainco and other grain traders included applying to the Queensland Government for permits to carry excess weights to make the most of the season.
Beaumont Transport participated in the harvest seasons for many years from Central Queensland following it through to Roma, Goondiwindi, North Star, Moree and down to the NSW and Victorian border. They even carted grain for Uncle Tobys!
The first decade of the new millennium brought fresh challenges. Working with a mining industry consultant, Richie implemented WH&S systems and guidelines, and around 2002, received an award for being proactive in risk reduction. In 2004, Beaumont’s was awarded for risk assessment in carting ammonium nitrate; in the face of global terrorism, the company prescribed procedures to ensure its safe transport.
After 45 years, Richie had over 200 staff and was operating 300 trailers and more than 100 trucks: 33 Kenworths, 22 Western Stars, 28 Freightliners, 11 Internationals, 8 Ivecos, 4 Macks and a MAN.
Qube Corporation bought Beaumont Transport in 2014.
These days, the Ipswich depot is an industrial park, and Richie has reacquired a couple of his oldest trucks for restoration. He now has time to enjoy his family and beautiful grandchildren. Some live in New York, and when he and Lynne visit, Granddad romps on the floor with them. ‘The inner feeling of joy, I just can’t describe it. The stage I am in my life now, you can see how little is left. I sit one-on-one with them. I suppose I’m trying to get them to remember me.’
Richie Beaumont is truly an icon in the SEQ transport industry.
Inducted in 2024
