Lance Thomsen was born in Brisbane on the 8th of February 1974. Lance’s late Grandfather, Raymond Thomsen, was a bus and truck driver. Lance’s late Father, Garry Thomsen, was also a driver, spending most of his life running from Brisbane to Darwin. From before he could walk, if Lance heard that truck start, he HAD to be in it. He was a constant offsider to Garry, even missing most of his first 2 years of schooling, attending a total of 50 days.
His passion showed no signs of subsiding in his teenage years, leaving school at 14 to work in transport industry. On a run back from Darwin, 13-year-old Lance was being a typical teenager, telling family friend, Jimmy Iremonger, how well he could drive.
Jimmy pulled up the truck outside of Mt Isa and told Lance “If you’re so great, you take it through the hills. I’ll meet you at Cloncurry,” leaving Lance to drive the cabover Kenworth with 2 trailers himself. Although Lance made it there in one piece, he certainly learnt a
lesson that day!
Weather has always played a major role in Lance’s life, whether it be changing a tyre in the scorching hot and bull dust, driving near
bushfires, through the hail or trying to get home through floods. In 1998, the road from QLD through to Darwin was cut in numerous places due to extensive rains. With numerous trucks were stuck at Cloncurry, the Police loaded bread, meat and produce into Lance’s vans. The NTFS met Lance at a river in between Cloncurry and Mt Isa, where the goods were then ferried across the river by a waiting SES boat.
Lance has carted everything from fridge vans and general freight to oversized work and tippers. In 2001, with Homelands Transport, Lance spent multiple days at Uluru, unloading and reloading a Chinook helicopter that was sent from Townsville with emergency supplies to send to the flooded communities.
There is not a desert Lance hasn’t worked in and has spent more of his life on remote dirt roads than he has bitumen. G&S Transport has sent him to some of the most remote places imaginable, always at the mercy of obscure directions given by the clients. “Go through gate 17, turn left at the gnarly tree, over the 7th cattle grid, 1 mile past the hole in the fence, you’ll go over 2 sharp hills”. Now in his 19th year with G&S, Lance may be in the running for the title of most time spent driving the Tanami Road.
Although he was on the road doing what he had to do, Lance’s family was always his priority. He hopes they know that everything he has done was to give his wife, Julie, and his children, Katie and Jack, everything they needed.
Inducted in 2024
