Darrell was born in Glen Innes NSW in December 1950, the first child of Kenneth and Una Lightfoot, and was to become a third-generation truck driver. His Grandfather worked several teams of twelve horses before transferring to trucks and his father had also worked horses and trucks.
Darrell’s mother frequently drove two-up with her husband and, until Darrell had to go to school, he travelled with them in the truck. This early indoctrination into trucking ultimately sealed his fate.
At age 10, he learnt to drive in a truck and spent many after school hours and weekends at Bradley’s Transport yard servicing and washing trucks. This required manoeuvring both table tops and prime movers with trailers around the yard, a lot of skills learnt here.
Upon leaving school Darrell tried several different jobs and settled into laying floorcoverings as his mother was very much against him driving trucks. He often did ‘a few loads’ for his father and anyone else who needed a driver. Drought hit the New England area hard in the late 1970’s and floorcoverings had become a
luxury item, so it was time for Darrell to find another form of
employment.
The early 1980’s found him loading and driving furniture removals for Gollans of Gunnedah. Unlike a lot of trucking jobs furniture
removals are door to door, which take drivers to many far-flung places off the main highways.
Darrell always wanted to be his own boss, so in the early 1990’s he bought an International R190 and started hauling cotton
modules. In the off-season he carted hay, car bodies and everything in between, then bought another trailer and recommenced
furniture removals.
Having already earned a good reputation in this industry, it was not long before he was doing a regular run from East Coast to West Coast. Furniture and household goods were transported from Cairns in Northern Queensland through NSW, Victoria, SA into WA and up to Port headland. After many years of this, the R190 was not handling the rigors of the Nullabor and after borrowing and hiring other trucks the regular run was ceased in 2003.
With diesel still running through his veins he continued to drive a variety of trucks including low loaders with heavy
earthmoving machinery but ultimately came back to furniture
removals when he moved to Queensland’s Sunshine Coast in 2013, where he earned the nickname ‘Tetris’. Now retired, the R190 in the shed is his restoration project.
Inducted in 2024
