Nick Pavlinovich
For Nick Pavlonivich, trucking isn’t just a job but a way of life that began as a kid riding alongside his father, a veteran of 48 years behind the wheel. Some of his earliest and fondest memories are of hiding in the cab while he unloaded at the job site.
That early exposure set the course for a lifetime in transport. At 16, Nick began his apprenticeship as a heavy diesel mechanic with CJD Equipment in Perth, working on Kenworths and honing the mechanical skills that would later become essential when running his own trucks. After completing his time, he headed north to work with McMahons, before returning to Perth and buying his first truck, an Atkinson International 4070. It was the first of many that would comprise the Pavlinovich Bulk Transport fleet. As work rolled in along with new clients, Nick had grown his fleet to 13 trucks, taking on work with Temples, BGC Quarries, WA Limestone and his own mining and civil projects in the north-west.
Nick’s journey has taken him across WA and the Northern Territory, including an 18-month stint in Tennant Creek where, despite setbacks, like losing a substantial amount of cash when a contractor collapsed, he pushed on. He’s hauled everything from clay and aggregate to pressure tankers and side tippers.
Today, Nick contracts to MLG in the Western Australian Goldfields, where he’s been for nearly a decade. He runs a fleet of quads, triples, and water carts, carting gold ore to Leonora and Meekatharra. He credits his longevity in the industry to working with clients with old school values, like MLG.
His mechanical background has saved him time and again. One particularly tough memory is being stranded for 10 days on the Great Central Road, waiting for floodwaters to recede.
Nick says he isn’t a truck driver, but instead a road train operator because the job involves more than just driving. It means doing brakes, clutches, gearboxes and tyres and Nick takes pride in every part of the job. Even after 28 years, he believes there’s always more to learn and room to improve.
Nick is proudly old school. At morning pre-starts, he often gets told off for wearing sunnies instead of clear goggles. During grain season, he’s in his element, wearing shorts, boots and the classic blue singlet. No fuss, no politics, just honest work and common sense. He follows the rules but he learnt in a time when getting the job done mattered more than ticking boxes.
