Terrence Baker

Terrence Baker was born in Albury New South Wales on the 18th September 1945 and first drove his Dads’ 1949 Commer in the farm paddocks aged fourteen. He left home aged seventeen and went to Queensland working on various jobs. Terry met and married Barbara Rookwood on the 17th July 1965 in Cairns and the following year a job with Frankipile Australia took them back to Albury. Terry started driving for Murray Bros carting stock. His first trip was in an AEC Monarch to load pigs at Lake Cargelligo, Tullibigeal and Weethalle with just a road map. He drove Atkinsons for the next four years in some interesting places. Terry took Barb and their 10 month old son Warren on one trip to Nyngan but every t ime the truck stopped, Warren would start crying and wouldn’t stop until the truck started again. In March, Terry started at Comet Overnight Transport on Melbourne to Sydney shuttle in Grey Ghosts. Terry drove the first Australian made Kenworth on its maiden voyage from Albury to Sydney. This truck currently resides in the Australian Road Transport Hall of Fame in the Kenworth Dealer Hall of Fame in Alice Springs. On one trip his truck was going through the Sylvias when it squealed on corners so Terry stopped, jacked it up to look and the wheel fell off. A wheel bearing had seized and screwed the right hand stub axle off. In 1975, when Terry was president of the Albury Wodonga Road Transport Social Club, a delegation travelled to Yass to erect a Truckies monument (built by Billy Reynolds) at Robbie’s Truck Stop. This now stands at the Truckies Memorial in Tarcutta. Terry started as a sub-contractor owner/driver for Comet going to Sydney via Wagga Wagga and Yass with Friday change overs in 1981. Later this was changed to all change overs to Goulburn and was changed again to include Canberra so it was a long night of 860 kilometres only stopping at depots. After 48 years on the road, “Baker Boy” called it quits and is now the official volunteer driver for “The Minister for War and Finance”, his wife Barb. ReUnion 2015