Jeff Fulwood
19th October 1954 Jeffrey Fulwood was born in Port Pirie, South Australia, it was a short seventeen years later on 3rd October 1972 Jeff began working as a truck driver for the family business 'Jamestown Transport'. This will always be a memorable date for Jeff as it was the beginning of what has been and still is a successful and impressive career as an owner/operator in the transport industry.
Jeff recalls carting anything from wool, building materials, fridges, tyres to carrying many 67kgs bags of flour into the bakeries. After only 2 years of driving within SA, Jeff started doing his first trips interstate carting 200 litre drums of honey into Melbourne. On the return trip Jeff would bring back Ford trucks from Melbourne to Port Augusta, these were then taken to Perth via train.
At 12 years of age while riding in his father's truck, Jeff's love for the desert was ignited and the decision was made by a young Jeff, that he was going to be an Outback road train driver one day. One to always keep his word, in 1974 Jeff at 20 years of age, did his first Strezlecki Trip in a Leyland Buffalo truck.
Three years on, in 1977 Jeff purchased an orange and purple Ford Louisville truck, this was to be the first of many trucks Jeff would own. After a year of transporting timber from Mount Gambier to Perth and Brisbane Jeff wanted to head bush and do road train work. It was then he began transporting general freight to Darwin from Adelaide up the Stuart Highway. The Stuart highway was dirt from Port Augusta to Alice Springs back then, there were many times Jeff needed to dig himself out of bogs or do some road side repairs. Jeff recalls one trip he had 25 flat tyres between Port Augusta and Alice Springs.
Jeff made many good memories and friends during these years, lots who remain good mates today.
In 1981 Jeff bought a green and gold W Model Kenworth, he gave her a paint job which included a boxing kangaroo, a brolga flying into the sunset and the motto, 'where there is a will, there is a way'. The W model, lovingly known as Bertha can be found today in the Kenworth Pavilion at the Transport Hall of Fame. A proud moment for Jeff, his daughters and his grandchildren.
The decade after buying the W model in 1981 was a proud period for Jeff. He carried road trains of general freight, bore casings and mining equipment from Adelaide to Moomba in the Cooper Basin. He also did many drilling rig shifts for Neill Mansell and transported crude oil for QMB.
I am sure there were many a truckie who have come across Jeff all over Australia in one of his beloved Kenworth's Bertha or in latter years, Jeff's C500 who is known to the family as K7, a name given by her previous owner and stuck throughout the years.
Jeff's story can go on for a long time, lots of memories and achievements, one of the biggest would be his family business Fulwood Haulage that Jeff ran successfully for many years, with 14 primemovers and employed up to 30 people at a time. It was in this time Jeff was able to purchase several old trucks to restore, another love of Jeff's. An extra special purchase would be the Daimler Renard Road Train which can also be found here today at the National Transport Hall of Fame.
Jeff continues to work as an owner -driver pulling triple road trains of general freight throughout NT in his KW.
He has a long list of items delivered ranging from general freight to dangerous goods, always one to conduct himself with pride and professionalism there is nothing quite as precious to Jeff as his own cargo.
Jeff's family are incredibly proud of every achievement, his children are forever grateful for all the memories and life lessons learnt while travelling together. Keep on Truckin'!