Chris Kelly

Chris Kelly was born on the 14th March 1969, the day of his father’s 37th birthday. He left school at the age of 15 and took every opportunity to be either at the transport yard or away with his father John Kelly ‘on the road’.

John Kelly had the local Ansett Express and Overnighters agency. He realised he had little chance of getting Chris to return to school or to do anything other than become a truck driver so he got Chris on the dock sorting freight to help the downtown drivers with their deliveries. By the time he was 17 years old Chris had obtained his truck licence and would drive to Brisbane daily to load freight for the Toowoomba delivery the next morning.

It wasn’t long before Chris obtained a semi-trailer licence and was doing the night shuttle for NQX in an R model Mack between Toowoomba and Brisbane. However he traded the R model on a 500Hp Series II Superliner to do interstate haulage. Chris loved the open road and freedom of being his own boss; travelling where work took him and meeting new people. He said it was a great truck and times were good so he could afford a new Western Star. Due to some personal upheavals in his life Chris tried working for a boss. He tried long distance shuttle, roadtrain and driving mining trucks which he enjoyed as he was away from the pressure of law enforcement and every day traffic.

In recent times Chris married Jayne and decided he should spend a bit more time at home. This lead him head first into his next project. He bought a damaged Iveco truck, which he rebuilt in his back yard, had it registered and decided to do local work.

However, as time wore on, this didn’t satisfy Chris; once again, the yearning to return to the highway came and the rebuilt Iveco was soon traded on a late model cab over COE Kenworth and Chris returned to the familiar Brisbane to Melbourne run towing a B-double where he is a well known and respected modern day operator.