Stan Williamson, left, and Bert Watchorn, friends for more than 60 years, each received a trophy when they were inducted into the NZ Road Transport Hall of Fame in Invercargill recently.
Stan Williamson, left, and Bert Watchorn, friends for more than 60 years, each received a trophy when they were inducted into the NZ Road Transport Hall of Fame in Invercargill recently.
Two men who built wide-ranging transport businesses from Te Puke were honoured last month as members of the New Zealand trucking industry's hall of fame.
Stan Williamson, 90, and Bert Watchorn, 86, have enjoyed more than 65 years of friendship as they carted goods ranging from livestock to logs acrossthe Bay.
Stan Williamson admits his first love was driving bulldozers. He arrived in this area as a 20-year-old in 1946 and his first work was driving a crawler tractor, clearing scrub and putting in tracks on properties in Bush Road, Pongakawa, then on to Maniatutu Road and Roydon Downs.
Bert Watchorn arrived at Bell Road, Papamoa, as a teenager in 1945, milking cows for his father on a 290-hectare farm. But his older brother knew he didn't enjoy farming so offered him a job driving a logging truck from the Kaimai Range down to a sawmill at Te Puna. He took the job at age 17 and without a licence.
In 1953, Bert realised a dream by buying a small, run-down transport company in Pongakawa. Besides the business, the deal included a house for his family.
About the same time, Stan entered a partnership with his two brothers-in-law ( Cecil and George Wright) and formed Maketu Contractors Ltd.
Both men worked diligently at their businesses for a decade before realising things had to change.
In 1963, Bert and five other operators formed the firm Te Puke Transport, to enable efficiencies in the transport of livestock and efficiencies in the transport of livestock and fertiliser, which was the bulk of their work at that time. About this time, Bert developed a telescopic towbar, air-operated from the driver's seat.
In 1964, the partners decided to disband Maketu Contractors so Stan bought its trucks and biggest bulldozer to continue servicing logging contracts. In its time Maketu Contractors supplied logs for the first shipment of radiata logs exported out of NZ, Stan said.
About this time, Stan and his wife Netta set up Stan Williamson Transport Ltd (SWT Ltd) which eventually expanded to branches in Whakatane, Putaruru, Rotorua/Taupo, Whangamata, Waiotapu and Palmerston North. At its height, the company owned a fleet of 85 Leyland Cruiser trucks, the most under one owner in the Southern Hemisphere, said Stan.
The first truck Bert Watchorn drove parked outside the old Bethlehem store. He was 17 and without a licence when he started trucking.
At one time Stan operated five trucking firms as well as forestry operations and also ran his own workshop, Heavy Truck Maintenance Ltd, based in Te Puke. At the same time he was a member of the Road Transport Association, of which he was made a life member.
He was honoured for his 46 years of management within the industry.
In 1977, Bert was based in Edgecumbe in the Eastern Bay, running the Te Puke Carrying branch there.
He also acquired a shingle pit and three trucks and set up Watchorn Transport 1977 Ltd with a family shareholding of his wife, Lesley, and son Phillip. He took over the shareholding of Te Puke Transport and later sold the Te Puke end of the business as he consolidated his operations at Awakeri, in the Eastern Bay.
In the early 1980s Bert bought two logging trucks, with contracts to cart logs. The livestock cartage was sold and the logging business grew, along with general freight.
Twenty years on, in 1997 with 25 trucks, Bert sold Watchorns Transport and shifted his interest to vintage commercial vehicles. He built up a collection of about 100 in his own museum.
Bert and Lesley, assisted by the local vintage car club, started an annual vintage commercial rally, which is a popular outing for enthusiasts.
The Road Transport Association recently honoured Bert with a life membership after 63 years in the industry.
