More than 570 guests from New Zealand and Australia gathered at Bill Richardson Transport World in Invercargill on September 23 celebrating the latest six inductees to the NZ Road Transport Hall of Fame.
Stan Williamson, Paul Balneaves, Mervyn Solly, Don Wright, Derek Dunbar and Bert Watchorn were the six transport legends honoured this year.
HW Richardson Group directors Jocelyn and Scott O’Donnell initiated the Hall of Fame in 2012 after attending a similar awards function in Australia in 2011.
Launching just nine months later, with 450 people attending the inaugural awards gala dinner which also marked the opening of the Hall of Fame.
This 2016 event is the fifth year of the awards taking place, but the first time since the full completion of the Bill Richardson Transport World facility.
Presenting the 2016 inductees with their awards were associate transport minister Craig Foss and Scott O’Donnell.
This year’s inductees included 90-year-old Stan Williamson – Taranaki/Bay Of Plenty who formed Maketu Contractors Ltd in 1953, and Southlands Paul Balneaves, the creator of the Commercial Vehicle Centre and Log Marketing NZ.
Under Balneave the transport business grew from a 33 unit fleet in 1980 to a 125 truck fleet in 2015.
Mervyn Solly from Collingwood, Nelson was another inductee to the NZ Road Transport Hall of Fame this year.
Solly began Sea Tow Ltd and more purchases followed including TNL Group Ltd’s Golden Bay agricultural operation in Takaka. Today the Sollys Freight business has spread throughout New Zealand.
He took a small local five truck business to a 100 truck national business while keeping the local focus.
A director of Trucks and Trailers Ltd and Heavy Trucks Ltd, qualified diesel mechanic Don Wright hails from Northland/Auckland.
The last two inductees are Derek Dumbar from Southland/Otago/Bay Of Plenty and Bert Watchorn from Taranaki/Waikato.
These six men join the inaugural from 2012, including Bill Richardson, Sir Robert Owens, Jim Barker, John Emmerson, Lachie Griffen, Neil Clarke, Ron Carpenter and Tony Friedlander.
Inductees from 2013, 2014 and 2015 include George Wallis, Jim Ramsay, Sir Russell Pettigrew, Bert Godfrey, George Tyler, Cyril Mahon, Les MacKenzie, John Anderson, Mike Lambert, Melven (Rowdy) Aitken, Les Cleveland and Bernie MacDonald, Bob Burnett, Dave Potter, Neil Reid and Ralph Munn.
The event sponsors include Allied Lubricants – Mobil Delvac 1, VTNZ, Mack Trucks, Volvo, Renault, Truck Stops, Gough TWL and Gough Transpecs, Mobil Oil NZ, Coretex, VTNZ, Bandag, EECA, Wynn Williams Lawyers NZI, Lumley, and Transport & General Engineers (Transport Trailers).
