Deals On Wheels Australia - Issue 399 2016_

NEWS&REVIEWS

AUSTRALIA’S #1 TRUCK MARKETPLACE TradeTrucks.com.au 249

By 1956, the Ryan’s had a 27hp (20kW) A5

Bedford with a single diff that towed an eight-

wheel dog trailer. The bought another, with

Andrew’s mother Nell also getting behind the

wheel.

“We were only little kids and mum would stop at

Port Wakefield and get our milk bottles filled up.

“When we took off she’d reckon that either the

bottles weren’t big enough or Ardrossan was too

far because one would run out before the other

and there would be a hell of a fight to get the

other bottle, like kids do,” Anthony says.

It was a real family concern — everyone was on

the trucks: Mum, Dad and the kids.

Anthony still remembers how his parents built

their original home out of poured concrete. Pat

and Nell carted the gravel with their old Chev out

of the Wakefield River at Balaklava. They would

shovel it into the concrete mixer and then bucket

it up into the formwork.

“You can still see the board marks,” Anthony

says. “Those were the hard days.

“When I left school I only did three days a week

because I would rather be doing things with my

hands than my head.

“I worked on a farm, then Dad unfortunately got

crook. We had trucks working for the highways

department on the construction of the Broken Hill

road over four to five years.”

BRANCHING OUT

Anthony returned home and spent a couple of

years working for local carrier Bruce Agnew.

His first long distance trip was to Longreach,

hauling cattle.

Anthony and Barry later bought Bruce’s 1968

C1800 International, powered by a 160hp

(119.3kW) Cummins. It came with a 34-foot (10m)

strap trailer with grain bins, a stock crate and

$5,000 worth of goodwill.

Barry had completed a mechanics’

apprenticeship and the two brothers worked

together with a Bedford and the C1800

International, still trading as PJ & NM Ryan.

After selling the C1800 and the Bedford,

Anthony and Barry bought a couple of cab-over

TranStars from Bunker Freight Lines in Adelaide.

After five years of grain, fertiliser and general

interstate, Barry traded his TranStar in on a 350

Cummins-powered 1979 Atkinson, around the

same time when Anthony bought the K125.

“I was doing grain and fertiliser. In between that

the truck was working with Clare Quarries out of

the Spalding quarry. I went as far north as Copley,

east to Olary, south to Tailem Bend and west to

Pimba carting road mix.”

Anthony’s sons Dwayne and Kain have also

joined the Ryans generation in transport. They

both work for McArdle Freight in Bute driving

Western Stars, predominantly running up the

centre to Darwin, while Anthony carts fertiliser

and grain for Ashley and Kaylene Robinson of

Robinson Farms, Hoyleton.

In a convenient arrangement, the couple’s son

Tom Robinson drives the old K125 for Anthony.

The Kenworth had done 420,000km when

Anthony bought it and the rig has now done 2.6

million with many more to come.

One thing Anthony is sure of is that if he ever

did buy another truck, it would be a Kenworth.

I’m sure it’s a

Wednesday

truck

1. The Kenworth K125 in its usual pig trailer
   combination


2. Anthony Ryan is born and bred in Halbury,
   South Australia


3. Despite never being repainted, the K125 is still
   looking good

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DOW 399.cls 249 26/02/2016 10:02 am