ownerdriver.com.au AUGUST 2019 55
S
O, YOU’VE ALWAYS wanted to own a truck? Now you
have one what are you going to do with it? David
Eyre found himself in this position about eight
years ago.
David and his younger sister Karlyn had grown up
near Echuca. Their parents, Dale and Kathy, owned
a dairy farm but had little to do with the trucking
industry. The family continued their dairy farming
in Portland, moving there when David was in Year- He eventually left school in Year 10.
“Not because I just wanted to leave school, but I wanted to
start an apprenticeship,” he says.
David finished his diesel mechanic apprenticeship at
Kalari Transport in Portland and hung around for a while
before returning north.
“I don’t really like the coast, so I came back to Echuca,”
he explains. David’s family also eventually returned to the
Echuca area, but not to the farm.
“Mum was a nurse but is now in management at Echuca
Regional Health and dad is an engineer on a paddle boat on
the Murray River,” David says.
As a diesel mechanic he’d worked on trucks for many years
and thought it might be fun to own one. He soon discovered
the costs involved in keeping a truck, so he put it to work to
pay its way.
The truck, a 1980 Kenworth K124, cost him $9,000. At the
time, David was living on a couple of acres near Kyabram
with his partner Brydie Bonsema.
His diesel mechanic’s job was with O’Sullivans Transport
in nearby Elmore.
When there was enough work around, he would get behind
Above:David’s’’93T401Kenworth
withthe“wrong”bonnetOpposite below: David Eyre and wife-
to-be Brydie with their daughter CydithewheeloftheoldKenworthonweekendsandafterhours,
putting a driver in it during the day.Business expansion
In those early days David was carting mainly grain and
hay with an open drop deck and grain tipper. But being a
mechanic as well as a truck driver became way too hard, so
he bought a second truck and left O’Sullivans, becoming a