Owner/Driver #339
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The purchasing of a new truck can be a torturous<br />
ordeal. There can be 101 different reasons to choose a<br />
particular truck and 102 reasons to choose a different<br />
truck. It can come down to so many little things.<br />
However, sometimes you just buy a truck because, well,<br />
quite frankly, you just want it. I completely get that.<br />
I’m exactly the same when I hit the KFC drivethrough.<br />
I don’t really need it, it’s not doing anything for me,<br />
there are other smarter options but god damn if the<br />
Tower Burger isn’t exactly what I want.<br />
So, when Garry Leeson from Leeson’s Logging & Cartage<br />
piped up and informed his team “I want a Peterbilt”, I could<br />
fully empathise. In Garry’s case though, the Pete has been a lot<br />
better for him than the Tower Burger was for me.<br />
Before we touch on this fantastic-looking Pete, let’s take<br />
a little journey into the history books and learn a bit about<br />
Leeson’s, a family-run business that’s been a stalwart of the<br />
timber scene in Victoria for several decades now.<br />
The company’s origins go all the way back to the early<br />
’60s when Garry’s stepdad Lindsay Crawford was hauling<br />
plantation timber into the Maryvale Pulp Mill. Garry was<br />
heavily involved from a young age. When Lindsay passed away,<br />
the business was passed down to Garry and his brothers. In<br />
the early ’80s, Garry and his wife Vicki bought the brothers out<br />
and Leeson’s Logging & Cartage officially began.<br />
One of the major factors that has contributed to the success<br />
of the company has been its family-focused approach. All<br />
of Garry and Vicki’s kids have, at some stage, been involved<br />
in the company, with their youngest daughter currently<br />
employed as its occupational health and safety officer and<br />
their son Rick now having worked his way up to managing<br />
director after doing his time in everything from the little<br />
company fuel truck to the loggers and loaders.<br />
The company has been based in the small town of Rosedale<br />
in Gippsland, Victoria, for the majority of its existence and has<br />
established itself as an expert in the cartage and harvesting<br />
of plantation timber. From its humble beginnings, the<br />
company now employs around 55 staff and runs a fleet of<br />
42 APRIL 2021 ownerdriver.com.au