Owner/Driver #339

What you read here is an indulgence and I make no apology for it. It
is the story of a close friend, who is totally blind, and his only son,
and their abiding passion for trucks and family heritage.
Nonetheless, it is a difficult story to tell because it mixes the
inherently opposing loyalties of a strong personal relationship
with the responsibility to report the challenges and pressures of an
enterprising family business.
But it is, above all else, a story of human spirit and the strength of
family. My hope, and only hope, is to do it justice.
ON MY OFFICE wall hangs a large framed photo of two
little boys under broad-brimmed hats, their backs to
the camera, sitting on a big log. One almost six years
old, the other barely a year older, their gaze stuck on a
truck and trailer loaded with hardwood logs.
The truck they’re so intently focused on is a black
‘Super Star’, the 1,000th Western Star sold in Australia,
with the words Bruce Mathie & Sons on the doors.
The year is 1993, the place a timber mill at Lawler’s
Creek on the Princes Highway, just a few kilometres north of
the pretty town of Narooma on the NSW south coast, and even
fewer kilometres from the Mathie base in a quiet industrial
cul-de-sac on the outskirts of the little village of Dalmeny.
Out of shot in the background, two fathers smile at the
Above: New generation. Quinten
Mathie bought his first truck
in 2009 at just 23 years of age.
Despite a strong family allegiance
to Western Star, his choice of a
Kenworth T908 was based purely
on practicality
Below (L to R): Time travel. From
bullocks to bulldozers, then
trucks. John Mathie ‘steers’ a
bullock team into Wandandian in
1935 and more than a decade later,
his son Bruce at the controls of his
first ‘dozer, hauling an early truck
out of trouble
“I just enjoyed being with Dad.
There was always something to
learn from him.”
ownerdriver.com.au
APRIL 2021 63