Razorback revisited

Doing a bit of reading and came across the bit about the blokes who placed a copy of the Australian Constitution in the wheelbarrow and then pushed it from Sydney to Melbourne. This was way back in 1952 and the barrow made it two days earlier than a letter posted as surface mail, probably shipped by rail. This was later to become the famous Hughes and Vale case which is well written up and an important ruling which would alter Constitutional law. Enough about that, as stated it is well known and plenty of reading material available for anyone interested in it. Just ask Mr Google.
What did catch my eye was in the same article, was the reference to an event that affected thousands of us at the time, 1979 Razorback. It is hard to believe that it is now thirty-seven years,(37 count 'em) since the blockade. A hell of a lot of blokes are of the opinion that although some concessions were made by both sides, in the long run it degenerated into an extremely divisive issue even among the people it affected the most, the driver, the subbie , the freight agent etc.
None of us can go back and alter history, (oh that we could, probably would have made a lot of different decisions in all walks of our lives). Not raking over old wounds, but it is sometimes bewildering to sit here in hindsight and wonder just what the long term gains were? That issue alone is probably worth a book or two, may even have been some written?. The major players are either retired (after all, almost 40 years ago now) gracefully, passed on and no longer with us, or just seemed to quietly slip into history. The Premier involved at the time, like or dislike his policies, is no longer with us, another "celebrity" who made a big noise at the time, after retirement, has now returned to his "mantle" on or rather in the media, again. like or dislike his opinions.
I can only speak as a company driver, the blockade happened a few years after I sold my own truck and went to 'the other side', and in reality, it had very little effect on us directly. I guess we (company drivers for the major freight forwarders) were still getting paid, most simply being custodians of their vehicles awaiting an outcome.
But looking back all these years later I do wonder with today's relative fuel prices, what appears to me to be an over-governing by all the different authorities, (main reason I gave it away), if we are really any better off than pre-blockade? Yes, will agree on SOME things DID needed major overhaul. 'Almost' nationally regulated vehicle inspections, speed limits, weights etc (and I realise that there are still some glaring discrepancies) which should have made for more efficient transfer of freight.
Without going into it too deeply, the latest postings re the treatment of subbies by both major companies with the seemingly collusion of the various State Authorities, puts this writer in mind of the bad old days when they held the upper (whip?) hand and ran things to suit no-one else other than their own profit lines and those of their shareholders, How many of the 'BIG 3' , or their offspring, are around today? I speak of, not necessarily in order, of Mayne Nick's, Brambles, TNT. All seem to have either eased out of transport and taken up other pursuits?
Probably way outside the scope of this forum for an in depth discussion. Bottom line is I reiterate, just how much better off is the industry in today's day and age? I can spruik that as I am now retired and have been so for quite some time, that it is quite easy to sit back and bitch about what happened so many years ago when it doesn't directly affect me.
Maybe it's simply I have too much free time on my hands. I still have an interest in an industry that I spent so much of my working life in. Wonder what others think? Or, am I like the bloke, simply urinating in the wind? Like a pommy getting his own back? One thing I have learned in this life is thank the Lord that we live in a democracy and to a certain degree, can rail and bitch about whatever ails us, a lot of countries deny basic rights like that.
We haven't started packing dissenters off to the 'Gulags' yet, have we?
My bitch for the day.
Cheers, Dave_64

As an owner driver, I was caught up with the blockades at Mt. Victoria. Were we better off afterwards? I don't really think so.
I certainly didn't make a fortune working as an OD, just a living which paid the bills, arguing for invoices to be paid and kept the wolf from the door, (the wily old bastard nearly crept in a few times :blink: ) The best thing that happened to me was returning from an interstate trip was in January 1992, when I was informed by the company that I did line haul for was that my services were no longer required. The Commonwealth Railways had undercut my rates by two thirds. That's when I spat the dummy. I'm sure it's still bouncing off walls in their office.

The prime mover was sold, (to a TNT car transporter OD) I can't remember where the trailer went. I then trained up as a paramedic and joined the then burgeoning mining industry eventually raising to OH&S co-ordinator/trainer/assessor. This was before all the bullshit OH&S that now affects industry and people were responsible for themselves. That's when I certainly started to earn some serious money. Have now retired, thank goodness.

The one thing that I have noticed is that there does not seem to be many, if any, owner drivers engaged on interstate work now.

Will stop waffling on.

TDU

TDU,
NO! Don't stop 'waffling on' ! Judging by the amount of hits that some of these postings record, there are still a hell of a lot of blokes who are interested enough to follow and contribute to some of these topics.
I, for one, enjoy a variety of topics and views expressed here, when the weather is non-conducive to hiding in the shed, and there's only footy on TV (and your team has either already played, or not being televised).
The old story pervades, if something either doesn't interest you, or straight out gives you the tom-tits, simply move on to one who does.
But, I digress. you make a valid point about what at first appears to be a diminishing pool of O/D's-- and perhaps it may just be a sign of the times that a lot of blokes are getting Jack of over-policing of the industry, ever increasing running costs and probably a myriad of other reasons. I recently had a beer with a bloke who had half a dozen trucks with drivers in them, shut up shop and just kept one for himself. His reasoning being that it was just to hard to get blokes to do what would have been standard operating procedure years ago. When I asked him to elaborate, he said that nowadays younger drivers wanted to be home with their family's more (and who can blame them) and if there were not enough local jobs to go around actually driving, they would take up other work which would.
Sign of the times?
Dave_64

Good on you Dave, and TDU-
I couldn't agree more. Number one, the stories of what you blokes did, and have done, are great for us young (??) blokes to read. Number two, it's only by appreciating how much guts people like Ted and Spencer and hunderds of others had to stand up to be counted, that people may begin to understand how important that it is to do just that.
Ted Stevens wrote a book on Razorback, it's a pretty basic read, but certainly worth grabbing if you can.
Personally I can only tip my hat to those blokes who had the guts to say STOP. No More. And put their balls on the line, for what they believed in.
I wish that with all the rubbish with the RSRT commison lately, that it had actually been enforced. Only because I wondered if that may have been the tipping point in a few months time, that made blokes once again say STOP- No more. Get off our backs.
Because as far as I can see, things have only got worse for truckies since 1979, not better.
It's bloody important to hear these stories, argue (decently of course) about what went wrong, how, why, and so on.
So don't stop doing it, please!
Cheers
Richard

p.s Credit to the photographers, NMP. Don't know why they didn't load properly!!

prodrive wrote: p.s Credit to the photographers, NMP. Don't know why they didn't load properly!!

You need to click on the 'Insert' next to the images to place them in your post. This normally means you save your post first which uploads the images and then edit the same post and you will see 'Insert' to the left of each image. Place the cursor in your post where you want the image to appear and use the mouse to click 'Insert' and you will the image code pasted there.

Terry

What article were you reading Dave ???

.
.Here is a couple of pics i took a few weeks ago............






.....................Billy........................]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Transport_Commission

Workhorse,
I just typed in "Hughes and Vale case" and the article came up on Wikipedia. First two paragraphs deal with the H&V case and the wheelbarrow, second para gives a very brief outline on Razorback.
I take it that is what you are referring to?
Cheers, Dave_64

Ahh Yup thanks Dave, I have a 2 part article in this and the next Vintage Trucks & Commercials magazine .... sorta covers the whole Road Tax issue from the start to just after Razorback