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INGRAINED IN TRUCKING From a family history in transport, Gary Hollis and his son, Luke, have managed their way through the drought years by diversifying their Tamworth-based business. Warren Caves writes
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S FARMERS sow crops early in the season, they place their faith in the weather gods that sufficient rain will bring their plantings to a bountiful harvest later in the year. Mother Nature can be fickle and sometimes has other plans for the way she disperses the water rations. With the exception of the last grain harvest season, the Tamworth and Gunnedah region in New South Wales, like most of the country, suffered from a crippling drought for three years or more. The long dry spell and absence of any meaningful rain, left water tanks empty and crops thirsty. Tamworth-based family-run Hollis Haulage, with its business model based heavily in contract harvesting, faced challenges of significant
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magnitude as the entire rural economy slowed to a crawl. Starting in 1983 from the family’s 100-acre, property ‘Cedar Hill’ just outside the country music capital, Gary and Bonnie Hollis set about building the foundations of what would eventually become Hollis Haulage. Bonnie worked (and still does) as a nurse, while Gary, as his father and grandfather did, set about making his mark in the transport industry. “My grandfather started out in transport working bullock teams from Wauchope to Walcha on the south-eastern edge of the Northern Tablelands of NSW. Dad drove log trucks in the same area before moving to Tamworth to drive stock crates, so it must be in the blood a bit,” Gary explains.
In the early days, to supplement their small farm crop income, Gary would jump in his 345 cubic-inch V8 powered International ACCO to do a little bit of grain cartage work at harvest time for local growers. At harvest end, Gary and his trusty ACCO would cart spuds from the Niangala area, south-east of Tamworth, a bit of timber and any other work he could get his hands on for the truck. Not one to sit idle, to keep the money coming in, Gary also worked in town at the Repco machine shop but, according to Bonnie, Gary just wanted to be his own boss. As the years marched on a Bobcat was later purchased, along with a Volvo F10 tipper. This led to work for Gary cleaning out chook sheds and the like. A dog trailer was later added and a second,
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30/06/2021 11:51:51 AM
