Gordon Martin sold an old farm tractor and borrowed money from an older sister to rake up the 500 pounds (around $15,000 in today’s money) deposit to buy his first truck in 1958.
The International AA 180 truck and 11.58m (38ft) trailer cost a total 3650 pounds ($112,000 today) with the then 20-year-old required to repay 87 pounds a month ($2677).
His first job was carting young dairy calves and pigs from his hometown of Singleton and nearby Maitland to Sydney’s Homebush abattoir for a meat wholesaler and processor.
He made the trip down the then mostly gravel Putty Road about three or four times a week, often not seeing another vehicle at night.
But the returns were good at 400 pounds a week ($12,000) with the International using 200 litres (44 gallons) of petrol each return journey.
After a few years Mr Martin was able to add another truck.
Fast forward 60 years and Mr Martin has just stepped down as managing director of the Martin Group which is headquartered in Scone, has major trucking depots at Dubbo and Oakey in Queensland and is running a fleet of 85 Kenworths.
Now 80, Mr Martin has handed the reins to his son, Jason, but will remain a director of the family-owned company.
He grew up on the family’s sheep and cattle farm, “Boon Hills”, near Singleton and says while he wasn’t a scholar at school he liked mathematics and agriculture.
Besides building one of the biggest livestock transport companies in the country Mr Martin has also developed a diversified large-scale cattle and farming business, Murrunjai Pastoral Company, buying his first farm in 1979 at Merriwa.
When Mr Martin kicked off his trucking career the Hunter Valley was a major dairying area. The Singleton butter factory alone had 376 suppliers. And he estimates there were around 18 abattoirs within a 240km radius of the town.
How times have changed with the region now having only a handful of abattoirs and a few dairy farms.
His trucking business also has taken took some twists and turns over the years starting with landing a contract to cart gravel for the then Merriwa Shire in 1961 which proved profitable.
In 1979 he bought Ravensworth Transport, a coal haulage company, and sold it to Boral in 1989.
While Martins is still involved with bulk haulage, livestock transport remains a major focus.
